Chapter 22: Leo's Ward
This is going to be the best Christmas ever. We're staying at the Potters' house - and Fleamont agreed to take me to Rose's so I could have dinner with them on Christmas Eve. She and Lily had practically begged me to come, stating that Petunia would be bringing her boyfriend, Vernon. Apparently, he makes vanilla seem spicy.
"So, who won?"
It was minutes after their duel, and the cousins had headed back inside to clean themselves up before heading to Grimmauld Place. There was a stunned silence as Cas, Sirius, Draco, and Remus stared at the two. Leo could see why, they probably looked a right mess covered in blood, soot, and dirt. He twitched his nose, rubbing the soot out from underneath it as he thought about how to answer Sirius's question. A light went off in his head and he suppressed a grin.
"I think it's less about the outcome and more about how we got there," he replied airily.
Sirius made a face before turning to his brother.
"Well, he's definitely your son."
Cas merely gave a shrug in response, though Leo could detect a faint hint of pride in the small smile the man gave. The blonde turned, about to head up the stairs to shower when Harry ran up ahead of him. Leo swore at him, receiving several reproachful looks from Remus and chuckles from the Black twins. He then darted up the stairs after his cousin, arriving at the bathroom door just in time to have it slammed in his face.
With a small huff of frustration, he went back to his room, nearly tripping over the cot that Draco slept on as he made his way to his dresser. He took his shirt off, looking at the cut Harry had made and making sure it wasn't still bleeding. Satisfied that it wouldn't get on his next article of clothing, he siphoned the blood off his arm and abdomen and the soot off his face with his wand before putting on a dark red hoodie and heading back down the stairs.
After flopping down on a seat between Sirius and Draco, he said, "So, when're you supposed to go see the Longbottoms?"
"I was planning on looking in on them tomorrow," Cas replied, glancing up from the book he was perusing. "Why do you ask?"
"You're the mind reader, you tell me."
Cas frowned, his brow furrowing and his eyes narrowing slightly. After a moment, his expression cleared and he looked thoughtful. He then nodded and returned to reading his book while Leo leaned back in his chair, a satisfied smile on his face.
"... Care to share with the rest of the class what that was all about?" Sirius inquired.
"You'll find out on Christmas," Leo winked at him. "What should we do to prepare for the Horcrux? Reckon Voldy's probably got a few tricks up his sleeve to protect it."
"For any other person, I'd recommend researching curses and countercurses for anything we might find," Remus began, drinking his tea. "But, given your habit of avoiding research of any kind, I think it would be easier to just teach them to you and Harry."
"What about Draco?" Leo frowned, looking at his friend.
"What do you think I've been doing, Black?" the teen sneered, holding up one of the many books on the table. "I've been studying since I got here."
"Some people – like Draco, Remus, and myself – learn better and faster through books," Castor informed him. "Other people – like you, Sirius, and Harry – learn by doing. Draco's been doing exceptionally well – I wager he'll know more than you by the time we go to retrieve the Horcrux."
"But Draco already knows more than me," Leo whined. "Can't you give me some extra training?"
"Well, Draco's staying behind at the Den to work with your dad," Sirius said slowly. "If you and Harry want to stay here, Remus and I can work with you two."
Leo's expression brightened immensely at this, and he immediately begged his uncle and godfather to begin their instruction now. The two looked faintly amused before acquiescing and slowly following him as he ran out of the house. They paused briefly when they got to the spot where Leo and Harry had duelled, eyeing the small crater where their spells had collided. Sirius gave a low whistle, exchanging a glance with Remus before they both pulled out their wands.
Leo bounced from one foot to the other excitedly, only stopping when the grass around his feet began to smoke. He reined in his emotions, using the breathing exercises Sirius had taught him many years ago and facing his instructors with a serious expression. They spent the first ten minutes going over curses and countercurses Leo already knew and were about to move on to new things when Draco came out.
"Shouldn't you be reading books?" Leo inquired, wrinkling his nose in distaste.
