Title: Harry Potter and the Orb of Souls
Author: SerafinaMoon
Date: Nov 23-29, 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- Alright, this is the chapter that ties together all of the clues from the previous chapters so we can finally find out everything that happened to Harry! And we get to see my genius at work in the process! Yay! (I swear, this is the only story I've written so far where I actually plant plot points ahead of time on purpose for ppl to pick up on. Wow, that was way too many p's)
Chapter 18: Six Feet Under?
"What did you say, Severus?" the old man asked, his face stoic, but his blinking, disbelieving eyes showed his confusion.
"I said, Harry Potter is alive, Albus! I heard it straight from the Dark Lord's own mouth!"
"Tell me everything, my dear boy."
Dumbledore's expression and tone was eager, as the old man leaned forward in his seat, ready to take in every infinitesimal detail.
Hurriedly, Severus told him everything he had heard, including the whispered exchange between Voldemort and Ganmou.
"I see," was all Dumbledore said in reply to Severus' account as he sat back in his chair, his old, wrinkled hand stroking his silky, white beard in thought.
After a brief moment of silence, Dumbledore finally looked back up at his Potion's Master and said, "So Voldemort believes that Naito is the Shadow Phoenix and that the Shadow Phoenix is Harry Potter. What I want to know is—how was Voldemort able to make us think Harry to be dead and then snatch him out from under our very noses back to his headquarters.
"Moreover, how was he able to transform Harry into Naito Koori, training him to be a spy? Harry is far too clever and headstrong to fall for anything Voldemort would offer him, therefore, his memory must have been altered somehow...or Voldemort threatened to hurt someone close to Harry.
"That can't be right though...Why would Naito faithfully follow the Dark Lord, even if he was threatened, only to turn on him later...unless he had some way of keeping those whose safety he was afraid for secure.
"But then, if that happened, or even if it didn't, why wouldn't he contact me to keep them safe? No, it has to be a memory modification...but how did Voldemort get to him? I just don't understand that part! What do you think, Severus?"
The Death Eater spy looked surprised at being addressed, too busy listening to the old man's hypothesizing tirade.
Onyx eyes blinked owlishly before the question penetrated and actually sunk into his brain. Thinking about it for a moment, he replied, saying, "Well, there are many ways it could have been done.
"Perhaps the corpse was merely an illusion planted to deceive us. Potter could have already been kidnapped before sometime, maybe on the way to the restaurant, since he's supposed to be safe with his relatives, and an illusion put in his place.
"Or he could have been kidnapped, like I mentioned before, and another wizard put into his place. He could have been put under the Imperious Curse and taken some new formulation of the Polyjuice Potion.
"These two I'm not too sure of as both the illusion and effects of the Polyjuice would fade away after a time, unless recast periodically. Since we had the body in our possession as we waited for the burial and there were no noticeable changes made to the body, it either means those two guesses are wrong or...we have a spy for Voldemort in the Order."
"Is there nothing else you can think of Severus?" Dumbledore practically pleaded. They needed to figure all this out. If Harry really was alive and he really was Naito Koori, who happened to be at Hogwarts in Dumbledore's domain, then that would mean they had their Savior back.
"Several, each as improbable as the next. I think, however, that we should look for clues and piece them together if we want to find out what happened."
"An excellent suggestion, my boy! And the best place to start would be the gravesite. Now, the only thing left to discuss is whether we share this with the rest of the Order or not?"
"Not, I believe. If there really is a spy in our midst, we would not wish for the Dark Lord to find out that we know of Potter's survival...again."
If Dumbledore noticed the sardonic emphasis on the last word, he gave no indication of it as he plowed right on.
"Indeed. I agree with you, Severus; are you ready to go?"
Snape started at the mention of leaving.
"What are you talking about, Albus! Surely this can wait until morning when we can actually have decent light to see by!"
"No, my boy. I'm afraid this cannot wait. We need to investigate this right away and what better time to discover the secrets of the dark than during the night-time itself!"
The Potion Master sneered in the usual Snape style, with extra glare added in so others would know of his immense displeasure.
"Fine!" he growled out, mumbling under his breath as the duo left the Headmaster's office, "Once again! I'm losing sleep over Potter!"
