Harry Potter and the Heavens Curse
Chapter 5: Ancestral Recall
Hermione was at a complete loss of words as Harry enveloped her in his arms. He was taller than he was before, she realized, but stored that in the back of her mind as she gently hit his chest with her fist. Her mind was screaming at her to say something, anything, but all she managed when she opened her mouth were more sobs.
It was like that for about five minutes before she managed to get her thoughts and emotions under control again. She had stopped hitting Harry's chest by then, but she also realized by then that his arms were still wrapped around her. The feeling alone was what was calming her and the warmth she felt was soothing.
It took a little while longer however, for her to work up the willpower to pull away from Harry's embrace. When she did though, she litteraly had to look up to him. He had been taller than her when they had left at the begining of summer but now he was easily an entire head taller than she was.
But that wasn't the only thing she noticed that was different about him. His clothing was different, the way he stood, and it was starting to register the amount of strength she felt when he held her as well as the firmness of his chest when she had been hitting him. His hair was still as unruly as ever, it never really changing, just growing a little longer. But his eyes were sharper and brighter than she had ever seen them before. They did not seem dull and lost like they had been when she had parted with him not so long ago, but she could see sadness in his eyes still.
"I told you I'd be back," Harry said to her then, his voice a little deeper and more mature sounding than it had been as well.
Finally though, as all of her emotions were comming back under her control, and all of her thoughts fell into place, one action still slipped past her. The resouding smack that followed her action final lapse in control made the two people behind her stare in shock and fear. And most of all Harry was also in sheer shock as his head had turned with the power of the blow.
His face stung painfully, and he lifted a hand to were Hermione had slapped him. Slowly he turned his head to where Hermione was still standing, both of her hands back at her sides and now shaking with barely restrained emotions.
Her mouth opened and closed a few times, trying to find her voice on what to say to Harry but nothing came. After a few valiant attempts though, she gave up and turned around, her hair lashing out in its own anger at Harry, also smacking him in the face, though not as painful as Hermione's hand.
"Ron, we have a prefects meeting to go to, now!" Hermione said very forefully.
Ron gulped in his own fear, not entirely sure of what would happen to him if he started to argue with her. He quickly stood up and followed her as she stormed off down the passage way to where the prefects were supposed to meet.
Harry and Ginny stared after the two, Ron looking back over his shoulder briefly waving a hello and mouthing a 'we'll talk later' as his welcome.
When the two disappeared around the corner, Harry dropped his hand from where Hermione had slapped him and sighed. It was then Ginny finally got a good look at Harry and her mouth nearly dropped in shock.
Ron was by far the tallest Weasly there was yet standing nearly six and a half feet tall, but now Harry seemed to have almost caught up to him, being at least six feet tall now himself, but at the same time a little bulkier than her lanky brother.
His clothes were much different as well, no longer the rags that she was somewhat used to seeing him in that were the hand-me-downs from his relatives. But now, they were completely different. His pants, a decent fit now, were a pair of loose but still form fitting blue jeans. He had on a black turtle neck sweater and a decent pair of sneakers to also go with the ensemble.
It was durring her stare of shock that Harry came back into the compartment and sat down where Ron had been just a few moments ago. He was muttering while he passed Ginny and after he sat down, he leaned back and sighed.
Ginny's own temper suddenly flared though as her mind came back to the real world. She leveled her glare on Harry and opened her mouth to snap something at Harry when he visible tensed and leaned back forward with a sheepish grin on his face.
"Sorry Gin. I didn't mean to ignore you," Harry said.
Ginny still had her glare on him fully as he laughed nervously for a bit until he sighed again.
"I really am sorry. I know I scared all of you, but I won't leave you guys again," Harry said, as he ran a shaky hand through his hair.
"We were worried you know?" Ginny stated a little harshly as she crossed her arms over her chest and sat back against the seat, leveling her gaze on Harry more. He wasn't looking at her though, she noticed.
He was looking down at his hands and his expression seemed pained more than anything.
