Title: Harry Potter and the Orb of Souls
Author: SerafinaMoon
Date: Sep 4-16, 2005
Summary: Voldemort has discovered a new weapon—the Orb of Souls. With it, he has discovered a way to purge the world—with their only savior.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, any of its characters, or themes. I will not profit from this story except receiving enjoyment of your questions, comments, and input on this work.
Claimer: I do, however, own this story and its plot and any Original Characters that I may use during the duration of the story making process.
A/N- I only just finished this chapter Friday night and wanted to get it out to you all right away before you decided to come after me with mallets so this chapter is unbetaed! Watch out!
Chapter 16: Unveiled Memories
The Common Room was full of noise and a flurry of activity when all the students came back from their holidays. Naito was sitting on his bed talking to Draco as the Slytherin boy unpacked his things, trying to get done before going to bed.
"So how did your vacation go, Draco? Did you have fun?"
"Not really. It was pretty boring actually. I had to go with my mother to all of her stupid politic parties and sit there while they all talked about girl stuff."
Naito grimaced, knowing exactly how the blonde aristocrat felt, having been subject to several boring Death Eater meetings while he was still in training (these were when Voldemort had not been present).
"I did get a pretty good haul in this year, though."
Naito looked at Draco curiously.
"You know..." the way Draco was talking it was as if he were a toddler that needed something that should have been common sense explained to him.
Finally, Draco explained and Naito blushed in embarrassment as the boy said one word, "...presents? You usually get them every year at Christmas and your birthday?"
Naito gave the boy a scathing look as he said this and snapped, "Do you really think you get a lot of presents when the Dark Lord is raising you?"
Now it was Draco's turn to blush as he slumped, sitting on his bed as his tirade came to an abrupt halt.
"Oh, sorry. I didn't think of that."
"Obviously."
"I did find out something really exciting during break though!" Draco exclaimed breaking the tense silence that had fallen between them.
"What's that, Draco?"
"Apparently the Dark Lord's been looking for something recently because whatever it was, he sent my dad to look for it in the Ministry of Magic yesterday and he came back and told the Dark Lord it was there, hidden in the Department of Mysteries."
A familiar stirring of his conscious told Naito that there was a memory stored in the back of his head somewhere associated with that name, but more importantly he fingured out what inspiration he had given Voldemort at the Death Eater meeting.
By telling Voldemort that Dumbledore had been sending people to the Ministry of Magic, he had apparently figured out that the Orb of Souls was there.
So that explained the anxiety he had been feeling all day, each time accompanied by a twinge of pain in his forehead.
That means he's going to attack tonight. He's not going to put much planning into this, unless he already has then. He'd rather make a lot of mistakes, but get to it before anyone knows he knows where it is and moves it than leave it while he plans and someone perhaps finds out that he knows. Clever.
I need to get to it first, but I have classes and surely someone will notice if I'm not there; therefore, I'll just have to wait until classes are over. As soon as I'm done with all of that, I'll head over to the Ministry and try to get it before him...I bet the book with all the information on the Orb is right there with it too.
"Oh. That's interesting. Do you know when the Dark Lord is going to go after this mysterious object?" Naito asked, hoping he could figure out one way or another Voldemort's exact plans.
"Tonight. My father did not say what time precisely."
"Oh, so what all did you get for Christmas," Naito changed the subject, hoping it did not seem like he was fishing for information.
"The newest broom on the market, I'll let you ride it sometime—it's wicked fast, a bunch of books I wanted, a few rare artifacts..."
As Draco's list got longer and longer, Naito's imagination grew farther and farther away.
With classes not starting until the end of the weekend, Naito would not have to worry about not being back at the castle at any certain time as long as he returned before suspicions were aroused.
Other than that, Naito would need to find a way to get out and back into the castle without detection. No one, absolutely NO ONE, could know about what was going on, including Snape and Dumbledore.
He might have been helping the Order, but he was their ally, not their pawn—he would do what needed to be done and it was best if they knew nothing about what was going on. After all, someone cannot torture out of you information you do not have, right?
Naito's musings were interrupted by something, or someone prodding his arm.
