A/N Sorry for the late update. In the last week I had too much to do. I had to write my exams and had to learn. But now this is gone and I can concentrate on my fanfics. Furthermore I have been sitting in front of this chapter and have been thinking: "IT IS BAD!!!" So I had to rewrite it. This is the result.

Reviews light up the heart of the author and I got again new ones. As I see all of you want Harry to go dark. Some kind of dark I thought but I still have to think about if he will be seen worse than Voldemort or not.

Disclaimer: It's not mine, okay???

This chapter has been betad by JoSchmo666. I hope that now everyting is ok, but there have always been problems after I uploaded the chapter. Thank you.

Chapter 3 – Awakening

The next two days were quite uneventful in the young woman's room. There were only two visitors that came. The one that came most often was a house-elf that literally forced her to eat regularly. She knew that Tom was the cause of the behaviour of the elf and so she returned the favour and every time after she was done with her, sent the elf back to him with something to eat for him. The other one that visited was, of course, Voldemort although he did not stay very long. But he helped her with his visits to reach her goal which was to catch up with everything that had happened while she had been in the coma. The man brought her books and newspapers that could be helpful. But he never stayed long and always wore a disguise to fool the boy should he wake up. He feared that he could do something foolish if he faced him while he still was confused about where he was and what had happened.

During these days the woman grew slightly stronger and didn't need the wheelchair anymore as long as she did not use great amounts of magic. Even if the Dark Lord didn't believe her, she knew her limitations and so this was the last thing on her mind at the moment.

It was near dinner time on the third evening of his stay at the castle as Harry began to stir. As he remembered what had happened he did not dare to move anymore out of fear where he might be and what would happen if somebody actually noticed he was awake.

"You do not need to act as if you were still asleep, because I know you are not," the voice of a woman said. "But you do not have to fear me or the Lord of this Castle. I have convinced Lord Gaunt that you can stay here, at least until you are healed properly and then as long as you want. Nothing will happen to you."

The boy flinched lightly at the sound of her voice and more importantly, the fact that someone was in the room with him. He had hoped to be alone and be able to find out as much as he could about his whereabouts before he faced his kidnappers. He remembered that a group of people had come and taken him away, but he didn't know who they had been, he could not even remember what they had looked like, or where he was. One of the things he knew for sure was that he did know the voice, but could not place it no matter how hard he tried. The other thing he knew was that he was not longer at the Dursleys' and for that he was grateful. But on the other hand he could be at Voldemort's place and the man would've only waited for him to wake up so he could torture him. As he thought about this he came to the conclusion that he did not really care. After all he had wanted to come to him and ask him for death.

The voice sounded nice and he did not know why Voldemort would make him comfortable if he wanted to kill him, and there was no point in denying that the bed was comfortable as well and his body wasn't as sore anymore. Nothing compared to the last time he had been awake. But he wanted to know how the woman would react to his plan that involved escaping if she was a foe.

"What makes you think that I will not attack you?" Harry asked cautious, challenging the voice. "And try to escape."

The woman really had the nerve to chuckle Harry noticed, not the slightest bit amused as he was blind and looking for his wand if he needed it, trying not to alarm her.

"You? Attacking me?" she snorted, "No offence meant but you are no match for me. Not even the Dark Lord or Dumbledore are normally, so try it and brace yourself for your downfall." He heard a smile in her voice but he knew that she was deadly serious and she continued, "Secondly if you did that, you would confirm the thoughts of the Master of the House and he has no reason to keep you here, and would most likely throw you in the dungeon and let you rot away. He was against your presence here, since he knows who you are and he knew that I wanted to treat you which, for your information, endangered my health. I am the only cause that you are where you are. You would bring his wrath down on you and believe me, you don't want that. And thirdly, I know this is the weakest cause but it is one nonetheless, the Ministry would know because they put a special tracking charm on your wand and would not only expel you, but also take your wand away which is, at the moment, the only reason that Voldemort is not really able to kill you. So go ahead, try it. The only one you harm is yourself." She knew that he would never attack. "The wand you are so frantically looking for is on the bedside table."

Harry could almost hear the grin in her voice. Now he turned his head towards the voice and as he saw the woman for the first time, he gaped. To say that she was beautiful would be the biggest understatement of the universe. The first thing he noticed was her hair. It was dark but the colour was indeterminable. In some places it seemed to be just plain black whereas in others it had shades of dark green, brown, red and blue. And it was long. He knew that even when if she stood up the hair would still form a pool on the floor and she had already put it up in several braids. The hair had to be heavy was the first thought that came into his mind.

Her face was perfect. There was no other word, like what he would imagine an angel looks like although she had dark hair. He had always imagined angels with blonde hair. Her eyes were deep and again he could not say which colour they were but the fact that they were dark, too. They seemed to hold some kind of danger. All in all she seemed young although her eyes were old. She wore a dark red robe that was in some light almost black. It literally hugged her lean form and highlighted every curve of her body.

