Chapter 12. Evolution
Harry was sitting in potions, doing… nothing. Snape, or rather Darth Vowrawn, was explaining something ridiculous, but Harry wasn't paying attention. It was actually quite amazing how an old Sith like Vowrawn could play people and get away with it. For example, no one, literally no one, suspected the truth. Why? Vowrawn was bullying everybody, except Harry… and because of that everyone was too busy nursing a grudge against "Snape" to worry about Harry. Quite ingenious.
A knock on the door stopped "Snape" in his tracks and he glared at the offending object. "Enter." Vowrawn drawled.
The door opened slightly and Colin Creevy's face could be seen through the small hole.
"What do you want?" Vowrawn sneered.
"S-sorry Professor," Colin flinched under "Snape's" glare, "it's the weighing of wands ceremony, t-they want Harry."
"Mr. Potter is in the middle of the lesson." Vowrawn drawled.
"T-they say this is urgent." Creevy replied miserably under "Snape's" drilling gaze.
"Very well" Vowrawn said slowly, glancing at Harry. "But this will be zero credit for the lesson, Mr. Potter." he finished in a silky voice. The Sith really should have pursued a career in theatre. "Now get your things and get out."
"Yes sir." Harry replied calmly.
In a minute he was out of the classroom. In ten minutes he was in the room where the ceremony took place.
"Ah, the fourth champion arrives!" Bagman shouted, once Harry entered. "Let's begin then!"
xxx
Harry often wondered if something can be simultaneously more amusing and irritating than deluded Jedi trying to redeem him. Well, the old man twirling with wands like they were a gift from God proved to be just that. Really, these force-users of Earth were so misguided that Harry did not look forward to enlightening the elder population once he had conquered the planet… On the other hand, he wouldn't have to do it. After all, he needed only those who could use the force, not just one of its aspects, which meant that he only needed children…
"Mr. Potter." he vaguely heard someone calling to him. "Mr. Potter." the voice repeated harder now.
"Sorry, Mr. Ollivander." Harry grinned sheepishly. "I was just lost in thought. Here's my wand."
"It is in good condition, Mr. Potter." Ollivander said after doing some random operations with Harry's wand. "But you've been neglecting to use it recently." It wasn't a question and within ten seconds everyone was looking at indifferent Harry, who merely shrugged and took his wand.
"Very well." Dumbledore clapped his hands. "Now that this is over, I believe champions can return-"
"Interviews, Dumbledore!" a shrilly voice interrupted the old man. All champions turned around and saw a woman in poison-green robes.
"How uncivilized." Harry thought.
"Ah, of course!" Bagman laughed. "Let us begin, shall we?"
When the waste of time that was picture taking was finally over, Harry heard that annoying shrilly voice again.
"Mr. Potter!" the voice cried. "A word if you would?"
Harry turned to look the reporter in the eyes, his icy-green irises, drilling through the glass of the woman's glasses and boring into her very soul. The woman seemed unperturbed. Harry sighed. "Where are their self-preservation instincts?" he thought. On the outside, though, a small smile appeared on his lips.
"Very well, Ms…"
"Skeeter." the woman replied, batting her eyelashes innocently.
"Ms. Skeeter." Harry nodded. "I know a very good spot, if you would follow me."
"You think you can twist my words for some fame." Harry thought as he walked the corridors of the castle with the annoying woman beside him. "I will twist your soul in the ways you can't even imagine, until you are nothing but a tool."
xxx
Next morning an article appeared in the Prophet. Harry, of course, knew its contents, but he had to keep up appearances. The article portrayed all champions as very capable individuals, Harry included, but the boy-who-lived was portrayed as a victim of negligence. All of this, however, was insignificant and had no influence on his plans.
xxx
It was November 24th at last. Harry, dressed in regular Hogwarts school uniform stood in the special tent with other champions. He did not cheat here… Mainly because he did not need to, he just ripped the information about the first task from Karkaroff's mind. The idiot's head ached for days.