"Hey, Nate! Are you even listening to me?" Draco was beginning to get annoyed.
"Yes, sorry, Draco. I was just thinking about my parents. This is my first Christmas without my mum and dad you know...it's just kind of hard," Naito thought up a quick lie to cover his lapse of focus.
Draco said nothing to that, not knowing how to feel and just muttered a subdued, "I'm going to bed."
"Hm. Ok, me too, I think."
And with that, both boys got ready to sleep and laid down in their bed, one drifting off and the other waiting for the appropriate moment.
When Naito could hear nothing except the snores from his other companions in the room and the sounds of nighttime all around, he drew the covers back off his legs and got up, taking his time putting on his black pants and shirt, followed by his robe and mask.
He was going up against Voldemort again...after almost not escaping the last time.
Also, he was going into unfamiliar territory, unlike the Dark Lord, who he had heard of having some excursion with Harry Potter in the Department of Mysteries—so he had been told anyway.
He had heard many stories of Voldemort's fights against Harry Potter while learning about his mission and his targets. He needed to be familiar with his surroundings and those he targeted: Hermione and Ron.
They had been on many of those adventures with the orphaned Savior and Naito could only say good for him for fighting against Voldemort as he had.
Well, it's time to go, Naito told himself, trying to steel himself against his antagonists in the upcoming conflicts.
With everything ready, Naito transformed into a phoenix and flash apparated to the Ministry building.
If he was really, really lucky, he might just make it early enough to get what he needed and slip out before Voldemort managed to come, but there was always Murphy's Law to consider.
Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.
He had to keep that in account.
Naito looked around at his surroundings and found himself in the lobby of the Ministry of Magic. It was completely empty, devoid of all life. The only thing moving was the water flowing from a newly erected fountain that had been made to look like two wands crossing a shield of arms with each tip of the wands emitting flowing strands of water into a wishing pool.
Naito had heard the story about the previous fountain as well...
Not really in the mood for dallying, the Shadow Phoenix strode up the hallway to the lift on the other side and stepped in.
None of the buttons on the lift had symbols or labels explained which floor was which department, but Naito had another vague tingling in the back of his mind that the button number he was looking for was nine.
He traveled in silence except for the ruckus of the grills on the lift, but all of that came to a halt as a woman's animated voice broke through the silence, saying, "Level nine, Department of Mysteries."
Walking out of the lift, Naito headed for a plain black door that was right beside the courtrooms.
Wait a minute! How did I know that? I've never been here before...have I?
Shaking his head in confusion, but deciding to let it go, Naito hurried across the threshold and was about to close the door when the vague tingling in the back of his mind increased into an incessant buzz that permeated his brain, telling him for some odd reason he should not shut the black door behind him.
Knowing that Voldemort would be alert and leaving the door open, would immediately alert him to the other person's presence as soon as he spied the door, Naito went against his better judgment and closed it anyway.
Suddenly, the room spun, making him dizzy as all of the doors in the room switched places...and there were a lot of doors.
Well, that was good, his mind told him.
Shut up, he retorted.
It was not like he knew which room the Orb was in anyways so it could not really hurt matters much.
Choosing a room, Naito opened the door to find a room full of clocks with beautiful, dancing, diamond-sparkling light shining on every surface so that the clock faces gleamed with joy.
Hm, obviously not that one...this must be the room where the Unspeakables study time...
Then, in the back of Naito's mind the buzzing that had lingered ever since he had entered the Ministry began to grow louder, more recognizable as a vision or flashback that was just waiting on him to find enough clues that it could take shape.
"Oh look!" said Ginny, pointing to an object that was vaguely reminiscent of the bell jar sitting in the middle of the room. At the very heart of the object, drifting in a sparkling current, was a tiny, jewel bright egg.
"Keep going!" snapped a voice Naito could not recognize when Ginny showed signs of wanting to stop and watch the transformation happening within the bell jar.
"You dawdled enough by that old arch!" she retorted crossly, but following anyway.
"This is it," said the unknown voice again breathlessly, obviously dreading and longing to enter the room they had found, "It's through here—" it said hurriedly before the flashback faded into nothingness.
