HARRY POTTER AND THE FINAL WAR
Summary: Harry Potter has returned from Hogwarts and has wasted no time in his search for Voldemort's Horcruxes. Against the wishes of his friends, he goes off alone. Will Harry win the fight against Voldemort?
Rated: M for violence, language, and sex
Disclaimer: Roses are red,
Violets are blue.
I don't own Harry Potter,
And neither do you.
Chapter 10: The Veil and its Secrets
-----------------------------------------
Harry stood and stared around at his new surroundings. He felt rather stupid for actually taking Scrimgeour's food. His hunger had clouded his thoughts. Harry walked around slightly and heard the clatter of his feet against the hard, cold stone floor echo against the walls. There were no windows or doors. There were no bars or any way that Harry saw that he could get out, or that someone else could get in.
Harry turned and tried to Apparate, but merely caused himself to lose his balance and fall. I can't Apparate, he thought, and I can't find a physical way out… How the hell am I going to escape? Harry looked up at the ceiling, but could only see dark shadows. It didn't look like the room ever ended. Harry heard a feint pop behind him. He turned to see Scrimgeour standing a few feet behind him, grinning.
"Hello, Mr. Potter," the old minister said.
"Let me go," Harry said defiantly. Scrimgeour chuckled and pushed up his wire-rimmed spectacles up his nose.
"No, I believe you'll be staying here for quite a while, Mr. Potter. You may as well get used to it."
"Why are you keeping me here?" Harry shouted at Scrimgeour.
"Well you see, Harry, you told me that you didn't want to support the wizarding world." Harry's eyes widened, and then narrowed in confusion.
"What?" he asked incredulously.
"You told me that you wouldn't raise moral for the witches and wizards we dutifully serve." Harry threw his hands up in anger.
"I won't be your poster child! I WON'T!"
"I know, Harry," Scrimgeour said a bit too calmly. "I have given up on that idea."
"Then what am I doing here?" Harry asked rudely. "This better not be about the hearing that I missed. I don't care about that, all I did was Apparate!"
"Oh, it isn't about that. We gave you a change to come to us and work with us. You said no. You didn't come willingly, so we used force. We're keeping you now. You are ours."
Harry widened his eyes in anger. His hand flew to his pocket where he drew his wand and pointed it angrily at Scrimgeour.
"I am not yours!" he shouted, giving his wand a threatening thrust at the Minister. "I am no one's! LET ME OUT!" he bellowed, louder than ever.
Scrimgeour felt his toes curl in slight fear. This was a side of the Boy-Who-Lived that he'd never seen or heard of before. He actually felt slightly scared of Harry – a child! Scrimgeour now realized the threat that Voldemort sensed in Harry. Harry wasn't just a schoolboy who had a knack for getting into trouble; Harry was fierce when he needed to be. Scrimgeour almost felt like taking a step back from Harry, but instead held his ground. He pulled out his wand and tried to sound calm, though it was beginning to prove difficult.
"Harry, I don't think you want to do that, especially not within the Ministry."
"Let… Me… Out," Harry said through gritted teeth. He was so close to losing his temper, so close to doing something he'd regret later on. He flashed his eyes angrily at the man instead, trying to control himself yet still remaining a threat.
"Harry," Scrimgeour said, smiling slightly, "You need not be angry at me. Be angry at yourself. After all, it is you who has caused this series of events. It's you who rejected the Ministry of magic, and all of wizardkind."
"I DID NO SUCH THING!" Harry screamed at the top of his lungs. He glared at Scrimgeour furiously, hearing his own angry shouts echoing off the cold walls of his cell. "I did not reject wizardkind, I did not reject the Ministry of Magic! All I did was resist you!" Harry lunged forward with his wand and shouted, "Expelliarmus!" Scrimgeour flew back and hit the stone wall, his wand flying out of his hand. Harry heard a loud clatter that echoed throughout the room as the wand came crashing back down to the floor.
Scrimgeour looked up at Harry, enraged. He stood and thrust his hand in front of him. His wand flew to it immediately. Scrimgeour retracted his wand, about to do a spell, but Harry was too quick.
"Impedimenta!" Harry shouted quickly. Scrimgeour was hit with the spell and took a few steps back, looking slightly shocked. He began to Disapparate, but was moving slowly. It seemed that the spell took an effect on Scrimgeour that slowed him down, as if he were on a tape being played back in slow-motion.