The only acknowledgement that Dumbledore had overheard the comment was the brief twitching of his mustache as the corners of his mouth lifted slightly.
Their arrival at the graveyard was insipid. The moon was not full, it was only a waning quarter moon, there were no wolves howling in the background, the trees were not eerie looking, everything was calm and serene. It was not the type of thing you would expect for such a mysterious mission.
A slight wind chilled Snape as he looked around himself, drawing his familiar cloak around him tighter to keep out the biting cold. The leaves of trees rustled slightly and an owl hooted from somewhere nearby as Dumbledore crouched near the headstone of one Harry James Potter.
Snape watched as Dumbledore waved his wand in a complex pattern, a string of Latin issuing from his mouth.
He stopped.
Snape blinked.
As if it had been that way all along, there was a pile of dirt stacked up beside an open grave, the casket sitting before them, shining and gleaming due to the numerous preservation charms on it.
Dumbledore glanced over at Snape, their eyes meeting each other's in the darkness. The Potion Master nodded, each determined to get to the bottom of this mystery come what may...
Looking back down at the black lid, Dumbledore released the catch and the lid sprang open.
Both Headmaster and teacher peered into the depths of the shadows on the dark velvet surface only to find...nothing.
There was no body...just an empty casket.
Snape looked on as Dumbledore began poking around, his wand jabbing here and there.
"Hm...Severus, come take a look at this! There is magical residue from a portkey here!"
"How can this be, Albus! It has been over a year since the corpse was put in it! How can the residue still cling to it?"
"Quite simple, my boy. Those numerous preservation charms keep this casket in the exact same condition it was in when we buried Harry in it. They also kept the magical residue from a portkey locked inside.
"What I want to know is: how is there magical residue from a portkey here if Harry didn't have a portkey with him when we buried him...unless—Severus! Is there a way to make a liquid portkey that could be infused with the body and activated by a password?"
"I have never encountered any such potion, but I daresay it could be possible, especially since it is magic we're talking about."
"Do you think that maybe, just maybe, that 'poison' that Harry drank could have been the portkey and somehow put his body into a stasis so we would think him dead?"
"Indeed. It is possible."
"I think that's what it is then, but I will wait to draw final conclusions until we speak with the Dursley's again."
"It usually is best not to draw conclusions, especially when you don't have all the facts."
"You are right, of course. Meet you at Number Four!" and with that last departing statement, Dumbledore Apparated to Harry's former home, a sour looking Severus Snape disappearing a moment later after him.
"Thanks for waiting, Albus," Snape scowled as he caught up to the old man at the door of Number Four. Who knew for an old man that he could be so fast?
"Not a problem, my dear boy."
The Potion's Master turned his irritated gaze upon the Headmaster to see the twitch of his white mustache and his twinkling aquamarine eyes. The old coot was smirking at him! He was having fun at the expense of someone else!
Well, it's not as if he's actually had anything to be happy about lately...I guess I can let it go for now, thought Severus as he carefully schooled his expression into a stoic mask.
"Would you like to do the honors, Severus?" the Headmaster asked, breaking into Snape's musings.
Oh, yes, he thought sarcastically, because knocking on the door to the famous Harry Potter's relative's house is such an honor.
Without a word, the Death Eater spy took a step forward and knocked on the door. After waiting a few moments with nary a reply, he knocked again, this time more urgently and louder. When there was still no answer, the spy began to become irritated and incessantly began hammering the door with his fist.
Thankful to finally get a reaction this time, when Petunia Dursley opened the door, Snape simply forced the door open and marched in, Dumbledore trailing behind him, an expression of amusement etched onto his face. Everything just seemed funny to him ever since he found out his protégé was alive and well.
Petunia's protests of "You can't just come barging in here!" fell on deaf ears as the duo made themselves at home in the spacious living room.
"Hello, Petunia," said the Headmaster softly.
Her eyes widened considerably once she was finally calm enough to take in the countenances of her two guests and realize who they were.
"What are you doing here! We already told you once what happened! If we didn't do as they said they would have killed our son, what more do you want from us!"
"Just some information, Petunia, that is all. Do you think you can do that?"
