"The Prophecy Undone"
Chapter 6 - Rage and Despair...
Harry rose suddenly and made a snap decision to leave. He'd had enough. This whole escapade had been fraught enough already and he didn't want to risk hanging around to see what other painful events the room might dredge from his past. No matter how important they were. "Come on Ginny, let's go." He held out his hand to her. "I'm so sorry about all this," he sighed ruefully. "You can probably guess this wasn't exactly what I had in mind when I brought you here." He tried a half-hearted smile, but just couldn't seem to manage it and he grimaced instead.
Ginny stood and took his hand, but ventured tentatively, "Harry, don't you want to find out more about this place while we're here? It seems a shame to go now, you might be getting close to something import-"
"I've had quite enough for one day, thanks" he interrupted, his tone was icy and he dropped Ginny's hand like it had scalded him. "I'm not hanging around to see if this place decides to bring Voldemort out for the second act of this freak show and show him murdering my parents in full gory detail!" he thundered.
"Harry, I didn't mean-!" Ginny tried urgently, but Harry cut her off.
"Yeah, I can see how it might be a shame to miss that particular floorshow!" he spat savagely. "I'm sure it's really entertaining - if it's not your parents!" Harry was vaguely aware that he was being vile and irrational and he didn't mean to take it out on Ginny, but he couldn't help it. He felt so cornered and he knew he had to get out of this place or he'd end up lashing out at the person he cared for most. He'd turned his back on Ginny abruptly and made to leave the cabin, uncaring and numb to anything other than the prospect of getting out.
"Harry! Please – wait!" Ginny didn't think it would be helpful at this point to remind him that it was hardly likely that they'd witness Voldemort killing James and Lily as Harry had already told her that his parents hadn't died here, but she knew it could be very difficult to reason with Harry when he got like this. Ginny wondered frustratedly how many more arguments they were going to have to endure today.
"Are you coming then?" he said forcefully, without even a backward glance and his tone implied that he couldn't care less whether she came with him or not. He was already halfway across the room and fully intent on leaving her. Ginny was immediately cowed into silence and bowed her head, wary of what to say next for fear of upsetting him further, but quietly steeling her resolve; as the only other girl in a family of seven men, Ginny had formidable powers of reasoning and manipulation that could put any of her highly skilled powers of witchcraft to shame and she was determined to find out what was going on.
Moreover, she felt she had to try and get through to Harry while she still had the chance. They couldn't leave now. She knew that they must be here for a very good reason and she doubted whether the room had finished with them yet. It just didn't make sense otherwise. She was sure there must be more and wanted to help Harry solve whatever it was that the room was trying to tell them. Besides, if they went now, would they ever find this place again? She didn't know what Harry had said to grant them access in the first place and she doubted whether he'd share it with her now after what had just happened.
Ginny knew she had to choose her words carefully and she was still working out what to say to Harry when she heard a roar of pure anguish and rage that shook her from her thoughts. Her head snapped up to see him kicking and beating the wall with frustration and anger. Even despite what Harry had just witnessed (and Ginny didn't doubt that it had been heart-wrenching), she still thought his current behaviour might be a bit excessive and inwardly despaired of Harry's savage temper that seemed to often lurk just below the surface.
She stood, still rooted to the spot when she heard his blood-curdling cry. Before she had a chance to react further, Harry rounded on her with a face so full of rage and venom that she recoiled. He saw her flinch with fear and seemed to finally realize how deranged he was being. He seemed to deflate momentarily and the eerie savage gleam was gone from his eyes, but he was still shaking with fear and anger when he said urgently in a hoarse voice "The door's disappeared Ginny! We can't get out!"
Ginny raced over to him and ran her hands desperately over the area of wall where the door to the Room of Requirement had been when they'd entered. Sure enough it was now just a seamless blank stretch of wall making up the rest of the log cabin. They looked at each other, panting with frustration, trying to work out what to do next. The irony was not lost on Harry that such a short time ago he was looking at Ginny and panting with lust instead. It seemed like forever ago. Now they were trapped in here because of the lust that had led them in here in the first place and he wasn't sure how he was ever going to get them out. It was all his fault again.
He had a sudden flash of inspiration and swept her out of the way with one arm. "Ginny, get back." he urged. He was reaching into his pocket for his wand. "Stand well clear - I'm going to try and blast us out." He pointed his wand at the wall and prepared to utter the "Bombarda" incantation that he'd remembered Hermione putting to very effective use when they'd rescued Sirius from his prison at the top of the tower – snatching him mere moments before he would have fallen prey to the Dementor's foul clutches…
"Harry - wait, please! Look...it's happening again…" Ginny was backing away from him, moving back into the room again and stopping by the big window again. Her eyes were pleading, and she looked alternately at him and then back at the room. He followed her gaze then walked slowly and warily over to where she was standing so he could see what was going on...