Harry watched as Scrimgeour began turning slowly. It took Harry a second to realize he was trying to Disapparate out of the cell Harry was being kept in. Quickly, Harry rushed forward, stuffing his wand into his right pants pocket. He clung to Scrimgeour's arm tightly and shut his eyes. Before Scrimgeour could shake Harry off, he had turned on his heel and Disapparated. Harry felt the familiar feeling that he hated, but tried to keep his focus. He'd soon be Apparating somewhere with Scrimgeour, and wouldn't have much time to recover.
As the feeling lifted off Harry, he inhaled quickly and turned. He saw Scrimgeour lifting his wand, ready to attack. Harry whirled around and kicked with all his force. The Minister flew back and landed hard on his back, clutching his stomach hard. Without caring, Harry took off down the nearest hallway.
While Scrimgeour was still in pain, he managed to muster the strength and breath to scream. Several guards heard him and came tearing down the hallway Harry was running up. They spotted him, wands in hand. Quickly Harry took out his own wand.
"Stupefy!" he cried as all the guards were hit with a bolt of red light. They stopped in their tracks and fell to the ground, unconscious. Harry continued running down the hallway. A man down the hallway was walking slowly.
"MOVE!" Harry shouted, but to no avail. Harry saw no choice but to stun the man as well. Papers went flying as the gentleman was hit with a bolt of red light. Harry ran over his scattered papers that littered the floor, and hopped over his limp body. "Sorry!" he called after the man, though the man couldn't hear him. He continued to run down the hall.
Turning a corner, Harry came across Tonks and Mr. Weasley talking about some matter that Harry assumed was work-related. They looked at him, shocked. Harry merely waved at them slightly and continued running, his strength holding up. As he rounded another corner he could have sworn her heard Tonks mutter, "What the f…?"
Harry persisted in his escape, trying to find a way out. As he passed a large amount of guards, they all fell to the ground with flashes of light. Harry slowed, confused. He hadn't cast any spells on the guards. As he stared behind the collapsing sentries, he saw Ginny, Ron, and Hermione hopping over their bodies quickly.
"Harry!" Hermione shouted excitedly. She looked as if she were about to say more, but she was cut off.
"No time to talk!" Harry said quickly, beginning his run again. Without even being told, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione tore after Harry down the hallways and corridors, not saying anything. As Harry began to tire, he noticed they were further under the ground than Harry had originally started. He decided that he should find a place to hide, a place to explain to his friends the events that had transpired during his absence. Harry spotted a door as he ran down an old-looking corridor and opened it, thrusting himself in it. His friends entered seconds after him, and Harry slammed the door shut and locked it. He leaned over, resting his arms on his knees, panting.
As Harry looked up at his friends, finally gaining control of his breath, he noticed a few things. The first of which, was that the room had an eerie blue look to it. Also, Ginny and Hermione had very shocked expressions on their faces, while Ron looked dumbfounded. Harry looked around, expecting the worst, but merely found they were in a round room that was entirely black. There were several doors all over, each black as well. The eerie blue, Harry realized, came from the countless blue-flamed candles floating around the room, their shimmering light reflecting off every surface in the room.
Immediately, the circular wall began rotating, and Harry realized which room he was now in. He had run to the Department of Mysteries, not even realizing it. Harry hadn't meant to run here, but upon noticing their surroundings, came to a revelation. Without any explanation, Harry walked over to a door and opened it. Inside, Harry saw clocks everywhere. A brilliant glare filled his eyes as he saw large cloaks, small clocks, grandfather clocks, and any other clock one could imagine. At the far end of the room, a huge crystal bell jar stood. Harry realized he'd opened the wrong door and shut it.
As the walls began moving again, Harry turned around. His friends stood behind him, confused.
"Harry, what happened?" Ginny asked.
"Scrimgeour tricked me. He offered me food, which was a Portkey. It took me to…" Harry trailed off distracted. The walls had ceased to move once more. "It took me to a jail-type thing that had no way for me to Disapparate out of. Scrimgeour came in and said that if I wasn't going to be his little poster boy, I wasn't going to be doing anything." Hermione gasped. Ron and Ginny merely widened their eyes. "He accused me… of betraying the wizarding world, saying that I wouldn't give them hope. I shot a few spells at him, and as he went to Disapparate, I grabbed onto his arm and Disapparated alongside him. I kicked him and ran, and that's where you guys showed up." Harry walked over to another door. It was locked. He continued on to the next one.