"I was, then Potter came down the stairs and Cas sent me out here so they could talk," Draco scowled before looking at Leo curiously. "Any idea what they're discussing?"
Leo looked toward the house, thinking about what he had heard the previous night before shrugging and returning his attention back to the lesson.
Harry walked into the kitchen slowly after Draco had left, taking a seat across from Uncle Cas. The man stared at him thoughtfully, his brow furrowed and his lips slightly pursed. He thought the man looked a lot like Leo at that moment and was half-expecting him to say something outrageous or profound. Odd that Leo only ever says one of those two things. Harry mused.
Uncle Cas clasped his hands on the table, grimacing slightly and looking quite uncomfortable despite the fact that the conversation hadn't even started. Harry felt a tingle of apprehension run up his spine. He'd only ever seen that expression when the man gave news he found particularly distasteful. Like when he told me I had to stay with the Dursleys until the adoption papers went through.
"You asked me last night if I knew why you had this connection to Voldemort," the man began slowly. "I told you that I do. The question is: do you really want to know? Are you sure you're ready?"
"You make it sound like it's something really awful," Harry frowned, receiving a raised eyebrow in response. "If it's really as bad as you make it sound, I don't know if I'll ever be ready. But, I want to – I have to – know."
"Hmm, fair enough," Uncle Cas conceded with a slight incline of his head. "You recall the conversation we had about Horcruxes? Remember your surprise when you found out living beings could have a Horcrux attached to them?"
"Yeah, but what -"
Harry stopped abruptly, feeling his blood run cold as it clicked into place what the man was implying. Uncle Cas stared back at him gravely, giving a grim nod and confirming his unspoken thoughts. Harry put his face in his hands before running them up to his forehead to rest on his scar, his fingers grabbing his hair as he did so. He didn't want to hear anymore, and yet...
"How?" he whispered.
"When Voldemort tried to kill you – when Lily and Rose sacrificed themselves for you and Leo – the Killing Curse rebounded upon him and a fragment of his soul detached itself and latched itself onto you, the closest living thing it could find. It's what makes you a Parselmouth and gives you this connection to Voldemort you've always despised," Uncle Cas told him in an eerily calm voice. "It was purely unintentional. I wager Voldemort doesn't even know about it."
Harry tried to keep his breathing calm and steady, tried to digest the fact that a piece of Voldemort's soul was attached to him. He had something Dark and evil inside him, something he had never known he had. How can I be around my friends – my family – with something like this? What if I hurt them? What if I turn into Voldemort? What if – The train of 'what ifs' abruptly stopped when he felt pressure on his shoulder. He glanced to his right, seeing that Uncle Cas had moved to the chair next to his and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Listen to me, Harry, you are not Dark, and you are not evil," Uncle Cas told him in a firm voice. "The son of Lily and James Potter could never be like Voldemort. You are full of love and light. You'd sacrifice yourself for your friends – and for people you barely even know. You're a protector, Harry James Potter. You're more than Voldemort ever was – more than what your parents were. Having a piece of Voldemort inside you doesn't make you evil."
"Then what does it make me?" Harry questioned in a bitter tone.
"It makes you an incredibly brave boy who should never have had this burden," the man told him, and Harry thought he could detect a hint of sadness and regret in his voice. "Opposing Voldemort should not have been a fight you or your generation should have to face. It should have ended with my generation – with me... I'm sorry you got left with this terrible world – this terrible burden – that has been nothing but cruel to you. I'm sorry that you have had to suffer silently for years, wondering what makes you so different – wondering what Voldemort had done to you. I'm sorry, Harry, for everything I could have prevented."
Harry was stunned. He'd never heard an apology like that – not even from Dumbledore. He could hear the sincerity and sadness spoken in every word – hear the regret washing over every syllable like the waves on the shores of the Black Lake. Tentatively, he placed his left hand over the hand that was still on his shoulder. He met the man's eyes – eyes that were exactly the same as Leo's - and was surprised to see not just sadness but love as well. Harry felt warmth spread through him at the very notion that he had family besides Leo that loved him.