Dragons. Hungarian Horntail for Harry. Not impressive. He personally created more dangerous and terrifying creatures… But still, it was yet another proof that Sith visited this world. One of many in fact. Pyramids in Egypt, Ziggurats in Mesopotamia… and the sword of Godric Gryffindor. Harry would never understand how a Sith sword found its way into the hands of the founders. But enough of that, he didn't notice how time passed and he was the last one in the tent. The fourth bang was heard.
xxx
Harry stepped into the arena. Silence reigned. Apparently people weren't prepared for him facing a dragon in a school uniform, looking like he was out for a walk, never mind that the last statement was actually true.
Hungarian horntail roared as Harry advanced with cold look in his eyes. He could make out something golden glistering in the sun.
"What is he doing?" Commented Bagman, looking at Harry as if he was mad. The whole crowd, bar three shared the sentiment.
Ron and Hermione knew beyond any doubt that Harry could kill this dragon without even glancing at it, so they were fairly relaxed and only wanted to know what Harry would do. Draco Malfoy knew as well that Harry could kill a dragon without any effort but was awaiting the proof of the inevitable. He held his breath, dreading what was to come.
For his part Harry clasped his hands behind his back and continued to approach the dragon in leisure pace. His eyes glowed purple as did the dragon's.
You are my servant, slave, weapon, tool…
And you will obey…
With one single attack Harry shattered the beast's mind and took over its body. Back in the waking world the dragon stilled as Harry continued to walk towards it. Dead silence filled the entire arena.
"It appears…" Bagman started saying something only to realize that he had no idea what just happened. "Albus, what did Mr. Potter do?"
"I cannot be certain, Ludo," Dumbledore replied for all to hear, "but it appears that young Harry subdued the dragon through its mind. I must say this is a remarkable feat of mind arts."
"Unbelievable…" Bagman breathed as Harry casually walked away from the beast with a golden egg in his hand. He collected his wits at last and shouted as jovially as he did usually. "And our youngest champion was the fastest to complete the task through impressive feat of mind magic!"
Harry simply walked away with egg in hand, not bothering to wait for the scores or pay any attention to the school nurse.
xxx
"You have come." Harry stated, not standing up from his throne-chair. He was in the chamber of secrets, surrounded by magenta flame that seemed to glow dimmer than it actually did.
"I have…" Draco replied as he reached the center of the hall, he swallowed. "I wanted to ask before I agree…"
Harry wanted to chuckle. As if the boy had a choice, he had already pledged himself to the emperor; all choice from that point forward was an illusion, permitted by Harry. But he decided to oblige Malfoy.
"Do ask." was all the dark lord said. Draco swallowed again, his eyes briefly flickered around the room, before settling on Harry's table. Said teen sat calmly in his chair, his red eyes, boring into his tool's head. He was going to let Draco speak, but he was definitely not going to make it easy for the blonde.
"Why do you care about me?" the boy asked at last. Harry wanted to sigh, but pushed aside his annoyance. Of all the questions Malfoy had to choose the most meaningless.
"I told you," Harry's deep voice resonated in the room, "we are similar. You inspire loyalty in those around you. You make others fall in line, take Slytherin house as an example. You are a leader… just like I am." Harry's calm face twisted into a malevolent smile. "I have plans for this planet, and I need you. I want you to stand by my side."
"How am I supposed to believe you?" Draco shot back. Harry chuckled, so the boy remembered what he saw when he was allowed to glimpse Harry's essence.
"You have seen the depth of my power." Harry said, again as calm as the stone around him. "You can stand with me and rule this world and many more… Or you can stand against me and be swallowed by the tidal wave of change I will bring. The choice is yours."
Draco swallowed again. He was going to go against everything he was taught… Kneel before a half-blood, betray everything his family stood for, betray his parents.