The room had started to shimmer again and the subtle changes were once again taking place all around them. The tone of the room seemed to alter and the personal items that had appeared previously were slowly dissolving. Now it was back to looking like a blank canvas; the way it had looked back when they'd first entered and the room had appealed to Harry so much. It seemed like an eternity ago. He glanced over at the corner where they'd originally entered. The room was back to normal, but the exit had still not reappeared. Harry felt Ginny grab his hand and squeeze it. He whipped his head back round to see the room begin to shimmer again...
This time, the room and it's furnishings remained basically the same as before, but as the personal items appeared one by one, Harry could tell that they were going to be watching a totally different scenario from the one before and resigned himself to staying to see what unfolded this time.
The atmosphere had changed too. It somehow seemed lighter and he felt a sense of less foreboding "Yeah, well. The last one seemed to start out alright" he thought wryly "and look where that one got me" He glanced down at Ginny and tried to read her expression, wondering why she was so interested. She was standing close, slightly in front of him and was still holding his hand tightly, but otherwise she seemed oblivious to him. She was watching the scene unfolding in front of them with a rapt expression.
Harry saw a broom appear next to the cabin's front door and could have sworn it was his Firebolt; it had the distinctive tail modifications he'd made to it himself when he'd been made Quidditch Captain. A set of dark, formal Auror's robes hung on a hook near the door, but they were odd; they didn't bear the official crest of the Ministry like the ones he'd seen on the formal robes worn by all the other Aurors he knew. These had a crest on the back that he didn't recognise, and couldn't quite make out from where he was standing. He squinted and thought it looked a bit like a Hippogriff in flight and he could just make out the letters "S.A.S" in elaborate lettering beneath it. Nevertheless, the style and cut of the robes was unmistakable. He knew what to look for, after all. For years now he'd nursed a private ambition to eventually become an Auror and couldn't imagine himself ever doing anything else as a career. He made a mental note to check out the robes as soon as he could.
As he watched, he noted with growing confusion other items gradually appearing that seemed to belong to him. Hedwig and her cage materialized over by one wall. Harry saw what looked like his Invisibility Cloak draped casually over the end of one of the couches. He managed a sheepish half-smile; he knew that if he ever had a place of his own it would be unbearably messy and things would just end up where they happened to fall. (Even something as important as the cloak, that should have been stashed somewhere safe).
Various books on famous Aurors and Defence Against the Dark Arts that he'd had his eye on lately and was thinking of buying next time he could get to Flourish and Blott's, he was now surprised to see lining the bookshelves over on one wall. Along with these were a whole load of other books which he couldn't ever see himself reading and wondered what on earth they were doing there. They looked like the sort of trashy romance novels that Mrs Weasley bought; with scantily-clad young witches in passionate clinches with rakish- looking warlocks on the covers.
As Harry pondered this aspect of the new decor, he noticed more and more stuff appearing that could only be described as distinctly "girly". A stack of magazines on the table; "Witch Weekly" in amongst copies of "Which Broom" and "Auror's Digest". Fluffy purple cushions resembling Arnold the Pygmy Puff appeared on the handsome dragon skin couches. Pretty, decorative candles and beautifully coloured crystals appeared to be littering various surfaces and making what, he supposed, would be considered attractive displays. "If you like that sort of thing..." he frowned to himself.
Harry was hoping the room would stop shimmering soon so that he could go up to the mantelpiece again and examine the new pictures that had appeared there. He couldn't quite make out what was in them from where he was standing, but he was pretty sure he could see a man in them with glasses on and wondered if they were more pictures of his Dad, although this time he had a feeling they wouldn't be. He was eager to see, but not so eager to touch the shimmering light as he wasn't sure what would happen to either of them if they did so while the room was still morphing. He decided not to risk it after the shocks he'd had so far today.
He was so intent on trying to decipher what was in the pictures from a distance, whilst also glancing around and keeping an eye on any new items that appeared, that he nearly died of shock when he saw someone suddenly stride into the room through the front door at the other end of the cabin. That someone being unmistakably Harry, albeit a slightly bigger and older Harry…
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Chapter 7 - "A Future Glimpse" to follow...
Hungarian Horntail - England, 2005