Naito shook himself of the vision, wondering what was going on. The flashbacks had been intense when he first started attending Hogwarts, but it was nowhere near as intense as the visions he had had upon arriving at the Ministry.
Why was that?
It almost seemed as if his past self had experienced some devastating trauma in a milieu like this one, while when he apparently had strange occurrences or disasters happen at Hogwarts (if that vague recollection of Hermione, Ron, and a troll was true), they were balanced out with good memories as well...
It could not be because he had spent more time at the Ministry than Hogwarts, had he? No, that just did not seem right...what was going on?
Remembering the task he had been set to, Naito ignored the vision and resumed his search for the Orb and the book that went with it.
Turning around and closing the door behind him, but not before making a distinct mark on the door so he would know where he came from, Naito proceeded to the next random door in a dozen or so to choose from.
When he opened this one, instead of a room full of clocks and light it was completely dark with floating planets suspended above the ground in a revolving orbit.
Naito frowned as, once again, his luck had deserted him in his choice of rooms. This was obviously not the right room.
Same as the other room though, this one came with an accompanying vision.
"So which way d'you reck--?"
Before the unidentified voice could make a decision as to which way to try or even finish its sentence, a door sprang open beside them and three people fell out of it.
"Ron!" croaked the unrecognizable person, dashing toward them. "Ginny—are you all--?"
The next thing Ron said was muffled by the buzzing sound that reached a fevered pitch as if parts of Naito's mind were fighting each other for dominance. The vision was trying to get through, but apparently something was attempting to hold it back and keep it from reaching Naito's conscious mind.
It seemed to have no trouble revealing the next part of the vision as Ron continued on talking.
"There you are...Ha ha ha...You look funny...You're all messed up..."
Ron's face was very white and something dark was trickling from the corner of his mouth. Next moment his knees gave way, pulling the unfamiliar person down with him into a bow.
"Ginny?" asked the voice fearfully. "What happened?"
Ginny only shook her head in reply and slid down the wall into a sitting position, panting and holding her ankle.
"I think her ankle's broken, I heard something crack," whispered Luna.
"Four of them chased us into a dark room full of planets, it was a very odd place, some of the time we were just floating in the dark—"
Naito collapsed against the doorway as this vision ended.
I'm going insane with these visions! I just wish I knew what was going ON!
Tired of wasting time, Naito turned to another door, after marking the other and having the room make him dizzy once more.
Wrenching the next door open, Naito noticed that like the room before, this one was dark, but unlike its neighbor, it gave off an eerie sort of feeling.
It reminded Naito of Volemort's victims that were brought to his headquarters. After several days of nothing except torture, suffering, belittlement, and starvation, when they finally were let go, there was always a feeling of sorrow in the air.
It was almost as if they had not been meant to die the way they had, unprepared perhaps, but they took with them all that pain and suffering with them beyond the grave and it permeated the air with the feeling of...incompleteness.
There were no words to describe it, this feeling of death after immense suffering, but Naito knew it well, it was the sort of death he had always pictured for himself while serving under Voldemort with no hope of a future.
So when he opened the door, immediately recognized the feeling for what it was; it was the feeling of a darkness deeper than the blackest night, the darkness of death.
Whispered voices seemed to call out to Naito, pleading, begging for help.
And Naito was drawn to those voices...had he not promised to always help those that needed him?
Yes, but only those that were innocent among the living! Naito's mind cried out to him, revealing the lure for what it was...a trap.
Quickly, Naito slammed the door against the voices, blocking them out, thankfully this time there was no complementary flashback to go with the room, although the internal battle in his mind had become extremely fierce giving Naito an intense headache, making him more miffed than usual.
Finally, fed up with everything and the strange voices that echoed with shadows from Naito's own mind deeply unsettling him, making him even more irritable so that he yelled out, "Where is the blasted door that leads to the room with the orb!"
Amazingly enough, it worked as a door behind him opened up revealing another brightly lit room with only a table in the middle surrounded by desks.
Finally, now that I've wasted enough time...
Naito approached the room at a brisk pace, wanting to get the Orb and the book back to Hogwarts where he knew it would finally be safe.
It was not until that moment that he realized just how much time he had wasted.