"Harry?" Ginny asked, any anger that had arisen in her suddenly vanishing at looking at Harry's face. Harry looked over to her then with a shaky breath and half smile.
"I know," Harry said softly and turned to face the window, "I know you were all worried about me. But I needed to get away. I needed to get away from everything."
"Harry..." Ginny said as she slid over in her seat and took one of her hands in hers. Harry turned to look at her again then, the burning behind his eyes getting hotter as tears started to threaten to fall.
"Harry it's not your fault for what happened. We all were there and we all chose to go with you," Ginny said softly as she starred into Harry's eyes.
It was silent for a few moments before Harry sighed, closed his eyes, and say back into his seat once more.
"I know Gin. I... I came to terms with everything this summer. It doesn't mean that it doesn't hurt still though," Harry said, his voice barely above a whisper.
Gin, in another act of comfort, moved over to sit next to where Harry was sitting and wrapped her arms around him. Harry instictively tensed at the action before a wave of warmth wrapped around him. He had felt the same thing when Hermione had hugged him, but this was different. There was no explanation for either hugs but he knew for certain that they did relax him.
Ginny hugged him for a while longer after he had relaxed and when she pulled away she looked up to him and smiled.
"We'll always be here for you Harry, no matter what happens," Ginny said soflty but Harry caught the sense of worry and comfort in her words.
"I know Gin, I know," Harry said, his body relaxing back into the seat more as Ginny moved back across to face him.
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"Hermione," Ron called as he quickened his pace to catch up with his friend. They had just left the prefect meeting not a few minutes ago and Hermione was still in a mood.
She snapped at whoever she found doing something wrong along the way. They were doing rounds along the front most part of the train, their job to keep the other students in order. With Hermione in her mood though, no one came outside of their compartments lest they suffer her aggitated wrath.
They had been doing this for about an hour now and Hermione had still not calmed down.
"Hermione would you wait for a minute," Ron called after her finally getting her to stop. She had stopped in on of the passageways between the cars and her shoulders were visibly shaking as she stood there, hands balled into fists at her sides.
"You alright Hermione?" Ron asked as her and gently laid a hand on her shoulder.
Hermione flinched at his touch at first but then let her shoulders relax before they started to shake again, though this time with the sound of her sobbing.
The sobs quickly broke down into full fledge tears as she broked down and turned to lean against the wall as she sat down in the passageway, bringing her knees to her chest and crying.
Ron was at a massive loss for words as he watched his friend break down. She had been emotional before, and he had been on the recieving end of it many times before. But seeing her like this was something entirely new to him.
"Hermione?" he asked quietly as he squated down next to her and rested his hand on her shoulder again.
"I... I can't beleive he did that to us. He... He just up and leaves and comes back like nothing is wrong..." Hermione sobbed out, mostly in her own thoughts, not fully registering her friends concerned hand on her shoulder or the look in his eyes.
It took a micro second for Ron to figure out that she mumbling about Harry. He had been happy to see his freind as well but also furious at the same time for him suddenly leaving. But with Hermione crying and saying angry words, his thoughts were a bit lost on the situation.
It took a while for Hermione to calm her emotions once again. Her sobs turned to sniffles and she started to wipe her eyes from the tears.
"So... Sorry Ron," she whispered as she wiped her eyes.
"It's... It's alright Hermione. We all knew he would be back eventually," Ron said as he helped Hermione to her feet. He truly had no idea of what to say but from the choked laugh that escaped Hermione's lips, he thought he said something right.
When the two were standing again, Hermione wiped her eyes a few more times, them being slightly scratchy from her rubbing them already.
"We... We should probably get back now. I think we've done enough patrolling," Hermione said a smile creeping across her face.
"Yea, then you and I can lay into Harry all we want. He's gotta take responsibility for his actions right?" Ron said with a large grin, and makeing a mock fist, trying to lightne Hermione's mood.
The girl laughed at Ron's antics and said, "Sure, let's do that."
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Silence reigned in the compartment Harry sat in. He sat in the spot he had sat down in, starring out the window as the world outside rolled by. Ginny, having become bored from the lack of talk had grabbed a book from one of her bags and had started to read.
