Harry Potter and the Dark Lord
Chapter 41: Blood and Choices
Summary: Set in Harry's sixth year. He encounters far more than he ever could have expected, but he does not have to go through it alone. An old friend returns to help him. Harry's defeat of Voldemort rests on him getting The Scepter of Light and Dark, something that would allow Voldemort to destroy the world if he can get the whole thing. Voldemort's powers are getting stronger and Harry has more than one encounter with him.
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This Chapter: Harry has to make a choice that will determine whether he lives or dies.
Now.........on with the story!
Ten minutes later, Harry was finally allowed to leave the hospital wing. He walked to Gryffindor Tower escorted by the Quidditch team and Sirius. Once they were inside, Harry went straight up to the dormitory. He changed his clothes and immediately fell asleep.
Harry walked slowly out of Gryffindor Tower, moving as if in a trance. He walked until he reached the familiar tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy.
He paced in front of the wall across from the tapestry until a door appeared. He entered the room to find a single desk and chair. The room was lit by a fireplace. Harry walked over to the chair and sat down. A sheet of parchment, a quill, and ink appeared. Harry picked up the quill and began writing.
But why, a little voice in his head asked. He ignored it and kept writing. His mind was so blissfully blank and peaceful, he wanted it to stay that way. Finally, his hand stopped writing and put down the quill.
He folded the parchment in half and left the room, not bothering to read what he had written. He walked slowly up to Gryffindor Tower and up to his dormitory.
Harry's eyes snapped open. What a weird dream, he thought. Then he was realized he was standing up and holding a piece of parchment. What exactly happened, he asked himself silently.
Then he heard a little voice in his head say, "Put the letter on your bed." He tried to ignore the voice, but it was too strong. He no longer had control of his body as he walked over to his bed and put the letter on his bed.
Then he turned to his bedside table and pulled open the top drawer. He saw the shiny gleam of the knife that Sirius had given him. He tried to stop his hand from reaching out and picking it up, but couldn't. With the knife in his hands, he walked over to the bathroom. He entered the room and took out his wand.
Pointing it at the door, he said, "Colloportus," in the voice that was so unlike his: high and cold. Voldemort's voice. Harry started to panic slightly.
He had no control over himself and he was sure that it was Voldemort controlling him. His hand picked up the knife and Harry tried to stop it, but was unable to.
Sirius's POV
Sirius went to bed a few minutes after Harry. He saw that Harry was already asleep, so he changed his clothes and went to sleep also. He awoke several hours later. He thought he heard something, but a second later there was silence and he was sure he'd imagined it. He rolled over and went back to sleep.
He awoke for the second time about an hour later. He looked over to Harry's bed and saw that he wasn't in it but something else was. There was a piece of parchment sitting on Harry's bed. He walked over and picked it up. He didn't want to be nosy, but he was extremely curious.
Sirius unfolded the parchment and read it.
Dear Everyone,
I'm really sorry, but this is what I feel I have to do. The fate of the entire Wizarding and Muggle word is on my shoulders and I can't handle it. I can't kill him. I can't do that, but eventually, he's going to figure out how to kill me, and I'm not giving him that satisfaction. So, goodbye to you all.
Harry
This couldn't be real. He looked carefully at the letter, then rummaged through his trunk for one of the letters Harry had sent to him. Finally, he found one and laid both letters side by side on his bed. The letters were written in two different handwritings and the signatures were different.
He snatched both letters up and ran from the room. He arrived at the statue guarding the entrance to Dumbledore's office panting. He quickly said the password and ran up the stairs. When he burst into the office, Dumbledore was seated at his desk, reading a book.
"Dumbledore!" cried Sirius as he shoved the letter he had found into Dumbledore's face. "Read this!" he yelled. Dumbledore took the letter and read it.
"Find Harry, fast." he said.
"Okay." replied Sirius. He turned and ran back to Gryffindor Tower one inside the dormitory, he lunged or Harry's trunk. He began digging through it, looking for the familiar piece of parchment known as the Marauder's Map. Finally he found it.
"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." he said as he tapped the parchment with his wand.
The map appeared and he searched frantically for the dot labeled Harry Potter. When he finally located it, he gasped and almost dropped the map. The map said Harry Potter/Voldemort.
"The map never lies." he whispered to himself.
He looked to see where the dot was. Harry was in the bathroom of the boys' dormitory and his dot wasn't moving. He ran to the door and tried to open it, but it was locked.
"Alohomora." he said and the lock clicked open.
"Har-oh Merlin!" he cried as he caught sight of his godson.