He had just picked up the book on the Orb and stuffed it into a secret pocket within his robe when he heard voices coming from the "spinning room."
Great! I just love company! Naito thought sarcastically as he bound over to the table and collected the clear, glass sphere the size of a grapefruit that seemed to be filled with white, wisps of smoke, oddly reminding him of a crystal ball.
In his haste to grab the globe, Naito knocked over the small glass stand the Orb had been perching on, making it fall to the floor and shatter with a loud crashing noise.
The voices outside hushed and went silent, alerting Naito that they had heard.
CRAP! He thought, running back out to the switching doors room, closing the door behind him so that it spun once more while trying to stuff the ball into one of his enlarged pockets.
Before the Death Eaters outside could come in, Naito dove into a room at random, hoping Lucius would lead them directly to the Orb room and not have to go searching through rooms arbitrarily like he had.
Looking around for something to hide behind, Naito noticed that there were many more doors in this room, making him wonder just how big the Department of Mysteries really was.
Naito walked over and crouched behind a giant tank full of brains when he heard Lucius' voice out in the corridor giving instructions.
"Now, when we get the Orb, we're to give it directly to the Dark Lord, he'll be waiting for us in the lobby when our job is through. We're also supposed to see if the book is here; it's supposed to have information on the Orb."
Great! Voldemort's back at the entrance! Now how am I supposed to get out? No other choice except to fight, I guess.
There was no time left as Malfoy ordered a curt, "Follow me in," before Naito could hear them all entering the room he had just vacated.
There was a moments silence as the Death Eaters surveyed the scene around them then they were all yelling at once, creating a ruckus.
Naito thought it would be a good time to try to sneak by and hide in some other part of the Ministry, but his plans were never put into motion as Malfoy bellowed through the cacophony, quieting it.
"QUIET!" he shouted and everything became still once more.
"Now, we're going to split up into pairs, every one take a different room; we'll find whoever did this and they will pay. Show them no mercy then bring him to the Dark Lord. Go!"
All along the corridor doors were being opened and the rooms searched. Naito knew he needed to leave and the only ways left to him were the doors inside the room he was in. Taking a chance, he jumped into one just as Death Eaters opened the door to the room he was hiding in.
"Hey! We've found—"
The two that had come in found themselves cut off as Naito silenced them with a spell, but it had been enough to alert others to go that direction.
And here we go again...
The stunner fired at his back was blocked by the door as Naito closed the door behind him, causing it to splinter and blast apart.
Not even paying attention to his surroundings, Naito flew down the stairs in front of him, turning back every few seconds to fire spells at those pursuing him.
So caught up in his fight with those behind him, Naito never even noticed he was descending down into the room that he had gotten the eerie feeling from before.
Thus, when he fully entered the room and beheld the magnificent arch with its flowing veil he stopped running completely, his breath, coming in gasps from running and muttering incessant incantations, hitched, lodging in his throat.
His glistening silver eyes, usually shining like the pale light of the full moon, ceased glowing altogether as the life in them drained away. His hands were shaking uncontrollably and his heart skipped a beat as he stared at the veil sitting innocently in front of him, the hems of it swaying silently as if blown by an unfelt breeze.
Luckily, distant sounds of the Death Eaters were heard on the stairs, having stopped momentarily to untangle themselves from where they had tripped over each other from some spell Naito had shot at them.
While Naito stood immobile, staring at the veil, his mind was a whirling blur of motion as the buzzing noise that had been ravaging his brain all night fought against an unseen force.
The buzzing grew extremely fierce and pushed against the wall holding it back, finally forcing it back and back until it snapped completely and broke, releasing everything that it had been trying to keep hidden for so long...the memories of Naito's past.
Colors and sounds merged and blended together, making everything Naito was seeing in his own mind a complete blur of motion so that he was unable to put it all together.
Memories of past experiences rushed to the forefront of Naito's mind, jumbling and tumbling over each other, each trying to make their presence known, but the one memory that stood out the most was the one Naito wished was most suppressed.
Only one couple were still battling, apparently unaware of the newly arrived Dumbledore to the Death Chamber in the Department of Mysteries.