"There's nothing to apologize for," Harry told him, swallowing thickly. "Voldemort made the choice to be evil. Just like – just like I'm making the choice to be good. I'll never be like him."
"Well, that's a relief," Uncle Cas chuckled lightly before frowning and removing his hand from Harry's shoulder as he leaned back in his chair. "What is it with you and Leo thinking that you're evil or turning into the next Voldemort? I'd've thought, out of all three of my boys, Draco'd be the one thinking that. His father did quite a number on him, the girly-haired git."
Harry gave a small laugh before sobering up quickly and biting his lower lip.
"Who else knows? About the Horcrux in me, I mean," he finally asked.
"Just you and me... though, I reckon Dumbles might know too," Uncle Cas frowned, tapping his chin. "Anyway, it's your secret to share or not share. Didn't really fancy telling everyone and their mum before I told you."
Harry gave a grateful smile before frowning as something else occurred to him.
"How... how do we destroy the Horcrux that's in me?" he inquired nervously.
"Honestly, I haven't the faintest idea," Uncle Cas shrugged. "When I figure something out, I'll let you know."
Leo rotated his left shoulder, staring at the creepy looking dummies sitting in the window displays of Purge and Dowse Ltd. It was the following evening after his duel with Harry, and he was out with his father to check in on the Longbottoms, Crouch, and Lockhart – after running a few errands of his own, of course. Didn't think it would hurt that badly. He frowned, rubbing his left arm before looking up at his dad curiously.
The man didn't look at him. Instead, he leaned forward until he was eye-level with a rather ugly female dummy wearing a green dress. His breath fogged up the glass as he stared right into her ugly face, sparing only the briefest of glances at his son before he spoke in a low voice, "Here to visit the Longbottoms."
Leo blinked in surprise as the dummy gave a tiny nod and beckoned them with one of its tiny, creepy fingers. Cas grabbed Leo by his right elbow, pulling him through the glass. They arrived in what seemed to be a crowded reception area where rows of witches and wizards sat upon rickety wooden chairs, some healthy and some sporting various obviously magical problems that Leo couldn't help but be fascinated by.
They walked up to join the queue in front of a plump blonde witch seated at a desk marked INQUIRIES. Leo shuffled to the side a bit before standing on his tiptoes to get a better view of what was going on ahead of them. A young wizard was performing an odd on-the-spot jig and trying, in between yelps of pain, to explain his predicament to the witch behind the desk. Leo snorted with laughter, receiving a reproachful look from his father and prompting him to smother it quickly as the man at the front began to speak.
"It's these — ouch — shoes my brother gave me — ow — they're eating my — OUCH — feet — look at them, there must be some kind of — AARGH — jinx on them and I can't — AAAAARGH — get them off —"
He hopped from one foot to the other as though dancing on hot coals.
"The shoes don't prevent you from reading, do they?" said the blonde witch irritably, pointing at a large sign to the left of her desk. "You want Spell Damage, fourth floor. Just like it says on the floor guide. Next!"
The wizard hobbled and pranced sideways out of the way, allowing the Blacks to read the floor guide. Leo's eyes scanned over it slowly, eyebrows raising in increasing intrigue before his father grabbed his elbow and led the way past the queue and the witch through a set of double doors. They walked along the corridor through a set of double doors and found a rickety staircase lined with portraits of brutal-looking doctors – Healers, his father informed him. As they climbed it, the various Healers called out to them, diagnosing odd complaints and suggesting horrible remedies. They eventually stopped at a landing in front of a pair of double doors that read 'spell damage'.
Castor pushed his way through without preamble, Leo ambling along behind him. He stopped a Healer along the way, asking where he could find Gilderoy Lockhart and Bartemius Crouch. The Healer replied that he was in a hurry but waved them off in some vague direction before rushing off. The Blacks watched him before Cas shrugged and led them off to the left, down a corridor, through a pair of double doors, and into a room occupied only by two beds and two men: Lockhart and Crouch.