He ran over to Harry, who was lying in a pool of blood that was quickly growing larger. He wanted to run around the room and panic, but now was not the time. Harry could be…no, he didn't want to think about that. Instead, he ran back into the dormitory to wake the boys up.
They didn't wake when he yelled, "Get up!" so he had to resort to drastic measures.
Raising his wand, he said, "Eclafreau." Cold water splashed down on the four sleeping boys.
"What the-"
"Bloody hell."
"Ron, you go get Dumbledore, Dean and Seamus, you get Madame Pomfrey, and Neville, go get Professor McGonagall." said Sirius.
No one dared disobey him, because his voice was so serious and he was known to e a prankster. Sirius turned and went back to the bathroom, where he knelt beside Harry.
"Oh Harry, these things always happen to you." said Sirius sadly, playing with Harry's hair. Hair that was exactly like James' had been.
"Harry, please don't die." said Sirius softly, fighting the urge to start crying.
Minutes later, Dumbledore, Madam Pomfrey, and Professor McGonagall entered the bathroom to find a very distraught Sirius kneeling next to Harry, who was lying on the floor in a large puddle of blood.
Madam Pomfrey burst into action at once. Sirius got up and moved out of the way. He could only watch helplessly as Madam Pomfrey treated Harry. He had been watching for several minutes when he felt an arm around his shoulders. He looked to his left and saw Remus standing beside him.
"What happened?" asked Remus softly.
"Voldemort." said Sirius simply, summing up the whole situation with one word.
Harry's POV
Harry opened his eyes. He couldn't remember where he was or how he got there. He noticed he was covered in something warm and sticky. He slowly realized he was lying in blood. His blood. Where was it coming from?
He looked at his arms and gasped. They were covered in slashes and blood was flowing from them. Harry slipped into darkness. When he opened his eyes again, he was surrounded by people. He realized something was wrong, he was watching his body.
He tried to go back, but something wouldn't let him. Suddenly, he found himself in the dark corridor he had been in such a short time ago.
He headed down the corridor to the gates. That's it, I'm dead, he thought sadly.
Suddenly, the strange creature from before blocked his path. It pointed to a door on Harry's right. Harry obeyed, turning into the room. He was surprised at the contents of the room. It was filled with people sitting on chairs, either scribbling on parchment or staring into space. Harry headed for a desk that was situated at the other end of the room.
"Mr. Potter, please fill out this form." said the witch that sat at the desk, handing him a piece of parchment and a quill. Harry looked around for a seat. He finally located one and sat in it. He began to fill out his form.
It had a place for his name, reason of death, and then said to circle one choice, life or death, and why. Harry wrote down his name, then wrote I don't know why I died.
He didn't take long for the next answer. He didn't want to die, he had to kill Voldemort, so he circled life.
Under why, he wrote, I am too young to die. If I die, Voldemort will destroy the world. I don't want that for my friends.
He's already ruined my life, I don't want him to ruin anyone else's.
He put the quill down, unsure of what to do. That decision was taken out of his hands. Harry heard a whooshing sound and he appeared somewhere else.
Sirius's POV
Sirius and Remus watched as Madam Pomfrey magicked Harry onto a stretcher and walked out of the room with him.
"Sirius, please get some rest. You can't do anything for Harry right now." said Dumbledore and left the room with Professor McGonagall.
"I'm not staying here." said Sirius and left the room. He wasn't going to sleep. Harry needed him and where Harry went, he went too. He finally reached the hospital wing.
When he entered, he saw that Madam Pomfrey had already put Harry in a bed and was giving him potions. When she finished and went back to her office, Sirius dragged a chair over to Harry's bed. Harry lay there, pale and cold as death.
"Harry, c'mon you gotta wake up. Please." said Sirius.
He laid his head on the edge of Harry's bed and started crying. Several minutes later, he felt a hand on his shoulder. Startled, he looked up, only to see Remus's face. Sighing, he put his head back down.
"Sirius, you have to get some rest." pleaded Remus.
"No, I have to stay with Harry. You don't understand. I'm supposed to be protecting him and look how many times I've failed!" yelled Sirius.
"Calm down. Nothing that as happened to Harry is your fault.." said Remus.
"I know it's not my fault Remus, but I could have prevented them. I let him go off on his own when I was supposed to watch him. I let Harry down Remus." said Sirius in a calmer voice. Then he leaned over and started crying again.
Sirius heard scraping noises. Remus had pulled a chair next to Sirius. He didn't look at Remus, just continued watching Harry. Sirius stayed in the same position for a long time. He didn't notice when darkness overtook him.