The Dursley matron stared between the two wizards, her face openly registering her fear of them. Finally, after a moment of deliberation, she nodded a hesitant, jerky nod, but it was an acquiescence at least.
"Good, now, why don't you have a seat so we can get started."
Carefully, Petunia sat down as far away from Snape and Dumbledore as she could get.
"Thank you. Now, Petunia, what I need to know is what the Death Eaters said to you exactly."
"Well, as you know, they cornered me in an alley in London one day when I was shopping. They said if I wanted to keep my family alive then I should bring something of Lily's with me and meet them at a spot they had already predetermined.
"When they let me go, I ran home as soon as I could and picked up a necklace that my sister always used to wear that I had stuffed away in the attic. It had an odd flaming bird on it and just looked so unnatural that I could barely stand to touch it..."
"A phoenix."
Petunia blinked as if coming out of a daze and said, "What?"
"The flaming bird on the necklace, it was a phoenix."
"Oh. Well, anyways, I picked it up and took it to the place those men specified. They asked me if I had it and I handed it over. They looked it over and then did some funny movement with their sticks and said something weird, but—"
"What did they say? What did it sound like they said? Please, this is very important."
"Albus, I don't see why we don't just put her memories in a pensive and view them for ourselves," snapped Snape.
Dumbledore's only reply was to give a reproving stare before he turned back to Mrs. Dursley.
"It was something like 'port us' or 'mort us' or something like that. I'm not too sure."
"Portus," Dumbledore muttered to himself. "Yes, thank you, now, please, continue on."
"Yes, well, then they told me to give it to the boy. They said if I did what I was told they would take the boy "off our hands permanently" and "we'd never have to deal with him again." They also said that we would be paid a right nice sum and best of all; I would get to keep my family alive."
"And what was it that they instructed you to do, Petunia?"
"They told me to give the necklace to the boy, but not to say where it came from. They told me that a week or so from then, whenever we got the signal, we should go to the restaurant and make sure the boy drank whatever he ordered.
"They said he would go into a sort of fit, but that it was just for show and didn't really mean anything. They said that after that, they would take care of everything else."
"I see. Thank you very much for your time. We will be leaving now, and I would appreciate it if you did not mention to anyone of our coming here."
Harry's Aunt nodded to them as she closed the door behind them, turning the light back out in the living room and returning to bed.
"Well, now we know that whatever Harry drank wasn't a liquefied portkey; it was really the necklace given to him by his Aunt," Snape told the Headmaster upon arriving back in Dumbledore's office.
"And since she probably told him it came from his mother, he would have wanted to wear it everywhere he went, including the restaurant. We found it on him when he 'died' and left it on when he was buried. It must have been password activated so that Voldemort could call Harry to him whenever he was put under."
"Indeed. Many of the prominent pureblooded families were there, including those with Death Eater affiliations. It would have been simple for the Dark Lord to instruct them to inform him whenever the proceedings were over and he could snatch Potter from the grave."
"Alright, so we now know the answer to the question of how Voldemort was able to kidnap Harry, but we still don't know how he managed to convince us that he was dead. We know that it wasn't an illusion or someone else Polyjuiced to look like Harry so there must be an alternative solution."
Both Order members sat back in their seats, thinking of possibilities.
"I wonder, Severus...do you think potion ingredients from different areas of the world react differently in potions than those same ingredients when picked from here?"
"Of course, Albus, the components of ingred—"
"A simple yes would have sufficed, my boy."
"Yes, Albus," Snape ground out between clenched teeth, "Now, what are you getting at?"
"Do you remember what you told me during our Order meeting of this ordeal?"
"Which part?"
"The part about the new recruit from Japan that you thought was a Potion Master sent to replace you? You said you saw the brew he was making, but one of the ingredients were different, something from his country, that made the potion look different. Do you remember what that potion reminded you of?"
Snape's eyes widened at the realization.
"Yes! It was the Draught of Living Death! Only, when I checked for symptoms of that on your instruction when we thought him dead, I couldn't find anything because of the foreign ingredients! Albus, you're a genius, why didn't I think of it before?"
"Let's not get into that, we still have one more piece of the puzzle that we need to put in place. How did Harry lose his memories?"
