Sorry about the long wait! Here's the new chapter. Happy reading!
Chapter 17
The doorknob to the Room of Requirement was slick with sweat as Harry pushed it open, holding his breath. But as he peered in, all the wind left him in one, big, defeated whoosh. The small, dark, broom closet sized room was hopelessly empty. Just like Pasha. He continued to stare into the depths of the darkness for what seemed like hours, willing it to give him something. Anything.
"You may want to try opening to door wider," said a voice behind him.
Harry spun around and saw that it was Nearly Headless Nick, his ghostly white body floating up and down.
"What do you mean, wider?"
"Well, I'm no expert, but I've been here long enough to know that sometimes the Room hides things from you if it is not sure it is the solution."
"The Room is not sure it will work?" Harry repeated skeptically. "You mean the Room is alive?"
"Just open it," snapped Nick.
Harry complied, and as he pushed the door wider, light spilled into the room, illuminating its contents. In the corner, hidden in the shadows, was a thick, leather-bound book. It looked old, and the cover was untitled. As he came closer and bent down to pick it up, the pages started turning of its own accord, as if an invisible wind was rustling it. Then, as abruptly as it had started, it lay still. Harry hungrily tried to read it immediately, but the letters were impossible to decipher in the dark. He strode quickly out of the room, eyes still fixed on the page.
As the flickering torchlight from the bracket on the other side of the corridor illuminated the yellowed pages, Harry began to read avidly. It seemed to be some kind of ritual, and it looked simple enough. At the very top of the page, in loopy handwriting, was the title Soul Exchange.
Soul Exchange, Harry repeated to himself. How was that supposed to help Pasha? She had no soul to exchange with. Was this why the Room had hidden it from him? Because it wasn't going to work?
He closed the book, remembering the page number, and hurried off along the corridor towards the dormitory. Climbing through the portrait hole, he spotted Hermione and Ron, both in armchairs by the fire. They jumped as he entered and rushed over to him.
"Harry! What happened? Is Pasha - I mean, You-Know-Who -?" Hermione asked hurriedly.
"Voldemort's gone," said Harry flatly, his voice devoid of any emotion.
They were both silent, letting it sink in. Voldemort was truly gone. There was a strong sense of de ja vu, but they knew that this time, he was gone. Never to wreck havoc amognst the wizarding world again.
"So is Pasha -?" Ron began.
"She's alive."
"But Harry, doesn't that mean You-Know-Who's still alive?"
Harry shook his head and began to let them in on all that had happened tonight. Ron and Hermione listened on in silence, with Hermione gasping at points in his monologue, but being shushed by Ron. When Harry finally finished, he felt a wave of tiredness wash over him, and thought about his soft, warm bed upstairs. His thoughts suddenly snapped back to the heavy book still clutched in his hand, and he hurridly slammed it onto the table, making Ron and Hermione jump.
"Harry, what -?"
"Here!" he exclaimed, finding the page.
The two cocked their heads to the side to read it, and Hermione let out a gasp.
"Oh! But this is ... Harry, this is Dark magic!"
Harry frowned. "Dark -?"
"Yes, Dark magic. It's against wizarding law to take away someone's soul."
"But it already is Pasha's soul. All we have to do is figure out where it is."
"You don't know where it is?" Ron asked in disbelief. "Well that's just peachy, isn't it? We can put up missing posters: Have you seen this soul?"
Hermione gave Ron a glare that quieted him at once, then turned back to Harry. "Do you have any idea where it might be?"
Harry shook his head, the flaming embers of hope that he could save Pasha dieing down. He racked his brain for any clue of where Pasha's soul might be. Suddenly, for the second time that day, a light flashed in his headlikea bright spark of inspiration.
"Harry, what is it? You know where it is?" asked Hermione, seeing the look on his face.
He swung his eyes, now bright, onto Hermione's equally hopeful face and uttered one word. "Mrs. Norris."
"Of course," whispered Hermione.
"Mrs Norris? What are you on about?" asked Ron, looking from Harry back to Hermione.
"That would explain her strange behaviour! But -" she frowned. " -why would it go in there? I mean, Mrs Norris?"
Ron, clearly not getting what they were talking about, threw up his hands in fustration.
"Don't you see, Ron?" said Hermione, turning towards him. "Pasha's soul was transferred to Mrs Norris somehow. That's why she's taken a liking to Harry all of a sudden, and that's why she attacked You-Know-Who when he was in Pasha's body. Because Mrs Norris was her."
Ron still looked skeptical at this theory. "But why Mrs Norris? I mean, souls can go into objects, can't they? Like the Horcruxes? So why didn't it - oh, I don't know - go into a pot or something?"