Leo edged forward slightly, wrinkling his nose in distaste as he looked down at Lockhart before looking up at his father.
"Why hasn't he woken up? He only banged his head."
"Well, from what I understand, he was in the midst of casting a Memory Charm with an unstable wand. I wager that would've had a significant impact on his brain – his memory," Cas began, striding toward the man and placing a hand on his forehead. "When you attacked him and he hit his head, it interacted with the magic he was trying to use and things sort of got... jumbled up." He paused as he closed his eyes, frowning slightly. "It's sort of like you pressed pause on his brain, the damage is there, though not quite extensive as it could've been. I think if I..."
A look of intense concentration appeared on his face and Leo leaned forward slightly in curiosity. He could see tinges of blueish-white around the man's fingers remnant of ice. He's combining his Walker abilities with his Elementalist powers... wicked. Lockhart's face spasmed, then he sat up abruptly with a small scream. Leo and Castor both jumped back in surprise, the latter quickly removing his hand and wiping it on Leo's hoodie. Leo threw him a dirty look before turning his attention back to Lockhart, who was panting and looking around in confusion before his gaze landed on Leo.
"You!" he shouted. "You attacked me!"
"That was so three years ago," Leo rolled his eyes. "Get over it."
"Eh, more like two-and-a-half, but close enough," Castor shrugged, putting his hands in his pockets.
"Three years ago?" Lockhart asked in a bewildered tone. "What are you talking about? Who are you?"
"You've been in a coma for three years, Lockhart," Cas explained. "Also, I'm Leo's father, Castor -"
"No you're not," Lockhart said, cutting him off quite rudely. "He's been dead for twelve – fifteen - years. You're an impostor."
"Not very quick on the uptake, is he?" Leo remarked, glancing up at his father with pure amusement twinkling in his eyes.
"Nope. Some things never change," Cas said dryly, sighing and shaking his head. "Let me catch you up on what you've missed, you golden-haired twit: I've never been dead, my brother never murdered those people and was declared innocent, and the world is still ignorant to what a complete and total fraud you are."
"Also, Voldemort's back," Leo added.
"Yeah, that too," Cas nodded.
Lockhart looked between the two before chuckling, believing that they were pulling his leg. When they continued to look completely serious, his smile slowly faded and his face began to pale significantly.
"You're joking, right?" he finally asked.
"Nope," Leo grinned. "Everything's gone to pot since you've been napping. If you want my advice, you should probably scarper while you still can."
"You'll probably need this," Castor added, reaching into the pocket of his jacket, pulling out a wand and handing it to the man. "Dumbles found it on the grounds after your accident, figured you might want it back."
"Accident?" Lockhart repeated incredulously. "I was attacked – he attacked me!"
"Something you should be grateful for," Cas informed him. "If Leo hadn't attacked you and knocked you unconscious, your mind would've been blown to bits and damn near unrecoverable. I was only able to salvage what I did because of him."
"I take my thanks in money and chocolate," Leo told him with a pleasant smile. "Or you could just leave the country and get the hell out of my life. Idiot's choice."
Lockhart spent much time debating what he should do before ultimately deciding it would be in his best interest to leave the country while an evil Dark wizard was on the prowl. With that, he departed the room without preamble, leaving the Blacks alone with Crouch. The two stared at him before looking at each other and then turning and walking out of the room. Both of them still held a grudge over what he had done to Sirius and still felt that Voldy rising was partially his fault given he had broken his psychotic son out of prison.
They walked down the corridor, back through the double doors, and through another pair of double doors marked the 'Janus Thickey' ward. A sallow-skinned, mournful-looking wizard lay in the bed closest to them, staring at the ceiling; he was mumbling to himself and seemed quite unaware of anything around him. Cas eyed him with intrigue before he frowned and turned toward the far end of the ward where flowery curtains had been drawn around two beds to give the occupants and their visitors some privacy.
