Chapter five: Return from a Folly
Harry and Lion landed in a new chamber which seemed to Harry like a second entrance chamber. There were many doors, but they all seemed to be on the walls rather than the floor. Not a single door was touching the floor. Harry would need a spell to get to a door. A charm popped into Harry's head- the hook shot charm. Harry cast it on his right hand.
He aimed it at a doorknob and focused. His right hand shot off from his wrist and a string of chains came out. It hooked onto the knob and the pair was transported elsewhere. They landed again in an identical hall. The only thing that marked this one from the first was the slightly crooked nature of the fountain.
"Does this maze ever end?" Lion asked, annoyed at this wild goose chase. "Wait, I think we should go back to the floating door chamber."
"Why?" Harry asked incredulously.
"Just do it." Lion pressed and Harry did. They tried six random doors until they arrived at the chamber again. Harry turned to Lion.
"Which door should I grab now?" He asked raising an eyebrow.
"Actually not a single one yet. Wait a bit until I think my idea through." Harry waited as Lion thought and thought and continued to think.
"You know, today might be a good time to pick a door. Remember we have a time limit!"
"Alright, bloody humans always so impatient. Now look at the ceiling and ask for the door to the chamber of no return." Harry raised an eyebrow at that, but decided to try it.
"(In English) present forth the door to the chamber of no return." He said clearly. When he looked back down, he was surprised to be facing a door with an eloquent handle. It had a phoenix, a dementor, a kneazle and a dog. "Wow you were right! Pretty damn brilliant for a snake!"
"Well, I'll take that as a compliment. Look who came through after being mocked to death." Lion said smugly.
The duo walked through the door and into a room. The room was empty except for four things. A beautiful book with elegant writing and a golden cover that emitted a light that could have rivaled the sun's, a stand which was holding the book. The stand was a beautiful mahogany stand with three claws engraved with the four animals. The last two things in the room were Voldemort and a man who Harry recognized as Sirius' father.
Mr. Black (who will be referred to as Black for this scene) had just grabbed the book and muttered 'Horcrux' when Harry entered. The book glowed a deep shade of gold and immediately text appeared on its once blank pages. Voldemort began to read it and paid no attention to the decaying form of Black.
"Please master, you promised to save me from the horrid effects of the book." He pleaded as he decayed.
"I lied my poor, naïve fellow, I lied to you, now die!" He said and turned away. Harry shot a hex that barely missed Voldemort's head, causing him to turn from the book.
"You again; you, the fool who attempted to gain access into my fortress! You shall pay for what you have done to my beasts, although I am curious to how you slayed a dementor." Tom said with a sneer.
"All in good time, all in good time, but for now get away from that book. You need no information from it. What you seek to do is wrong and I intend to stop you." Harry said with finality.
"We shall see foolish boy." Was the only reply Harry received.
Both men had their wands draw, Harry with the elder and Voldemort with the phoenix. This would be the beginning of a fierce duel to who knew where.
Harry decided to start off with a blasting hex, which went into a wall. Oddly enough, the wall took no damage and just absorbed the hex. Tom however only graced Harry with three killing curses and a Cruciatus, all of which missed.
Harry took the time to fire his dragon's fire hex at Tom. He waited long enough to send a fireball as big as three Hagrids to Tom, who dodged it by using his flying charm, which Harry had seen seventh year.
Harry was hit with a very powerful Cruciatus curse and sank to his knees. Once the curse lifted, he bolted back and shot a string of stunners and disarming hexes at Tom. Tom merely floated all over the place and laughed. This battle of wills was going nowhere. Tom could be easily killed right now, but Harry had already promised Dumbledore he wouldn't alter the future.
Voldemort decided to fire a volley of over thirty killing curses at Harry bringing Harry to the defensive. Harry rolled away from the first few, jumped over the next two and had to dance his way around the rest. Luckily they all missed him, which hacked off Voldemort slightly. He hissed angrily and barred his teeth. Luckily, he was still fully human so he didn't look as menacing as he would soon.
Another lucky break Harry got was the lack of followers Voldemort had brought with him. He had not found a single death eater guarding the door, most likely because Tom didn't trust anyone to come here with him. Voldemort began to gain height and shot another string of curses at Harry. This was proving a problem. Even if Harry had a chance, he wouldn't be able to aim a hex that high. It would be a long-shot and Voldemort would easily dodge it.
Harry was at a sleek disadvantage. Air vs. Land was hardly fair, but Harry had to cope. An idea erupted in his head. Harry conjured up wood and gasoline. The gasoline fell all over the conjured wood. He threw his dragon's fire hex again and the whole chamber went ablaze around him. Voldemort would have to come down now. Hermione would be proud. Smoke would rise and suffocate him, hence giving him the option of suicide or coming down.