At least she tried to anyways. Her mind kept wandering and every few minutes she could not help but look Harry's direction. She could not see his face as he gazed outside, but the piercing green reflection off the glass showed her that Harry was saddened by something as he thought.
It was during one of those glances that she heard and saw the door to the cabin open, Hermione the first at the entrance and Ron behind her. She immediatly turned and waved lightly to the two as they entered, immediatly noticeing that Hermione's eyes were a litte puffy from crying.
Hermione waved back to her friend and then turned to look at Harry. He was still looking out the window and seemed to be in a world all his own. Her smile turned into a frown then though as she saw this.
She moved in and sat next to but a ways away from Harry as Ron came in and sat next to his sister, also taking note of Harry's mood as he say down. It was silent again in the room for another ten minutes before anyone decided to do anything.
It was Harry who started it as he looked away from the windown and sighed. His eyes were closed then as he leaned back into the seat and rested his head against the wall.
Ginny, Hermione, and Ron looked at each other briefly with semi confused looks before looking at Harry. THey starred at him for a few seconds before his head fell forward again with another sigh.
"You okay mate?" Ron asked, Harry's odd actions getting to him.
"I'm fine Ron. I just... I wanted to say I'm sorry for everything I've every pulled you guys into and that... I thank you for being there with me. I'm not sure were I'd be now if it hadn't been for all of you," Harry stated, running a shaky hand through his hair and then sighing again.
"Harry, look at us," Hermione said immediatly as she moved closer to him and rested an hand on his shoulder.
His body tensed at her touch for the briefest of moments before it relaxed and he turned his head to look into Hermione's eyes as she gazed back into his. It took all of her will power to not suddenly envelope Harry in another hug like she had before when he first arrived then.
The look of sadness, of lonliness, and an ancient look in his eyes made her heart feel as if it had shriveled an died. She knew Harry carried a great deal of burdens upon his shoulder that he never asked nor wished for. From his defeat of Voldermort at the age of one somehow to the recent death of his Godfather, Harry had seen what most people would never dream in their darkest of nightmares or brightests of fantasies.
"Harry, we all are here for you. We are your friends Harry and we wouldn't have stuck by you all these years if we didn't care about you so there is no need to apologize for draging us into your life. We walked right into it standing beside you and we plan and standing with you as you walk out of this," she said, her heart aching at her own words, hoping that the look in Harry's eyes would go away.
Silence was becoming a common thing in the room as it reared its head once again. Harry and Hermione stayed looking at each other, Hermione's eyes moving slightly from left to right, looking for some sign of an answer in Harry's.
"I... I know all of that Hermione," Harry said soflty, a small smile gracing his lips, "I know all of that but I cannot bear to let any of you get hurt anymore. I almost lost everyone that is precious to me because of my own stupidity."
"We're still here though mate," Ron said, drawing both Harry's and Hermione's gaze, "And like Hermione said, we'll still be here. We may not be the best of friends at times, but we are just that. Friends. We support you mate, and there is nothing you say or do that can change our minds about being your friends."
The smile Harry had at that point only grew as his friend spoke and the saddened look in his eyes slowly started to go away.
"And if you do do anything to try and make us be apart from you Harry, I'll hex you to hell and back again for doing so," Ginny said in a mock serious tone that made Harry look at her.
She wore a serious expression onher face but also had a smile to show that she also cared about him as much as he did for all of his friends.
"I... Thank you," Harry said after a little while longer, his head drooping down at his loss of words at hsi friends actions.
Hermione moved her hand from his shoulder to his back then as she tilted her head down to see if he was all right. His head turned as her went down though and the smile on his face as well as the now happy look in his eyes made Hermione feel smile as well.
It was at seeing this smile though that she moved even closer to him and moved her arm to be around him as well as wrap her other arm around him and hug him close. It lasted just a few moments but when she pulled away, the smile on Harry's face was a bit larger.