"Well, there are three possible scenarios I can come up with for this one. Either he's been obliviated, which I highly doubt because their 'effects' do not 'wear off' as I remember Ganmou and the Dark Lord whispering to each other about that.
"So the only options left are: it's a new or foreign spell or a new or foreign potion. We will not be able to distinguish if it is either one of those unless we hear it from the source."
"I do believe you are right, Severus; we are not going to be able to break this down anymore. Now the only thing we have to find out is if Naito knows he's Harry Potter..."
There's only one reason Dumbledore can want to talk to me, especially after I caught Snape eavesdropping on Voldemort—he knows... Harry thought as he approached the Headmaster's office and the stone gargoyle that guarded the entrance.
Anxiously, Harry awaited Dumbledore's acknowledgement in Naito's persona as he stood at the top of the spiral staircase. When the acknowledgement came, Naito wiped all expression from his face and put up a calm façade.
"Please have a seat, my dear boy. We have much to discuss," said the Headmaster, Snape leaning against a wall a sinister expression on his face that he usually reserved for Potion's lessons with Harry.
Naito picked the chair closest to the door and set it at an angle where he could keep his eyes on both the Headmaster and Snape.
"Oh, really," he replied, not wanting to get into the discussion that he knew was coming, thankful that at least he could face the two of them on a full night of sleep.
"Yes, what I would like to ask you, Mr. Koori, is what do you know about Harry Potter?"
"Well, a great many things...just like everyone else."
"Like what?"
"Like the fact that he's dead," Naito said bluntly in the hopes that Dumbledore would flinch away from such a sore topic and let him go back to bed.
Yeah, and Voldemort's going to declare world peace and give all the muggleborns Christmas presents! There's no way you're getting out of this one, Potter!
Just as he presumed, instead of flinching from the blatant use of his 'dead' savior's name, Dumbledore's eyes seemed to only twinkle more.
"On the contrary, Mr. Koori! I must confess to you that for being prided as one of Voldemort's top spies, you are being surprisingly kept in the dark about a great many things."
Naito glared at the Headmaster, just because he pretended to be ignorant did not mean that the man could call him an idiot.
"That's nice, but I don't see how any of this has any connection to me..."
"Yes, yes. I shall get to that in a second; first allow me to tell you what interesting discoveries I have made recently."
And with that, Dumbledore began to tell his tale of the previous night's investigation.
Harry felt resigned to the fact that they knew about him and there was nothing he could do about it. The feeling only deepened as Dumbledore revealed fact after fact of proof.
"You see, once we discovered that Harry Potter might be alive, we immediately checked the grave where we laid him to ascertain what was going on."
Balking at the fact that he had actually been buried, Naito slouched in his chair insolently in response to Dumbledore's revelation.
"It was there that I discovered traces of a portkey in the magical residue that was sealed inside through the numerous preservation charms placed on the casket. This evidence gave us hope that what we had learned about Harry being alive was true.
"The next place we decided to search for clues was at Harry's relatives—they had been a part of the plot and had been instructed by the Death Eaters themselves before Harry returned from school to carry out their machinations."
Emerald-turned-aquamarine orbs flashed in anger as the revelation of the Dursley's participation came to light.
"Harry's aunt told us that she had been instructed to find some token of Harry's mother, bring it to the Death Eaters so they could make it a portkey, and then give it to Harry who would undoubtedly wear it, or take it with him wherever he went."
Naito had to forcefully hold himself in check at this news, so that was why she gave me that necklace! I always wondered why she was being so nice to me. She was setting me up!
"Their plan worked; Petunia brought them a necklace of Lily's in the shape of a phoenix, which we found and left on Harry's person during the burial since we deemed it harmless."
Harmless indeed! Naito thought as he jerked roughly in anger, hurrying to cover it by shifting in his seat. He did not know how successful he was, however, as Snape gave him a suspicious glance.
"Now that we knew that Harry had been kidnapped upon his burial we had to find out how we were tricked into thinking he was dead.
"The simple solution is that he'd been given a modified version of the Draught of Living Death. With the use of foreign ingredients we were unable to detect that Harry was not really dead, but the effects of the potion made it seem that way."
Sucks to be you, thought Naito savagely.