Harry however was blissfully mistaken, as he had forgotten that the monster was indeed a wizard who was fully capable of the bubble-headed charm. The fire however was spreading and it getting close to the book. Although the book was indestructible, the flames would still surround it, making it impossible to get to. Tom had to act fast. He cast a slicing hex at the book and grabbed the page on Horcruxes. Since the page was no longer a part of the book, it was no officially free from the hex.
"I win again despite your stupid efforts fool. I shall take my leave without killing you this time, but next time I shan't be so generous. You are lucky I have gotten what I came for or you'd be dead." Tom said with a vicious smile and grabbed the doorknob that lead out. The door disappeared and didn't reappear. Harry was frantic.
"Leo what do we do? My fire is growing and we can't get out!" Harry asked searching for an answer.
"I don't know, I just planned on portkeying out of here!" Leo answered securing his place on Harry's forearm.
"That's it! You're a genius. I learned how to make illegal international portkeys last year from the Order!" Harry exclaimed and ripped a piece of his robe off. He quickly muttered the word "portus" and held his wand tip to the tattered piece of cloth until a blue glow came from the cloth. This signified the completion of the spell. Harry activated the portkey, but not before he scorched his leg on the flame.
Harry reappeared in Hogsmeade and lion poked his head out of Harry's sleeve to make sure they were alive. Harry and Lion had an unspoken agreement not to talk to each other in public. It would raise questions about Harry's loyalties and intentions.
Harry groaned as he realized his leg was hurt a bit. It wasn't serious, but it did cause him to limp noticeably. He would have to heal it before he got to Hogwarts, but he knew no healing spells. He had two options, to stumble into the school and face Pomfrey and Ginny's wrath or to go to St. Mungo's and raise questions about who he was as he had no records of existence yet. He chose the former.
Harry limped into Hogwarts, but instead of heading to the great hall, like he should have, he limped to the hospital wing quietly. He saw Madam Pomfrey eating her meal in her office and decided not to disturb her. He quietly limped into a bead and summoned a bottle of dreamless sleep potion to drink. He needed to rest after such a terrible experience.
Harry awoke to madam Pomfrey muttering something about irresponsible professors under her breath. Harry sat up, making her jump and asked "Ah, thank you Madam, I think I'll just be going now. By the way, thank you for that great dreamless sleep potion, it did wonders." He said stretching and attempting to get up.
"You will be doin no such thing Mr. Potter as it seems that your leg is still healing. I can't imagine how only your leg got burned so badly in such a concentrated spot. The fire you were under seemed to have only grazed it, and yet you got second degree burns! It will take a day for the skin to replenish and another day for your leg to fully function again. You will be in bed till Wednesday, and by the way, today's Monday. An a happier note, Sunday is Christmas and you will be up and running well before it." She said in an attempt cheer him up, but he groaned.
"Does Ginny know that I'm back yet?" He asked in trepidation of the redhead's reaction.
"Well yes, she came down here after dinner last night and found you asleep. You should have come to me yesterday rather than waited for me to find you. Anyway, it's only seven in the morning and I trust you'll have a few visitors soon. Actually, MR Lupin, Black and Potter tried to see you yesterday. Apparently all three of them have decided not to go home for Christmas." The matron stated a little bemused.
"Great, as long as Ginny doesn't get down here. OH sweet mother of Merlin, what if she sends a howler?" He asked.
"Luckily for you, a howler entering the hospital wing will disintegrate and remain inactive." Harry let out a breath of relief.
The rest of the morning till ten was spent counting floor tiles and trying out new charms in a diary Dumbledore left behind. Harry found a few interesting ones such as the shadow charm, the illusion charm and some life charms. The life charm was a charm that was similar to the Imperius curse except for the fact that it was for specific use on inanimate objects. It had been used by Dumbledore in Harry's fifth year, right after Sirius' death. The illusion charm could be used but only with heavenly concentration. It could create an illusion that only the caster could see through. The illusion could not however collide with any real things without being disrupted. It was a tricky bit of magic. The final charm was the shadow charm which, when cast correctly, caused the person who was hit to reciprocate the movements of the caster. If the caster moved backwards, the victim did as well. This charm seemed worthless to Harry because it didn't do anything for him. What use would it be if he could shoot spells at himself and at Voldemort only making Voldemort shoot a spell back at him?
Harry groaned as the door to the hospital wing opened and Ginny marched in sporting a stern look on her face. "Morning Gin," he mumbled as she came to his bed. He looked down afraid to look her in the eye.
"Hello Harry, or should I say hello you idiot? Why did you come here with a dangerous burn on your leg and not notify anyone? The burn got worse and could have infected you in those simple hours. You are a bloody fool Potter." Harry winced as she only used his last name when she was fuming. He was afraid to lean in and kiss her not knowing if that would calm her or make her attack with twice as much fury.