He was in a dark corridor. Harry was just ahead of him.
"Harry!" he called out, but Harry didn't seem to hear him. Harry walked down the corridor and Sirius followed.
Suddenly, a strange creature appeared in front of Harry and pointed to his right. Harry turned and entered the room and Sirius followed.
Harry proceeded to a desk at the far end of the room, which was full of chairs. The chairs were filled with people scribbling on parchment or staring into space.
"Mr. Potter, please fill out this form." said the witch that sat at the desk as she handed him a piece of parchment and a quill.
Sirius quickly moved to read the parchment over Harry's shoulder. He gasped when he read it and the scene whirled.
Sirius awoke with a start and realized he was lying on the floor.
"Remus, he has to choose between life and death." said Sirius in an anguished voice. He couldn't take this, not knowing which Harry would choose. He growled menacingly. He didn't know how to take out his frustration.
"Sirius, you okay?" asked Remus. At this point, Sirius snapped.
"No, I am not okay! My godson is lying there, possibly dying and you ask if I'm okay!" screamed Sirius. He spotted the chair he had been sitting in and picked it up.
Remus flinched, obviously thinking he was going to throw the chair at him. Instead, Sirius turned and threw the chair as hard as he could at the wall.
It smashed, sending slivers of wood their way. He couldn't find anything else to demolish, so he ran out of the hospital wing. Immediately, Peeves came out of nowhere, but before he could say anything, Sirius had his wand out.
"Spirite Exhume!" he yelled and Peeves was banished from his sight.
He had just spotted a suit of armor that seemed to be laughing at him when Remus came out of the hospital wing and said, "Sirius, I think he's waking up!"
Immediately, Sirius turned away from the suit of armor and sprinted back towards the hospital wing. Once inside, he ran to Harry's bed where two empty chair were beside the bed. Remus must have fixed the chair, he thought.
"Harry, wake up." said Sirius urgently.
Harry's POV
Harry looked around. He was standing in a garden. There was no one there besides him, at least, he thought that he was alone until a voice interrupted his thoughts.
"Harry!" He spun around trying to locate the person who had spoken.
"Harry, it's us, your parents." said a new voice.
"Where are you?" asked Harry, frustrated.
"Right behind you." Harry turned around again.
"Mum, dad?" said Harry.
They both nodded. Harry ran towards them and leaned in to hug them both, but he passed through them and fell to the ground.
"Why can't I touch you?" asked Harry.
"Because we're dead and you're not, at least not yet." said his dad.
"You need to make a choice. We can't make it for you. It is for only you to decide whether you want to live or not." said his mum.
"I already filled out that form." said Harry.
"We know, but you have to be sure of your decision." said his dad.
"I already made my decision. I want to go back, if I don't the entire world will be ruined." said Harry.
"Goodbye then Harry." said his mum.
Harry saw the scene whirling. He was falling, but to where?
He became aware of an extreme pain in his arms. He could see light behind his eyelids, but he didn't wasn't to open his eyes, he was too afraid of what had happened.
"Harry, wake up." he heard someone say.
"Sirius, let him be, he'll wake up when he's ready." someone else said. Sirius was there, and someone else whose voice he recognized, but could not place.
"Sirius, why don't you get some sleep?" the second voice asked.
"No." said Sirius. His voice was muffled by something. Harry was tired of lying there with his eyes closed.
"Sirius." said Harry.
"Harry! You're awake!" yelled Sirius, then grabbed him in a bone-crushing hug.
"Ow, Sirius let go." said Harry.
"Oops, sorry." said Sirius. Suddenly, his chest began to hurt and he couldn't breathe. "Sirius…get….Malfoy." said Harry.
"Harry, what's wrong?" asked Remus.
They didn't know about Cho. Harry tried to tell Remus, but the words wouldn't come. Sirius, seeing Harry's distress, bolted from the room. Remus left his side as well.
"Madam Pomfrey!" yelled Remus. Madam Pomfrey came out of her office and over to Harry. She waved her wand at and muttered a few spells.
"I don't know what's wrong, Remus." said Madam Pomfrey.
"He was fine a minute ago." said Remus.
Suddenly the door banged open and Sirius ran into the room, followed by Malfoy. Malfoy waved his wand and uttered the same incantation as before.
"Thanks." said Harry.
"I'm sorry, Har-Potter. I forgot to tell you that the spell takes a while to wear off." said Malfoy. He looked sincere, so Harry believed him.
"Why don't you get some sleep Harry." said Sirius. Harry nodded and sank into sleep.
Next Chapter: Animagus
