Chapter 5. Spinning the wheel

"Very well, class." Remsu Lupin, with a small smile on her face, entered the classroom, which immediately grew quiet. "Let's begin."

"Today we are going to study boggarts." the man began. "Who can tell me what a boggart is?

Harry smiled a little, this man with friendly and gentle air around him, was definitely a competent teacher. He was looking forward to DADA this year…

"Alright, line up, we're going to use that Riddikulus spell you've learnt on a real boggart." Lupin said, smiling again.

After a number of students faced their boggarts, including Neville, whose worst fear was actually Snape. Harry had conflicted emotions about that. One part of him actually sympathized with the boy and detested Snape for his bullying ways. The other part, though, wanted to sneer at the weakling, who allowed himself to be intimidated so much by another weakling. Harry was fairly sure it was Tenebrae speaking.

At last, it was Harry's turn. He stepped forward, not missing the guarded look, that suddenly appeared on his teacher's face.

The clown in front of him started to change. Finally, it turned into Harry himself. It was the exact copy of him, the only difference were the eyes. Harry's were green, the boggart's were blazing-orange. A sinister smile adorned the doppelganger's face.

Harry's heart skipped a beat as he took a step back. His eyes growing wide.

The doppelganger grinned madly. "What's the matter, Harry?" he asked in mock concern. "You can't hide from the truth." Fog separated from the doppelganger-Harry and turned into Vitiate, who stood at the doppelganger's right, and Valkorion, standing at the doppelganger's left.

"For peace is a lie." Vitiate continued forcefully.

"And order is but an illusion for the weak." Valkorion finished.

Harry took another step back as his doppelganger made a step forward. Professor Lupin, seeing his student unable to even lift a wand, decided to step in before things escalated to unmanageable levels. He stepped in front of Harry. Instantly doppelganger and the two old men beside him vanished, replaced by the full moon.

"Riddikulus." Lupin muttered and the moon turned into a balloon, that deflated and flew around the room. "Alright class, that's enough for today." he turned back to the students.

Many slumped, some even glared at Harry for ruining the good lesson, but everyone gathered their things and left. Harry wasn't oblivious to either his friends' worried glances, nor to Lupin's speculative look.

xxx

Harry was hiding near the shore of the Black Lake. He and Hermione travelled back in time to save Sirius and Buckbeak. He was waiting for his father to appear in front of them and save his past self.

With hopeful look in his eyes he watched as his past self performed the patronus charm, conjuring a silver shield. The shield faltered and disappeared. Harry watched with a small amount of shame, as his past self started throwing sith lightning at the dementors. He prayed to all the deities he knew that Hermione didn't see his eyes. Because the eyes of the past Harry were blazing-orange with a tingle of glaring-red in them.

Even the sith lightning couldn't stand against a hundred dementors and the past, and Harry finally succumbed to their collective aura of terror. The dementors started feeding. Harry watched in trepidation and anticipation as Sirius's soul came out of his mouth. His father was supposed to appear now. "He won't." said treacherous voice in Harry's head, which Harry recognized a moment later as his own. His father wasn't coming. Who would save his past self? Who would protect his past self and Sirius's soul from being sucked out? In a moment of desperation and reckless abandon Harry ran to the shore and lifted his wand.

"Expecto Patronum!" he shouted at the top of his voice. Power filled the air, and silver mist started pouring from the tip of Harry's wand. Not a moment later it formed into a silver stag with shining red eyes, that charged at the dementors

It would be hours later that Harry realized, that the memory behind his patronus was the one of him, or rather Vitiate, establishing the Sith Empire under his rule on Dromund Kaas.

xxx

Harry was in turmoil. There were several questions he wanted answered. All of them led to either salvation for him, or to his doppelganger in the depths of his soul.

He walked to the library, using a moment of privacy (Ron and Hermione were in the middle of one of their quarrels). The book he wanted, was very easy to find.

"Complex protections, 1979" the title read. Harry opened the book and, after finding the section he needed, started reading.

"Fidelius charm

Fidelius charm is one of the best methods of protections, known to the wizarding world. It was invented by Romilda Rookwood in 1743…"

Harry skipped to the relevant part.

"The incantation to the charm doesn't exist. One must simply concentrate on the desire to hide and protect and then place the secret inside the secret-keeper's soul. That is the only known method of casting the Fidelius charm.

The Fidelius charm has its advantages and disadvantages, one of the latter being that it requires vast amount of raw power, thus can only be cast by powerful wizards…

… The other downside of the charm is its inflexibility. If one needs to change the charm in any way, then it must be taken down and the new one must be erected…"

Harry looked up from the book. Dread, hate and disappointment ignited in his heart and burned in his veins. He looked down, hiding his no doubt orange eyes. When his emotions subsided, Harry closed the book roughly and walked away, not bothering to put it back.

xxx

Hermione was walking through the hall, trying to find Harry.

"Ron, can you concentrate?" she snapped at her friend, who was walking beside her. "Dumbledore asked us to find Harry."

"Harry's not a baby, Hermione." Ron waved her off. "I'm sure everything's alright with him."

"How can you be so irresponsible, Ron?" she admonished the boy. "Professor Dumbledore said Harry might be going dark and you are lazing around?!"

"What?" Ron gasped. "Dumbledore did? We should find Harry then."