Harry saw Sirius duck Bellatrix's jet of red light: He was laughing at her, "Come on, you can do better than that!" he yelled, his voice echoing around the cavernous room.
The second jet of light hit him squarely on the chest.
The laughter had not quite died from his face, but his eyes widened in shock.
Harry released Neville, though he was unaware of doing so. He was jumping down the steps again, pulling out his wand, as Dumbledore turned to the dais too.
It seemed to take Sirius an age to fall. His body curved in a graceful arc as he sank backward through the ragged veil hanging from the arch...
And Harry saw the look of mingled fear and surprise on his godfather's wasted, once-handsome face as he fell through the ancient doorway and disappeared behind the veil, which fluttered for a moment as though in a high wind and then fell back into place.
Harry heard Bellatrix Lestrange's triumphant scream, but knew it meant nothing—Sirius had only just fallen through the archway, he would reappear from the other side any second...
But Sirius did not reappear.
"SIRIUS!" Harry yelled, "SIRIUS!"
He had reached the floor, his breath coming in searing gasps. Sirius must be just behind the curtain, he, Harry, would pull him back out again...
But as he reached the ground and sprinted toward the dais, Lupin grabbed Harry around the chest, holding him back.
"There's nothing you can do, Harry—"
"Get him, save him, he's only just gone through!"
"It's too late, Harry—"
"We can still reach him—"
Harry struggled hard and viciously, but Lupin would not let go...
"There's nothing you can do, Harry...nothing...He's gone."
Suddenly, it all returned to him...the Dursley's, Hogwarts with the stone, Chamber of Secrets, meeting Sirius and Lupin for the first time, the resurrection, the Department of Mysteries incident, and finally being poisoned by his relatives.
Awakening from his stupor, Naito Kuroi Koori remembered every detail of his past and knew he was really the supposedly dead Harry James Potter.
Harry gasped, inhaling air after not breathing several minutes and ended up coughing to expel the stale air that had been stuck inside his lungs as he viewed his memories.
So that was what the Sorting Hat had meant when it said that he would have to unveil his own memories. It had been a foreshadowing of him seeing the veil and his memories being returned to him.
The clues had been there all along! People comparing him, especially Dumbledore, to Harry Potter and even the fact that while he had been in Slytherin, he had acted just like a Gryffindor.
Now that he knew who he really was, should he reveal himself to his friends? Would they even want him back once they learned that he had ultimately become Voldemort's weapon and spy?
Shouts of incantations reached Harry's ears as the Death Eaters finally managed to unravel themselves and rush down the stairs in a stampede, startling Harry from his pensive thoughts.
One incantation in particular caught his attention as the Orb he had worked so hard to attain soared out of his pocket and into Lucius Malfoy's greedy, open palm: Accio Orb of Souls.
"NO!" Harry shouted, reaching for it and missing as it sailed past his outstretched arm.
"Well, well, well, look who we have here! The Shadow Phoenix again? We just keep running into each other don't we?"
Not even bothering to retort, Harry tried to summon the Orb back to his hand.
"Uh uh uh! I expected you to try that and put up an anti-summoning ward around my hand after I caught the pretty, little bauble. Smart of me, don't you think?"
Harry growled, his eyes narrowed to slits and his cheeks flushed in anger.
"There are other ways to get it back, Malfoy!" Harry sneered quietly, but fiercely.
"Not if I don't want you to," said a voice from behind him.
Harry spun around, knowing exactly who he would find to his back; how could he not with that distinct, scaly voice with an undercurrent of rage and smug inflection of emotion.
"Voldemort."
"Correct, Shadow Phoenix."
"I should have known you would slither your way to the upper floors. After all, it's obvious you don't trust your pathetic lackeys to handle your dirty work. I know for a fact one of them could be easily done in by pest control."
Lucius Malfoy shot him a death look.
"I'm afraid that's no way to talk to the greatest wizard in the world."
"You're not," Harry spat with a sneer, just like he had done as a second year student at Hogwarts in the Chamber of Secrets against the memory of Tom Riddle.
"Not what?" replied Voldemort lazily as Malfoy slinked over to his side, handing over the glowing Orb that had become a mass of churning, angry smoke.