"While we all thought that James and Lily's son had been lost like his parents, he was really being held captive by Voldemort and trained to be his puppet. He was made to become Voldemort's spy here at Hogwarts and weed out those of his Death Eaters that were disloyal to him. Can you see where I'm going with this now?"
No longer able to keep up the charade now that he had been found out, Naito confessed.
"Yes. I know that I am Harry Potter and have for some time; I was able to regain all my lost memories through flashbacks that I've been having since I've been here."
It was not a complete lie, but it was not completely the truth either. Snape was the only one so far that knew definitely of his connection to the Shadow Phoenix and Naito wanted to keep it that way.
Nor was he ready to give up all of his experiences and special talents that he had developed during his past year of training. He was not ready to be used by Dumbledore again; he was no longer the Headmaster's Golden Boy Savior ready to sacrifice himself for everyone.
Now, he was a self-preserving, cunning, Slytherin and he wanted to actually survive this war.
"How long have you known, Harry?"
"Since the Christmas holiday break, and my name is no longer Harry, Headmaster, it's Naito. You should keep this information to yourself—the very walls have ears," said Naito, glancing at the portraits pretending to be asleep on the walls.
"Indeed they do, Naito," said Dumbledore, looking dejected, the twinkle of hope disappearing completely from his eyes. "Do you remember how you lost your memories, Naito?"
Felling that it was safe enough to answer this question and that it was to his benefit in case he ever lost his memories again, Naito said, "It was a portion that they use in Japan to erase a person's background from their mind. They would retain the knowledge of everything they learned, they would still be able to operate, but they would have no identity," Naito quoted from his lessons with his guardian Ganmou.
"Ganmou made some at Voldemort's instruction and administered it to me so they could start over with a completely new slate."
"I see, one more thing I have to ask you about though: do you remember the prophecy?"
"Naito glanced at his Head of House warily as the Potion's Master's sudden movement drew his gaze.
What was that about? He looked surprised? Was it because the Headmaster told me about the prophecy? Does he know what it says?
"Yes, I do. I already have plans in motion to fulfill it."
"I see. Well, I do not believe we have anything more to talk about, Mr. Koori. You may leave if you have no more to tell me."
Without a second glance back, Naito turned and exited the office, returning to his common room so he could finish reading the Orb of Souls book and learn how to trap Voldemort inside it.
"Well, now we know all the facts..." Dumbledore muttered to the room at large negligently as he sat back in his chair to think and go over everything.
"Yes," said Snape distractedly as he tried to grasp the fact that Potter was Potter no longer. He had changed and did not intend to go back to the life that he had had before.
He was not going to abandon the life of spying for the glory and fame of his previous identity. He was discarding all of that to do what he knew was necessary to get rid of Voldemort and Snape was amazed.
They were both puppets and their fates were tied together, both depending on the fall of the Dark Lord.
For now, Snape supposed, he could treat Naito Koori like a human being—after all, he was no so annoying now that he no longer looked like his father, acted conceited, rash, and reckless, or strutted around like an arrogant bighead.
Although, as soon as he reverted back to his former "Boy-Who-Lived" status, Severus Snape, Potion's Master, Hogwart's Professor, Voldemort's spy, and bane of Harry Potter's existence would pounce.
"Well, these revelations have cleared up quite a few odd occurrences that I have been wondering about," mumbled Dumbledore, shocking Snape from his reverie.
"Like what?"
"I always wondered why Fawkes was so taken with Naito, he was a complete stranger and one that we knew worked for Voldemort at that.
"I also wondered how he was able to sneak into Grimmauld Place to spy on us when it was under the Fidelius Charm and I had never told him how to get in."
"Potter always has seemed to defy the laws and common perceptions of magic, why should he stop now that he's become anonymous?"
(To Be Continued…)
A/N- Wow, this was a surprisingly easy chapter to write! All the stuff I needed was already in the story...I didn't have to make anything new up, just tie all the strings together. Thank you everyone that reviewed! (since I can no longer thank you individually...gives everyone a treat)
Coming Up: Voldemort's tired of being consistently thwarted by the Shadow Phoenix and decides to do something about it. To find out who the traitor among his ranks that is passing information to the Shadow Phoenix is, he decides to set a trap for the unsuspecting person. Find out more in Chapter 19: Biting Off Too Much.