Neither of them noticed slight shuffling sound of silk against the stone just behind them.

xxx

In two days Harry sat in the owlery under his invisibility cloak. He could never go anywhere alone without it now. Ron and Hermione followed him everywhere now. They said it was because they were worried for him and wanted to support him, but Harry knew better. They were there because Dumbledore ordered. The same Dumbledore, who could have saved Sirius from prison, but did nothing. The same Dumbledore, who left him on Privet Drive.

Why did the old man decide that Harry was going dark? Did Dumbledore really think that, or did he just want Harry to be in his sight all the time? Harry was frustrated and angry. The letter in his hand did not provide any relief.

Yesterday Harry wrote to his godfather. He asked the man why he did what he did on that Halloween night. Why did he not take Harry. He did receive a reply, but not an answer. Harry wanted to believe that Sirius just misunderstood his question, or that the side-effects of dementors were influencing his brain and preventing him from thinking straight. But he knew better. He did not receive and answer because there wasn't one. Harry just wasn't important enough. He made up his mind. Harry wanted to talk to his doppelganger. Darkness claimed him the moment this thought formed.

xxx

"Well, well." He heard his doppelganger's unmistakable voice, which sounded like his, but deeper, more oppressive. "Look who's come here to talk to little old me."

Harry turned around and faced the throne and the doppelganger with his eyes the color of angry orange.

"Don't bother to explain what you need," the doppelganger interrupted Harry, when he wanted to say something, "I know. After all, I am a part of you, my emperor."

"Will you stop it?" Harry snapped.

"Why should I?" the doppelganger smiled maliciously. "You don't want to recognize your authority here, why should I?"

"Well, what can you say?" Harry asked with a sigh.

"About what?" the doppelganger's smile broadened.

"About everything." Harry's eyes narrowed. This being was testing the limits of his patience and was doing it better than Marge.

"Everything is going as it must." the doppelganger replied airily. "Time is marching forward, the Force is still binding the Universe together…"

"Answer me!" Harry snapped. He didn't notice his eyes flickering and becoming just like his doppelganger's for a moment. Said being grinned.

"Oh, so you do recognize your authority here, emperor?"

Harry scowled. He wanted this over with. "Yes, I do, now answer me!"

"Well, what do you want to know?" the doppelganger asked innocently. He was quite enjoying Harry's eyes being constantly orange with tingles of red becoming more prominent every second.

"How could they all betray me?" Harry asked, his voice hard as grinded steel.

"It is human nature to betray." the doppelganger replied like he was talking about the weather.

"Don't be so casual!" Harry snapped.

"As much as I enjoy you facing your anger, Harry," the doppelganger said condescendingly, "why shouldn't I? Moreover, why should you be surprised? You have lived for thousands of years and manipulated countless men into betraying their family and friends. You know all there is to know about both human nature and betrayal."

"You're right." Harry sighed as he sat on the rock, his shoulders slumped. He loathed admitting to having Vitiate's and Valkorion's experience. In the back of his mind he heard the word "lie". "How is this that Valkorion, the ultimate evil of his time, turned into Harry Potter, a naïve young boy-savior?" he wondered outloud.

"I personally blame the killing curse." the doppelganger replied.

"It destabilized Valkorion's essence. Combined with Voldemort's soul attempting to latch onto the only living being near him at the time of his defeat, this caused Valkorion's essence to rearrange itself." Harry concluded. "And become me." he sighed and chuckled. "Harry Potter was even born out of some freakish accident. No wonder I have such rotten luck."

"You're as much Valkorion as you are Harry Potter." the doppelganger replied. "After all, experience shapes personality. And you definitely have all your experience intact."

"I'm not Tenebrae!" Harry snapped. "I won't be him!"

The doppelganger chuckled quietly, so Harry couldn't hear. "Valkorion used to say the same." he said quietly.

"Listen, Harry," the double said, "if you're feeling unable to face all of them, then why don't you take a vacation?"

"Vacation?" Harry asked incredulously. "And how do I do that? Dumbledore will certainly have somebody keep an eye on me. And even if I am successful in leaving Privet Drive, he will find me and bring me back."

"He will find you… on Earth maybe." the doppelganger replied. "Tough I am certain that you could mask your essence well enough for Dumbledore to run around like a clueless child. Anyway, why don't you go and see the Galaxy?"

Harry wanted to object, but closed his mouth before a word could escape it. That was actually a good idea. He was curious what the galaxy looked like now, three thousand years after Valkorion's defeat. Has it become a better place? There was only one problem though.

"How do I leave Earth?" Harry asked. "There are no spaceships here… However," his eyes widened, "of course! The communication device, that the droid gave me this summer!"

He stopped to ponder on it. The droid wanted him for something. And it wanted him badly enough to give him the means to rule the Galaxy in exchange. Well, it was disconcerting. Whatever he was needed for, it was big, really big, because no one just gives you galaxy domination in return for nothing. Would Harry risk it just to see the Galaxy? He certainly would.

"Very well, I made up my mind." Harry said.

"Good for you, emperor." the doppelganger grinned. Harry scowled as he disappeared. The doppelganger looked at his hand, it was growing more transparent. He grinned.

The doppelganger in Harry's soul represented Harry's repressed thoughts and desires, everything Harry had in himself, but did not want to acknowledge as a part of him. His disappearance could only mean one thing. His grin widened as he looked longingly at the throne.

"Soon." he murmured.