"The greatest wizard in the world," stated Harry simply in a condescending tone as if speaking to an infant. "Sorry to disappoint you and all that, but the greatest wizard in the world is Albus Dumbledore."
Red eyes flashed in recognition of the words, but disbelief was clearly etched into the Dark Lord's features. It could not be possible, could it? Harry Potter was now Naito Koori and was working as his spy at Hogwarts.
He could not possibly be the Shadow Phoenix; but then, how did he know so much about the Death Eaters and always know where Voldemort was planning to show up next? No, the boy was firmly under his control; there was no way it could be Naito—it was a coincidence and nothing more.
"Really, well if your wonderful Dumbledore is so powerful and mighty and not the doddering, old fool he appears to be, where is he? Why has he not stopped me before now?"
Almost as if drawn by those words, a horde of wizards rushed into the room, wands waving, spell lights flashing, and Death Eaters falling to the floor under the onslaught.
Voldemort turned to look at the approaching wizards and noticed the one at the forefront wearing magnificent robes of pale blue with bright yellow suns, moons, and stars stitched on.
"Dumbledore," Voldemort hissed before turning back to the Shadow Phoenix, who was standing with his wand out, ready to face any threat that came his way and win.
"Enough of the political games, the 'peaceful negotiations' have drawn to a close. It is time for me to take what I want. You can either hand over the book on the Orb of Souls or I can simply take it from you. Please choose the latter, I would much rather torture you and watch you suffer!"
It was then that Harry realized just how in over his head he was. Voldemort had the Orb and the only thing that stood in the way of the present dark lord using it was Harry. He had the book and Voldemort wanted it.
He could either escape now with the book and not go after the Orb, or he could try to get the Orb back and chance loosing the book.
Once he really thought about it, Harry thought he would much rather let Voldemort have the Orb and no clue how to work it than to have the book and be able to work it from a distance.
Deciding to cut his loses, Harry decided to take the book and run back to Hogwarts where Voldemort could not get it.
Unfortunately, his adversary must have sensed his intention because in the next moment, he attempted to summon the book to him like Lucius Malfoy had done with the Orb.
Harry snorted and scoffed, "You don't really think I wouldn't put anti-summoning spells on my person after Malfoy got the Orb from me that way and said he had done the same thing to himself, did you?"
Voldemort sneered, "Nevertheless, it won't help you, boy. I'll get it from you one way or the other."
"I don't think so, Tom."
Dumbledore, having dispensed with most of the Death Eaters, the rest being taken care of by the Order, had finally joined the showdown.
"Be careful, he has the Orb, Professor."
Dumbledore nodded his head to Harry, showing his acknowledgement, but not really looking at him.
It reminded Harry of the summer before and the school year during his fifth year where Dumbledore had not looked at him once and would hardly talk to him at all.
It also called forth the memories of the prophecy, making him wonder what the power was that the Dark Lord knew not.
Harry's musings were interrupted by the exchange of spells between Voldemort and Dumbledore.
It did not last long; Voldemort was clearly outnumbered and being evenly or slightly more powerful than Dumbledore and all of his followers were currently tied up or losing to an Order member spectacularly.
Deciding to leave while he still had possession of the Orb of Souls, Voldemort fled, signaling to those Death Eaters that were not already captured that it was time portkey away to Headquarters.
"I told you Dumbledore was the greatest wizard in the world, not you," Harry muttered after the running dark lord.
The Headmaster asked him what he had said, but Harry saw the twinkle in his eye that told him he already knew.
"Nothing. How did you know to come here?"
"One of my sources alerted me to the fact that Voldemort was going to come after the Orb of Souls that resided in the Department of Mysteries. How did you know?"
"Same way."
Harry smirked at his own insolent behavior, which the Professor only chuckled at.
"Well, I thank you all the same for detaining him as you did."
"There is no reason to thank me, Professor," said Harry gravely. "He still managed to get away with the Orb."
"Yes, but he does not know how it works, does it. The situation is not as grave as you seem to fear. Your worries are unwarranted for the time being."
Harry snorted again.