"Do you appreciate what you see?" she asked with amusement.

"Where am I and why am I here, if my presence is so unappreciated?" Harry asked trying to cover that he had just been about to devour her with his eyes but also wanting answers. He sat up.

"Because I brought you here." she shrugged amusement still clearly visible.

"That much I got. But why?"

"I saw you, saw that you needed help and weren't getting any and brought you here. After that I treated your injuries, had a discussion with the Lord and then watched over you."

Harry blushed as he realized that this woman had most likely seen him naked but then again Madam Pomfrey had too. But she was much less attractive than the woman in front of him, if you liked women. Not that he did. At least not in a sexual way. That much he had found out from his experiences with this sex in the last years. His disastrous dates with Parvati Patil and Cho Chang had been enough for a lifetime and he was sure by now that nobody could ever love him. Not that he hadn't known it before. The Dursleys had taught him that much.

They sat quiet for a while and since the woman made no move to ask him questions eventually he voiced one of the many that flooded his mind. He took the one that he thought was one of the more important.

"How long have I been here?"

"A little bit over two days."

"I see. That's the reason that your Lord is not fond of my presence, isn't it? Because the Order is most likely already looking for me and Voldemort, if he already knows," he sighed. "I should go. I have put you into enough danger."

She raised an eyebrow.

"And what do you want to do then? Go back to the Dursleys and let yourself be beaten up again? And be used as a toy? Or play Voldemort in the hands and go to him?"

Harry panicked. What did she know? Did she know what Vernon had done to him? Or Dumbledore? Had she known his plans to ask Voldemort for death?

"It would be better if you stayed", she said quietly, interrupting his thoughts. "They will not be able to find you here, as long as you don't leave the castle or somebody sees and recognizes you. We have strong wards. But it is your decision. Stay or leave. It's up to you. I will accept your decision even if I should not think it wise."

Harry looked at her. Her reaction was not what he had expected. Normally the people around him told him what he had to do but she…she let him make the decision and for that he was thankful. He turned his head away and thought about what to say next. He had the feeling that he could tell her everything and she would understand it. And most importantly support him.

"I wanted to go to Voldemort and ask him to kill me," he admitted eventually. He glanced sideways at her. She didn't seem surprised and again he asked himself how much she knew exactly.

"I know," she sighed. "And I do not blame you for it. Not after all that happened."

"Nobody seemed to care about me. So I had no reason to live anymore. Dumbledore wanted to kill me anyway. So I though let them deal with Voldemort themselves," he tried to explain, to justify what he had done or rather had wanted to do.

"You don't need to justify yourself to me. I am quite aware of everything Dumbledore did and wanted to do. 'For the greater Good'," she said in a mocking tone, then it softened. "But you said you wanted, not what you want, what changed?"

"You," Harry admitted, blushing deep red. She raised an eyebrow. "You seem to care about me and seem to care enough to start a fight with the Lord of the House and enough to endanger your health. I think it would be wrong to throw that away."

They were quiet for some time and just as the silence stretched so long that it became uncomfortable, a house-elf plopped in.

"Mistress, Mistress", the small creature bounced up and down. "Master wants Jany to remind you to eat and that Master has meeting at eight and wants Mistress to be there and asks if Mistress can come down at half past seven that he can discuss something with Mistress and …"

The woman smiled at the house-elf which was still too excited to register anything but her mistress.

"Yes, Jany, I will be down at half past seven," the woman cut her short, smiling. "As for dinner—I just wanted to call you so that I can ask you to bring us something to eat. Something light would be nice. And could you bring the Lord his part too? You can also tell him that our guest has awoken."

Now the house-elf spun around and Harry got the first clear look on her. She was short, shorter than normal, had smaller ears and a tiny nose. She wore a black dress that seemed to be the feminine part of the uniform and had a crest on it which was so tiny that he would need to get a closer look to actually place it.

Jany went bright red.

"Forgive Jany, Mistress, Jany did not know."

The woman waved it off, as if it was nothing. Harry immediately liked her even more. Purebloods like the Malfoys would have shouted at the small creature for not being attentive, but to her it seemed unimportant.

"Do not bother yourself, Jany. Just bring Naudiz and us the food and deliver what I said to him. And tell him that if he does not eat, I will know it," she added with a small smile.

The house-elf nodded and popped away. They still did not speak until some minutes later the house-elf plopped again in and brought them two plates with soup. She put them on the table not far from the bed Harry lay in. Just now Harry surveyed the room. It was big with numerous bookshelves and big windows. The colours were dark red, dark green and black. He found himself liking it quite much.

"Can Jany say something?" the woman nodded, "It is great that Mistress is awake again. Master is much nicer and happier now."

The house-elf smiled brightly and with that she popped away. Harry looked thoughtfully at the woman. She was actually nice towards house-elves which was seldom in pureblood households, and he was sure to at least be in the house of a very old family.