It was a few hours longer before the express had come to the station at Hogsmead. The four had talked the rest of the way there, about things that did not pertain to dark times that laid behind and ahead of them.
Ron and Harry had left the room to let the girls change into their school robes while they had just grabbed their cloaks and put them around the clothes they had on then and kept them closed.
When the train had stopped and the students were ushered out, the four quickly found a carriage that was empty. Harry however, stopped before getting in and starred at the thestral that drew it.
It still unnerved him to know of how these creatures could only be seen and at the same time envied them for that very same reason. He reached out and petted the nose of the one that drew the carriage his friends how entered.
"You have no idea how good you have it," Harry said softly and as if the thestral understood, its head moved upward and towards Harry.
Harry chuckled a bit at the creatures actions before patting it one last time then entering the carriage it pulled. The ride to the castle was brief and silent, the four starring out the windows as the sight of the great castle came into view.
It took about ten minutes for them to get to the doors, into the castle, and seated at the Great Hall. The ceiling was lit with its usual candle glow and the sceen was of a beautiful stary sky with a full moon and a few clouds. Slowly but quickly students took their seats at their house tables and the sound of talking was buzzing through the air.
Once all of the students were seated, Albus Dumbledore stood from his position at the head table and motioned for the students to be quiet. When the sound had died he nodded to Mr. Filch, who stood at the other end of the Great Hall, signalling him to let Professor McGonnagal to lead the first years in to be sorted.
When the old groundskeeper moved to open the door, Albus sat back down in his chair and watch, as did the rest of the staff and students, as the first years were lead into the Great Hall.
Harry smiled as he watched them walk down the center aisle between Hufflepuff and Gryffindor. Most of the students were awed by the site of the hall, pointing and whispering to the people next to them about the things they were seeing. A few of the students wore smug looks on their faces or were smiling and trying to explain to somewhat hysterical people about what was what. The fear and joy of being a first year in a magical world was one of the happy memories that Harry had and he hopped that these students would retain such a memory like him.
The rest of the feast seemed to pass in a blur to Harry. He ate and chatted lightly with his friends, but did not pay full attention to them. It was enough to have a general idea of what they were saying and he talked when he was addressed but his attention was not their during any of it. When the sorting had happened, he had looked at the staff table and noticed a lack of a few teachers. Normally he didn't care which teachers were there or not but what set him off was the absence of Hagrid.
The half-giant teacher as well as friend of his was always at the table for almost every meal ever since him being made a teacher at the school he so cherished. But when he looked again at the table he noticed that Snape was also gone and that Albus seemed to be on edge about something.
That had all happened during the sorting of the students and since then, he could not help beut feel something bad was going to happen this year. Had he been paying attention more though to what was happening around him, he would have taken note of Hermione poking him in the ribs with her elbow and the worried looks she was giving him. He would have heard the screech of an owl entering where all the carrier birds do and he would have noticed the package that fell from the bird towards his very location.
The resounding slam of something landing direcly in front of him made him jump back and fall out of his seat. The impact was so loud that it made the entire hall fall silent and turn to the source, as well as Harry's falling out of his seat.
It took a few moments for Harry to regain his senses from falling onto the hard stone floor but when he did he expected the people around him to either be laughing or starring at him.
Instead though, they all were looking at something else. When he looked to Hermione, he saw two emotions he wished he had never seen onher face ever. Sheer terror and shock.
He quickly removed himself from the floor and looked to where everyone was starring, noticing that many people had the same look that Hermione had. But when the sight of what he was now too starring at registered in his mind, it went into a system overload and shutdown.
There, in the spot where his food had been sitting not a few seconds ago, was a severed head. But it wasn't just a severed head. The bushy brown hair, and the large beard is what made Harry's mind shut down except for two names. Voldemort, the name of the man who probably had this other man's head sent in such a manner, and Hagrid, the name of the man who's face was starring at Harry from the severed head.
No words could come to Harry as he starred at the head of the person who had introduced him to the magical world. His knees became week and a pain errupted in his chest as if it would consume him. His heart too was racked with pain, it feeling like it would implode upon itself.