It opened and Harry looked into it. Inside the rectangular room was a sunken pit in the center. In the stone pit stood a familiar stone archway that had a fluttering black veil hung from it. Harry walked down to the arch and his friends followed.
"Harry, what are you doing?" questioned Hermione in a worried tone. Harry stared fixedly and the veil, hearing faint whispers from it, though he couldn't decipher them. "Harry?" Hermione repeated, sounding even more scared and worried than before.
"Sirius?" Harry whispered. Hermione's eyebrows shot up.
"Sirius isn't there, Harry, he's dead." Harry ignored her.
"Sirius?" he asked again, taking a small step forward. The whispers seemed to get louder as he neared the archway.
"Harry, stop you're scaring me!" Hermione said. "Sirius isn't here!" Harry looked at her.
"Don't you hear the whispering? Someone's in there."
"No one's whispering, Harry," Hermione stated. "Only you." Harry returned his gaze to the arch. Someone definitely was whispering, though Harry couldn't see who. He remembered what Luna said about talking to people behind the veil, but he didn't think it would work. Could you talk to people that weren't even there? What if they weren't even people?
Harry lurched forward and thrust his hand out and pushed the veil back. He plunged his index finger through the arch and screamed, shutting his eyes. Millions of voices were echoing in his head, all saying thing Harry couldn't understand. Suddenly a smooth, cool feeling drifted over his mind and the voices died down. He pictured a swirling of black, blue, red, and green, and smelled an unusual scent that fluttered by his nostrils lazily. Sirius, Harry thought clearly in his mind. His thought echoed loudly in his mind. The amounts of green in the swirls swelled as the other colors were pushed away slightly.
Sirius, Harry thought clearly again, though not as loudly. The swirls of color returned to normal. Harry? A voice answered, sounding strangely familiar. Harry was shocked.
Sirius? Harry thought, probing his mind even further into the trance.
Harry, what are you doing here? Why aren't you at-?
Sirius, Harry said quickly, cutting Sirius off, I need your help. Your brother, Regulus… Another echo filled Harry's head, though it was faint and barely noticeable. It sounded gruff and angry. Harry pushed it from his mind. What happened to him? A clear picture of Sirius grew in Harry's mind. Harry watched it as it spoke to him, the blue in the churning behind him growing.
He is dead, Harry. I've told you this. Sirius turned to his left and stared at something next to him that Harry couldn't see. He turned back to Harry. We do not have much time. Here… The image of Sirius faded from Harry's mind. Red flashed dangerously all over Harry's thoughts. Suddenly black swarmed his mind, filling every crevice of his brain. All was dark. The millions of voices shouting and echoing filled Harry's head until he thought he wouldn't be able to take it anymore. Then they all stopped.
Harry? asked an old voice Harry thought he knew. You do not have much time. A misty image of Dumbledore faded into Harry's mind as the colors in the background changed back to normal. Dumbledore looked worried.
Professor?
Harry, don't speak – listen. Gryffindor's sword is a Horcrux. I discovered it the night we went out, but planned on telling you after we got back. I didn't find it more important than the mission at hand.
Professor, I know, we went back into your memories and spoke to your portrait. At the mention of his memories and portrait, a twinkle formed in Dumbledore's eyes.
Smart boy. I did the same, myself, and discovered my naivety. I assumed too little of Voldemort that night.Harry began having trouble hearing Dumbledore. His form was slowly fading away and his voice was getting quieter. The swirls of black behind Dumbledore were growing.
Professor, what's-?
Harry… Fawkes… He… power… the Horcrux. Harry could barely hear Dumbledore anymore.
Professor the locket was fake! Harry shouted with all his might. His thoughts echoed loudly in his head. A buzzing noise grew from a distance. PROFESSOR!
Locket…needs…now… Promise… please…
Dumbledore's image faded away. Darkness engulfed Harry's visions once again as the buzzing grew to a huge shouting and echoing of voices.
Sirius…Harry thought intently. Sirius… Dumbledore… SIRIUS!
Harry screamed in agony. The pain was too much. The cool feeling was drifting away from him. A mass of dead air filled his lungs. Harry felt his eyes roll back into his head and felt shaking. A searing pain shot up Harry's arm as a blinding white light flashed before Harry's eyes. The light faded away. Harry thought no more.
---------------------------------
Authors' Note:
Sean: Sean and Nora are deeply sorry. This chapter took way too long to write, but mainly because Sean was distracted by girls. Once more, Sean apologizes.
Nora: -Nods head.- …Stupid shit can't write a damn chapter without being scolded…