Cas led the way over to the curtains, ignoring a woman covered in fur barking at them. Leo stared at her curiously as they passed. They arrived at the curtains, shuffling in only to be met by a formidable-looking old witch wearing a long green dress, a moth-eaten fox fur, and a pointed hat decorated with what was unmistakably a stuffed vulture. A round-faced boy stood beside her, looking a mixture of hopeful and depressed. Neville.
Leo turned his gaze away from the boy to stare at the occupants of the two beds. In one of them lay a woman, her face thin and worn and her hair wispy and white. In the other bed lay a man, his hair equally white and face equally as thin. Both were asleep and seemed to be dreaming peacefully. He turned his attention back to Neville's grandmother as she shook Castor's hand.
"Castor," she smiled. "Dumbledore told us you'd be coming to look at Frank and Alice – and this must be your son. Neville's told me so much about you. You must be proud, Castor."
"Very," Cas replied, giving a faint smile before turning serious. "I've heard Alice is the more mobile of the two, so I'll be looking at her first if that's all right with you."
"Yes, yes, just do what you can," Mrs. Longbottom said in a brisk tone.
Castor walked over to Alice Longbottom, taking a seat on the edge of her bed. He placed his fingertips on the sides of her head and closed his eyes. Leo shuffled over to stand beside Neville, watching in interest as ice once more surrounded the tips of the man's fingers. Castor remained in that position for some time, his face set in a permanent frown and his brow furrowing and unfurrowing many times before he finally removed his hands with a small sigh and ran one down his face.
"Well?" Mrs. Longbottom inquired sharply.
Cas remained quiet for a moment.
"Let me check out Frank before I give my report, Augusta," he finally said.
She was quiet but nodded as Castor moved over to sit beside Frank, adopting the same position he had had with Alice. The three remaining people stared at him apprehensively, their expressions turning hopeful when they saw his eyebrows shoot up in surprise before their nervous expressions returned when the man frowned. He didn't spend as much time examining Frank as he did Alice, lowering his hands after a few minutes and stroking his beard thoughtfully.
"... Frank had Occlumency training, right, Augusta?" he inquired.
"Yes. He learned it during his training. Poor Alice tried but didn't have much aptitude for it," Mrs. Longbottom shook her head. "Why do you ask?"
Castor was quiet again, tapping a finger against his lips as he stared thoughtfully down at Frank. His gaze then shifted to Alice before turning to Mrs. Longbottom.
"Think of the mind like a many-layered jigsaw puzzle," he stated. "All the pieces fitting together perfectly in each layer, each one of them containing a memory – a feeling, a desire, a function. Now, imagine smashing all the puzzles at once – all the pieces scattering about or falling into a jumbled pile. That's not dissimilar to what's going on with Frank and Alice – except Alice is worse."
"How so?" Mrs. Longbottom questioned.
"There are some pieces that are just completely gone or irreparable," Cas sighed, running a hand through his hair. "The Cruciatus Curse destroyed their minds but – in Frank's case – all the pieces stayed there, just scattered. His Occlumency training kicked in and tried to salvage as much as it could – it protected him as best it could. Alice, however, was virtually defenceless and her mind fractured."
"Can you help them?" Neville blurted out.
"All of Frank's pieces are still there, they just need to be put back together and arranged in the proper order. He'll take some time, but I should be able to restore him to his full faculties with much difficulty," Cas informed him. "Alice, as I said, is more complicated. I can put what pieces are there back together and put placeholder's where there are gaps. I'm afraid, however, that she'll never go back to the way she was before. Not completely."
"How functional will she be?" Mrs. Longbottom asked, her voice hopeful after the news that her son would recover.
"That, I cannot say. I won't know for certain until I start healing her," Castor explained. "I'll start work on Frank since he's the easiest. But, I'm afraid you'll have to wait until after Boxing Day. I have a lot on my plate until then. In the meantime... I'm told Neville uses his father's wand?" He questioned, receiving nods from everyone else. "Well, then you might want to take him shopping to get his own wand. Frank'll need his back."