"If you believe that then you are going to find yourself in serious trouble, Professor. Do not underestimate Voldemort. He will try his own experiments and attempt to find out the magic that make the Orb function and I have no doubt that with enough time, he will find just that."
"It that you are correct, but I believe we still have some time before that will happen."
"Now, you have aided me and my companions many times during the past several weeks and even saved my life during our last encounter, which I thank you most proficiently for by the way, but yet, I still do not know your name."
Harry sighed.
That was a tricky question for him now too.
For the past year and a half, he had been Naito Koori. Voldemort's most prized spy and protégé with no memory of his past.
No, that was not right. Even that had changed during the past several months at Hogwarts. He had been shifting back and regaining memories from his past ever since he had reentered the familiar surroundings of the castle.
Now, he had regained the memories he had so longed to find, only to wish he might never have uncovered them and once again release the horrors of his childhood.
He was Harry Potter. He was Naito Koori. He was the Shadow Phoenix.
He did not know who he was...
"Neither do I, Professor. Neither do I..."
With that last, vague comment, Harry turned around and left.
He was still pondering the answer to the question when he got back to the Slytherin Common Room and his dormitory. Still wondering as he sat down on his bed and removed his Shadow Phoenix garb and stowed it in his trunk. Still contemplating the enigma as he sat behind his curtains holding the book to the Orb of Souls in his hands, turning it over and over, hoping to find the answers he sought.
(To Be Continued…)
A/N- Well, that's that. Naito/Harry has his memories back and has the book on the Orb of Souls. Now we just have to wait and see if anyone else figures out who Naito/Harry is and wonder what Voldemort is going to do w/the Orb of Souls now that he has it in his possession. Hopefully he won't figure out how to work it too soon.
Coming Up: We find out what all the Orb of Souls does as Naito reads the data documented by the creator in his book and see more of his confusion about his present identity now that he's both Naito Koori and Harry Potter when he runs into the Gryffindor Trio. Of course, there's a Death Eater meeting just for Naito and another attack for Voldemort to vent just to keep things interesting in Chapter 17: Fool Me Once.
Review Responses:
Strawberrylover: I'm glad you were able to feel the excitement of the chapter! That makes me super happy! YAY!
Joanna Potter: Apparently, you aren't the only one! I'm glad you liked it enough that you were actually getting into the story!
starfan1: I hope you get caught up! I'm glad you like my story!
Nicky: Of course it was action packed! It's me you're talking about! You know, the one w/all the ideas and will never share them? (I've got an idea, but I can't tell you about it. Lol!) Did this chapter sate your need for action/adventure as well?
Thee-Unknown-Factor: You sound just like one of my best friends...she said that when I went to school the next day too. Lol! But the suspense in between waiting for chapters is what keeps it interesting! Wouldn't you agree?
Nippledora Tweaks: I try to budget my time, but school and life don't want to let me, especially since I'm starting to look for colleges! Eek! Well, I hope you liked this chapter as much as the rest of the story!
hprox4ever: Yeah, lots of ppl give Dumbledore a hard time about how he treats Harry (and I like those stories too) but I really do think he wants to keep Harry safe and happy. Well, now you know what happens! How did you like it!
Professor Moony S. Padfoot: (gasp) where do you live? Good luck w/getting your power back and everything! I hope this chapter was up to standard for you! (except that it's not betaed)
Anave Lipad: Yeah, I like reading the cliché stories too, but all the good ones never seem to get updated except maybe once a year if you're lucky...I'm glad you found and like my story and I hope you keep reviewing!
Sarah R. Potter: Thank you so much! I'm so glad you like it!
MagicmanSmokegirl: Yup, I almost ended up with 3 tests on Friday and I only have 3 CLASSES! Luckily all but one got rescheduled. Yeah, I'm having fun giving Voldemort a hard time! He always does it to Harry in the books so now I'm letting him have some of it back...it really is his own fault for trying to turn our favorite hero dark!
Willow Evenstar: Sure! I'll listen if you want to rant about school! I've got a ton of my own, but I usually rant those to my friends at school so they can share in the ranty goodness...Yay! I've been trying to make Moldywarts really mean, but I can't tell how well its coming across! Here's your update!