"I have been in coma for quite some time. The Lord was not too happy about it and very concerned about my state. He was more than just snappy to everybody. I woke up a little over a week ago. I am still not strong enough that I dare to leave the castle because there are some quite powerful people out there who want to see me dead. At the moment they still believe I am. But that would change if I left the wards in this state. The coma was the reason that I did not come earlier to get you although I knew that this environment wouldn't be good for you. And furthermore you would have still been at Hogwarts when I woke up," she explained. "I hope you can forgive me."

She looked at him thoughtfully.

"Can you get up or shall I help you?" she asked. Harry tried to get up but his legs gave out under him. She was beside him and caught him before he could hit the ground although she had been several meters away.

"Slow. You are still weak from what happened to you and the lack of food. You should sleep after dinner to get stronger."

She led him over to the table her hair floating behind her. He was afraid to step on it and hurt her in his clumsiness at on one point, but it always moved out of his way. And only now he could get an idea about how long it really was. Because a great amount of it still laid beside the rocking chair at least five meters away.

"You like long hair, don't you?" he asked chuckling.

"How did you get this idea?" she answered chuckling too. "It kept growing while I was in the coma. I haven't had the time to cut it yet."

She smiled and helped him to sit down. Then she glided down into her chair.

"You should eat," she said and started eating herself. As Harry did not move she raised an eyebrow. "It isn't poisoned, you know?"

The boy blushed and started to eat. It was good, even better the food at Hogwarts. She smiled.

"What do you think about Dumbledore?" she asked after a while.

His eyes darkened.

"Not very much. He lied to me, kept information from me and didn't help me," he hesitated before adding "and he wants to kill me should I survive Voldemort."

"Do not forget that he bound your magic," she said. His head jerked up and the spoon for the soup fell down onto the plate.

"What?" he cried out and his magic spiked out.

"He bound your magic," she said matter-of-factly. "When I treated you, your magic wanted to heal you too but it wasn't able. I wondered why and found out that a great amount of your magic is bound, especially your healing magic and who did it. It was Dumbledore."

He slumped back in his seat.

"Is there a way to get rid of this?" he asked, dreading the answer because he was afraid it would be no.

"Yes," his eyes lit up, "the 'natural way' would be to wait until your seventeenth birthday. But that way, only be a part of your magic would be released and that part does not include your healing magic. So you could not heal the wounds you would surely get, if you tried to duel him or Voldemort. So you would die and he had only to 'mourn' the loss of his 'hero'. The other way would be for me to break the seal. But for that I have to get stronger first. The seal is only as strong as Dumbledore is and at the moment he is more powerful than I am. But with time this will change."

"Can you … can you destroy it once you're strong enough? I know you have already done much for me, much more than I deserve, and I shouldn't ask this but…"

"Of course," she cut him short, "if you that is what you want. So I assume that you don't want to die anymore?"

"No," he said, his eyes buzzing with fire and life. "I want to let Dumbledore pay for what he did to me. Do you know where I can get help for this?"

She smiled brightly.

"First you have my help and then … I think the most powerful ally to make him pay would be Voldemort," she said cautiously, not knowing how he would react to this proposal. Tom had killed Harry's parents after all.

"Yeah, I thought about him, too. But how can I get to him? Preferably without him killing me on sight?"

She clapped her hands and jumped up.

"First things first, you should get fully healed at least and then we care for your magic. But you first have to get physically and mentally stronger or it will destroy you. When that is fixed, you can go to him. Maybe he will come here earlier because he seeks my allegiance but then I will make sure that he is informed about your plans and doesn't try to hurt you."

They had finished eating a while ago and now the house-elf plopped in again.

"Jany", the woman addressed the house-elf, "if he asks you for something you will bring it to him, okay?"

The creature nodded, took the plates and disappeared.

"I would ask you not to leave the room. Over there," she pointed to a door in the corner, next to the bed, "is the bathroom. We are on the top floor. The meeting takes place on the ground floor and nobody is allowed higher than the second floor. But I don't want to take the chance that somebody actually sees you. It could get to Dumbledore and we don't want that, do we?"

Harry shook his head. She helped him back to the bed and summoned two of the books she had been reading.

"Potions?" he groaned.

"I think you can start liking it, if you try and don't have an impatient Potions Master breathing down your neck. Try at least. Sleep when you're tired. The meeting will take a while."

She was already at the door when he spoke up again.

"What shall I do if someone comes in?"

She smiled.

"Nobody will be able to. Only the Lord and I know the password and the doors in this area of the castle are resistant to any magic."

Harry summoned all his courage to ask the question that had been nagging at his mind for the entire time.

"One last question. Who are you?"

"Some call me Pertho."

And with that she was out of the room her hair slipping out behind her and when the last bit was gone the door shut quietly.

So now you know her name and how she looks like. Do you like my portrait of her? Can you please tell me in you review if you want an answer to your guesses who or what she is or if you rather want to find out as the story goes on? Thanks for reading. farawisa