He decided not to risk the latter, but a miracle came to save him. "Hello boys," Harry said loudly, making the presence of the arriving marauders known so Ginny wouldn't kill him. "So, any particular reason you three came down here at this ungodly hour?"
Remus snorted. "Ungodly hour professor; it's almost eleven! Breakfast was over three hours ago!" He said and everyone except a tired looking Sirius laughed.
"You've got the right idea professor; it is a bloody ungodly hour! These lunatics woke me up so damn early to come and see you." He mumbled half asleep. James and Remus whacked Sirius upside the head and the three of them laughed.
"Ah, so your escapades are not limited to the full moon eh?" Harry asked and the three of them stopped laughing instantly.
"You're good Professor, damn good to know that! Even Dumbledore hasn't figured out that we are Animagi and yet you have." James said astounded. "Not only that, but you can tell what we've been up to just by talking to us."
Harry smirked inwardly at his knowledge. True, he had known what they did, but only by intuition and knowledge of the past. "Ah, but maybe you three are a bit obvious. Anyway, I was wondering if you three would like to join us for Christmas?" Harry asked slowly. The three boys immediately perked up at this offer.
"Really? That'd be great!"
"Yeah, of course!"
"Definitely!"
Harry beamed and so did Ginny. Harry would finally have a Christmas with his father. Suddenly Harry made a move to get up. As soon as one foot moved over the side of the bed, his feet snapped together in the middle of the bed and his arms snapped to his sides. He was in a body bind. "What is going on with my bed?" Harry asked and the four other sniggered. Ginny took the liberty to answer.
"Since you have always decided to attempt to cut your stay short, I decided to put a special little string of charms around it. I was ordered to practice small wards, and I got bored so I decided to charm your bed." At this, the marauders roared with laughter while Harry grabbed his wand and attempted to undo the string of hexes. "Don't bother; I had the hexes strung in a special shape, only allowing one to untangle them if he or she knows the shape." Ginny said smugly, but gaped when Harry stood up unaffected by the hexes.
"Ah, but you didn't know that there is a charm for revealing and undoing the shape making the hexes very simple to break? Tut tut Ginny, I expected better. You should try a bit harder next time you deal with me." Harry replied equally smug. Ginny however was not to be beaten and immediately cast a slight trip hex, tripping Harry backwards and onto his bed.
"Looks like you're still weak from your accident Potter, no reflexes equals no win." Harry sighed, admitting defeat. If he couldn't move his legs, he couldn't dodge. He lay down and looked at the marauders.
"Don't ever pick a girlfriend who can outsmart you EVER!" He stressed, earning him a smack on the shoulder. The marauders sniggered. Harry suddenly brightened up. He had just remembered that he had a small bag of pranks left and he could escape the hospital wing by simply dissolving. He smirked and quickly disappeared. A puddle of water lay in his place while Harry reappeared in his common room.
"Hello Harry, I see you are back. It was pretty damned foolish of you to use that stupid fire; all you did was endanger yourself and more importantly, ME!"
"Leo, I see you missed me as usual, but you also forget that I was the one who saved us in the end and no harm came upon you. Also, you didn't contradict me when I cast the gasoline charm did you?"
"That is only because you ordered me not to talk to you in Voldemort's presence. I still can't believe you did something so utterly stupid. You're going to be the death of me one day Harry, that you will be."
"I highly doubt that. You'll probably do something stupid too and then I'll have to save your ass once as well to pay my life debt. You can't say you haven't done some stupid things as well."
"If you will recall, I was the one who figured out the location of the stupid palace and how to get to the chamber of knowledge. Secondly, I was the one who figured out the fact that Voldemort was after the book. You know I haven't made a single mistake on this mission and you're the only one to blame."
"Aw come on and be a good person. Tell me it wasn't my fault and you deserve all the blame like a normal sympathetic person would."
"Shut up Harry, and what you described isn't a sympathetic person, but a pathetic person. More pathetic than your attempt to get me to take the blame; luckily I wasn't the one injured so I can't complain about how your mistake hurt me. I sense Ginny and the other three coming so I'll be hidden in your bedroom."
Sure enough, the others had come up with Ginny looking ready to kill. Harry felt a sense of trepidation overwhelm him and he backed away ready to make a run for it, but he remembered the limp in his leg. He didn't have the energy to dissolve without transforming and he didn't want to reveal his animagus for just yet so he backed away and prepared to endure her wrath.
She came in and the onslaught began…
A/N: Ok, i would really appreciate it if you hit that button there. I've been updating everyday and only got one review (thank you Alanna Maza). I will not be annoying and keep pestering you for it either.
Ok, with that done, what would Harry's siblings be named? Also, does anyone have any ideas that they may want me to include? Any idea is reasonable, so just drop a review.