"This is evolution." Harry said, as if reading Draco's thoughts. Said boy looked up at the dark lord. "Your mind is an open book for me." Harry replied distractedly. "You are merely breaking your chains, making first step towards greatness, as is your right as the strong. The weak around you created many things to cage you: tradition, morality, loyalty and many other meaningless things. But if you are to ever be free and realize your full potential, you must break out of this cage. I will help you… if you will only kneel."
Draco nodded. He swallowed. His knee slowly sank to the ground. Draco glanced at the orbs of glaring red, that bored into him with the power of thousand stars. He swallowed again.
"I am yours… master." Draco's voice sounded like shuffling of falling sand in the eerie silence of the chamber. Harry smiled, this smile did not belong to a human.
"Very good." Harry said. "Rise now, Darth Scourge." the former emperor of the Sith stood up from his char and walked over to his newest apprentice. "Let me tell you the ultimate guideline to your future life.
Peace is a lie, there is only passion,
Through passion, I gain strength,
Through strength – power,
Through power – victory,
Through victory my chains are broken.
The force shall free me."
"This is the Sith code." Harry concluded. "Learn it, think on it. This code will guide you and will become the source of your strength. Go now."
"Yes, master." Draco bowed an left.
As soon as the Slytherin was out of the chamber and the door closed safely behind him, two figures emerged from the shadows.
"This was actually quite scary." Ron commented. "But then again, it was Malfoy, he deserves it."
"It doesn't matter if he deserves everything he will get or not." Harry cut off the redhead and sat back in his chair. "He is a useful tool, and thus, he will be mine. But enough of this…" his eyes turned to Hermione. "How did you find what Darth Thanaton had to teach you?"
"It was interesting." Ron replied. "He did tell us quite a lot." Harry smiled at Ron, but his eyes swiftly moved to Hermione. She swallowed.
"It was… insightful." the girl replied slowly. Harry leaned back in his seat.
"Ron, you are to find Darth Acina's journal. Read it." Harry ordered. "I will need to explain a couple of points to Hermione it seems."
Both teens looked at Harry with wide eyes. Confusion was filling them, because… Did Harry just imply that Ron was more intelligent than Hermione? Nonetheless, the redhead nodded and went deeper into the chamber.
Silence filled the room. Hermione's eyes were darting all over the place, sneaking a few peers at glowing red irises of her friend and immediately rushing away to look at something, anything else. Finally, she took a deep breath and decided to speak.
"What did you want to explain to me, Harry?" she asked cautiously.
"Darth Thanaton." Harry replied. "What do you really think of him?"
Hermione chewed his lower lip. "He is smart… But he thinks that tradition is the whole purpose of a Sith's life."
"You disagree." Harry nodded.
"I… do." Hermione replied. "But he is still-" she was silenced by Harry's raised hand.
"Thanaton's wisdom," Harry said, looking at the ceiling, "while useful, is limited."
"Limited?" Hermione asked after Harry grew silent.
"Yes." Harry nodded. "Thanaton is inflexible, way too inflexible, even for a Sith…" he frowned. "Especially for a Sith." he saw Hermione's confused expression and decided to elaborate. "Evolution is continuous. Nothing can stop it and everyone is subject to it. Those who refuse to embrace it are destroyed. Sith are always in motion, as is the dark side. One must adapt, traditions must be discarded… At certain point in my life I understood that the Sith code was no longer giving me power, but rather, restricting me… So I discarded it."
"Discarded it?" Hermione gasped.
"Yes." Harry nodded. "You will understand soon enough. You are smart and powerful, Hermione. I will teach you in my ways, the force without any definitions of dark and light, without restrictions."
The girl was looking positively mesmerized by the offer, but hesitated. Hermione swallowed and looked at the door where her other best friend disappeared. "What about Ron?" she asked at last.
"I will do the same for him when he sees how limiting the ways of one side are." Harry replied. "Now then, you will hear the only sentence that came close to becoming a new code for me…
There is only the force – and I am its master."
Once again, many thanks to my beta Thundramon for a wonderful job!