"Exactly what I wanted to know," said Harry, getting up and picking up the heavy book.
"Where are you going?" asked Ron.
"Dumbledore's office. I'm going to see if he know's anything about this."
Tucking the book under his arm, he clambered clumsily out the portrait hole. Ron and Hermione followed behind. He raced along the corridor, turned a sharp corner, and was soon facing the stone gargoyle that guarded the entrance to Dumbledore's office. It had been repaired after Pasha had obliviated it into rubble, intent on getting to Dumbledore. That was the night she had found out the truth about her past; about how Voldemort had killed her parents and erased her memory.
"You go," said Hermione as the gargoyle leapt aside at the password, "we'll wait here for you."
Harry nodded, and stepped onto the stone staircase. Before he knew it, he was facing the wooden door that led into Dumbledore's office. He knocked loudly, impatient with anticipation.
"Come in," Dumbledore's voice said from within.
Harry entered and saw Dumbledore sitting behind his deskm stroking Fawkes the Phoenix who was perched on a pile of papers. The bird's lovely red and gold plumage stood out amognst the white sheets of parchment strewn about the desk.
"Professor," Harry blurted out at once, "can a human soul go into an animal?"
Dumbledore seemed to be anticipating a question like this, and did not look startled. Instead, he answered Harry in his usual calm manner. "It can go into objects, so I do not see why not."
Harry nodded and continued. "Professor... um, is it possible that Pasha's soul could have gone into Mrs Norris?"
Dumbledore raised his eyebrows. "Now what makes you think that, Harry?"
Harry began to explain Mrs Norris' strange behaviour ever since Voldemort's 'death'. When Harry finished telling him his theory, there was a silence in which Dumbledore studied him through his half-moon glasses. Harry shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot under his bright blue gaze.
"It is possible," said Dumbledore after a while. "but have you thought about this: why Mrs Norris?"
Harry had thought about that on the way up here, and he had an answer prepared. "I think it had something to do with her Felimorphis ability. You know, since Mrs Norris is a cat and all, her soul might have gone into something similar."
Dumbledore nodded. "Yes, it is a possible theory," he said again. "Since animals do not have souls, Pasha's soul would have gone into the nearest living thing, which just happened to be Mrs Norris. Yes, yes, well done, Harry."
Harry felt elated again, his theory now having been confirmed by Dumbledore, and went on to place the book on Dumbledore's desk. Fawkes ruffled his feathers as he shuffled aside to make room for it.
"Where did you get this?" asked Dumbledore as Harry showed him the page that could bring Pasha back.
"Room of Requirement."
Dumbledore's eyes scrolled down the page as heread it, frowning. "Harry, you do realise that this is very Dark magic."
"I know," he said, determined to do anything to bring Pasha back. "And I'm gonna do it, even if it isDark magic, to bring her back."
Dumbledore nodded gravely. "I understand how you feel, but are you willing to sacrifice yourself?"
"Huh?" asked Harry, startled.
"You have not read it all?"
Harry leaned in, trying to read upside down. He had been too excited at theprospect of bringing Pasha back that he had neglected to read the whole page. But now, standing here in Dumbledore's office, reading the book upside down, he realised that this would cost more than a few ingrediants. At the bottom of the page, in tiny letters, were the words: human soul needed.
Harry looked back up at Dumbledore with wide eyes. "I - I didn't know -"
Now he knew the true reason why the Room had hidded it from him.This was why. Was he willing to sacrifice himself to save Pasha? To bring her soul back to her rightful body? There was no doubt in his mind that he loved her. She was his soul mate. He thought back to all they had experienced together; the laughs and the tears. So much in such a short amount of time. And in that instant, he knew he had to do this. As much as he wanted to live, he knew that he could not live without her. Just as his parents had done before him, he would give his life for the one he loved.
Dumbledore, seeing the look on his face go from shock to determination, plucked a single feather from Fawkes' magnificent tail. "You will be needing this."
Harry took it, his expression grave. He picked up the book, tucked it back under his arm, and left the room. Out in the corridor, Ron and Hermione were murmuring quietly to each other. They looked up as he came back from behind the stone gargoyle.
"What did he say?" asked Ron.
And in that dimly lit corridor, between his two best friends, he began to tell them. Hermione ended up in sobs, begging for him not to do this. But Harry had made up his mind. With his decision still echoing down the corridor for anyone to hear, he began to make his way down to the dungeon.
Omg, I AM evil, aren't I? Another cliffie! Sorry, bad habit of mine. And anyway, the story's nearly finished, so you won't have to put up with much more for long.