When he fell to his knees on the floor was when his mind started to start up once again, sadness unlike anything he had ever felt overwhelmed his mind. His eyes burned as tears escaped his tear ducts.
But as everyone was stuck in shock and horror at the gruesome scene, none saw the red envelope emerge from that large beard. It floated up in the air above the head about a foot before anyone noticed it. When the high pitched laughed screeched from the envelope however, everyone, including Harry, moved their gaze up to the envelope.
"Those who think they can defeat me are fools. Prepare to die!" the enveloped screeched once it had stopped laughing.
And as if on que, an explosiong rocked the Great Hall. The windows behind the staff table shattering inward in a hail of glass. Most of the staff, still shocked at the sheer vulgarness of Hagrid's severed head being sent by an owl, did not even flinch as pieces of the glass fell over them like a wave.
In less than ten seconds, the staff that had sense enough to react to the explosion were standing on the other side of the table now facing the window, those who were not now dead where they sat.
Albus was among those left alive and had ordered commands to a teacher that was closest to him. Harry did not react though to anything that was going on around him.
The other sutdents scrambling to get out of the hall, the flashes of lights from curses suddenly exploding into life around him, or the sounds of people screaming as they were hit with curses and hexes, both fatal and non-fatal.
All he could do was stare at Hagrid's head. The half-giant had been his first true friend in the world and had been his initila teacher of thigns in the magical world. And now he was dead, and the pain that was racking through Harry's body and mind kept him rooted to his knees and starring at the only thing that was left of his friend.
But, as he knelt there, starring, his pain of sadness started to become overwritten by another emotion. One that his mind could only think of one word to describe it.
Hatred.
And as the emotion bloomed to the surface within his body, the air around him started to grow cold and hot at the same time. Hermione, who had been as rooted to her spot as Harry had been, as well as Ron, were both now looking at Harry as the temperature around them changed and pulled to where he was kneeling.
Tears were streaking down his face, but his emeral green eyes were locked onto the horrific scene of Hagrid's head.
But as the looked at him, the saw the air around him start to swirl in random directions, multi colored particals flowing with the shifts in the air. The temperature shifted as well with each move of the air, from drawing in an intense cold to radiating a burning heat.
All three of them were oblivious to what was going on around them as they each had their gazes locked. They did not notice the peopel surround them in black cloaks with white skull masks. They did not see the many people around them that they had cared about fall prey to the suddenly overwhelming number of the black cloaked figures.
All Hermione and Ron saw was the now multi colored swirls around Harry randomly changing as his face started to contorl from horror to one of anger. And Harry could only see Hagrid's head in front of him. The eye's starring back at him lifelessly, and almost accusingly.
Accussing...
The sound of the word echoed in Harry's head for a moment before something in him snapped. The air and temperature around him drew into his being with a powerful force. The people in the black cloaks around him, Hermione, and Ron felt their bodies suddenly be pulled towards Harry, their wands falling immediatly out of their hands. But they also felt as if their skin was frozen while their inside were boiling onthe inside.
But that didn't stop Harry. Slowly, his body stood back to its two feet, the color still not swirling around his body until he stood. When he reached his full height, the swirl errupted from his body like a tornado.
Both Hermione and Ron felt the wind of what ever was moving around them but they themselves were not moved. The other bodies though went sailing through the air and were sent flying as if hit by a ton of bricks.
Both Hermione and Ron were stunned silent at what Harry had just done, not knowing exactly what had happened to him. They did however figure out instantly the look in his eyes. The murderous intent, the sheer lust of spilling blood, and a crave for revenge stuck out in his vibrant eyes with such a force that they shivered just at a glance from it.
The gaze was short lived though as he suddenly stumbled forward, his eyes rolling into the back of his head. Herione reacted on instinct and jumped out of her chair to catch the now crumpling form of Harry.
It was a good thing she had that, for no sooner had she moved, the bench she had been sitting on erupted in a green flash. The flash itself had startled her and when she had caught Harry, having to lay him to the ground quickly becasue his weight was more than she could hold up easily at the angle she had caught him.
But the second he was down, her wand was drawn and trained in the direction the green blast had come from. Her eyes nearly bugged out of her socket when she saw who had sent the curse at her and felt her heart start to be ten times faster.
The blood red eyes, the snake like appearance, and the screechy voice could be no other than Lord Voldemort.
"Well it seems the girl can move? Tell me, are you fast enought to save your other friend," Voldemort asked and flicked his wand at an angle to the left of where Hermione was.
Her own eyes widenend in shock as she followed a jet of green light errupt from the tip of the ebony wand. Her scream echoed throughout the hall as the jet of light raced towards its target. Her head twitched to the side frantically, yelling for Ron to move, but the tall Weasly could not move as the green light approached.
He could do nothing as he felt the spell hit and lift his body from his seat. He could litteraly feel his sould ripped apart and into millions of pieces before being forcefully removed from his body from the spell. The last thing he saw was Hermione's face, pale in utter horror and shock, and the resounding scream of his name coming from her lips were the last words he would hear.
Hermione, on the other hand, was suddenly overcome with both hatred and sadness as she started to feel the temperature changes start to occur around her that she had felt around Harry. But her eyes as she glared at Voldemort promised him only one thing, lots and lots of pain.
Yet, when she took one step forward she felt something press against the back of her neck and felt every mental function she had automatically shut down. Her kness crumpled first as her foot started to move and the last thing she saw as her eyes started to close was the laughing form of Voldemort as his wand was raised and pointed at her.
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Pain. Pure and simple pain that ran across the body and mind like a plague that would not let up. That was what Hermione found herself awakening to. Her body ached and her muscles were convulsing all over as if they had atrophed.
She was on her back, that much she was able to discern, as well as being udner something heavy enough to keep her from moving. The pain was also there, making thinking about much else a very hard task for her to do.
"Easy there girl," a strong and gruff voice said to her left, startling her as her head turned to the side and opened her eyes. Except when she did, the realm of blackness still remained.
Panic immediately took hold of her body along side the pain as her head thrashed around, trying to fins some semblance of light. Her sight was gone and she could not see who was there, where she was, and what was holding the rest of her body down.
"Calm down Hermione," another voice said from her left. It was just as strong and gruff as the first one but had a softer edge to it as well.
It calmed her nerves a little as her head turned that direction, but her panic of not being able to see was still there.
"You ain't in trouble there little lady. Here, drink this. I promise you that it aint poison and that it will help," the first voice said and she felt a massive hand reach behind her head and neck.
A bit of panic set in at its powerful grip as it lifted her head up, forcing her heard to turn forward as well as creating a bit mroe pressure on her still pain racked body.
But then something cool touched her lips and on instinct her mouth shut tightly.
"Please drink the potion Hermione. It'll resotre the sight that you most indoubtably do not have at the moment," the second voice said.
The instinctive side of her took over entirely at that point and she drank hungrily at the fluid. If her senses had been registering anything other than the primal instinct to see again, she would have noted that the potion was thick and tasted of Vanilla.
She downed the entire thing in less than five seconds, coughing violently as her lungs demanded to be replensihed with the air she had used to drink. There was some of the potion that driblled down her chin when she had drank as well as coughed.
"Whoa now, not so fast," the first voice, the man that had a hold of her and had given her the drink.
She coughed for a few more seconds before she found her breath again and took in a few deep and shaky breaths. Her eyes had closed as she drank and coughed but as she opened them now she suddenly snaped them shut again for the sudden light was too much for her retina to handle.
"Wh... Where am..." she started to ask, her voice slightly scratchy but she was interupted.
"Don't speak Hermione. Let the potion do it's work. You need to rest though while it does. I promise, when you awaken next, you'll feel a lot better and we will explain what is going on," the second man's voice called out.
It held compasion in it as well as worry, and she felt at ease. The large man that had her head held up gently put her head down and as soon as she felt her head touch the soft plush surface of wut could onlybe described as a pullow, she was asleep.