His Weakness

Flashback

Harry walked into Monsieur's unfurnished room. Monsieur was sitting in his regular position, with his eyes closed.

"Élève," Monsieur said, opening his eyes.

"Yes, Monsieur?" Harry asked.

"Sit down."

"Uh… I really can't stay, Monsieur," Harry said uncomfortably. "I've made plans, you see – "

"Sit down, Élève!" Monsieur told Harry sharply.

Harry sat down wordlessly and grudgingly on his cushion. He thought about what his friends, Josh, Damien, and Bella would say when he didn't turn up for their planned soccer game.

He had been in France for nearly eleven months. His powers had increased to an extraordinary level. He could easily go into Monsieur' mind and knock him out completely. His mind was so powerful that he was able to constantly keep on blocking it from any outside force without so much as breaking a sweat. Harry was aware that if he wanted to, he could kill someone with a slight tap into their mind, something he wasn't eager to try.

Now he was wondering why Monsieur wanted him. He had been allowed to leave the building anytime he wanted as soon as he had developed his powers. Monsieur hadn't wanted to keep him caged up.

"Élève," Monsieur started in a quieter tone, "I have to say I am pleased about how far you have advanced. You are my greatest student yet. As I have told you countless times, Élève, I am here to train those of the most powerful minds. I have lived for hundreds of years, Élève, and I've never seen a student quite like you. I've had six other students in my lifetime, five of which are dead, and one who is very old and paralyzed for life. The magical community should have thanked the world when Harry Potter was born."

Harry shivered slightly. Monsieur had hardly ever called him by his name, and he had never called Monsieur by his name either. He didn't even know Monsieur's real name. Monsieur had never told him, and even after Harry had grown strong enough to extract the information from Monsieur's mind, he decided that Monsieur had a right to his privacy.

"I am not proud to say that some of my students turned out not to be the kindest of hearts, Élève, but for those who were, all of them had weaknesses. Weaknesses that brought them down quickly. I didn't recognize any of their weaknesses until they were all dead, Élève, but you – I recognized your weakness immediately."

Harry had a feeling that Monsieur was going to criticize him harshly, something he used to do often when Harry couldn't get the hand of things. It wasn't a feeling Harry liked. But what Monsieur said caught Harry completely off guard.

"Out of all those students, Élève, you are the purest of heart. You would do anything for your friends, Élève, for the ones you love – "

A picture of Ginny swam uneasily in Harry's mind.

" – You would even die for them, Élève," Monsieur continued. "That is your weakness. You value other people's lives over your own."

Harry didn't like where Monsieur was heading. He was about to ask Monsieur what he wanted to do about his "weakness", but Monsieur quieted him.

"What happened to all those other students with weaknesses?" He didn't wait for Harry to answer. "They died. They died, Élève. I don't think the world would like it if their 'chosen one' died to save a minor, unimportant person."

Harry wanted to mention that he didn't think that Ginny or any other Weasley were unimportant people in his life, but he didn't want to contradict Monsieur.

"I know exactly what you're thinking, Élève," Monsieur said, "which proves my point exactly!"

"Where are you going with this, Monsieur?" Harry asked uncertainly.

"You have too many memories of these people, Élève," Monsieur said simply.

"What do you expect me to do, Monsieur?" Harry asked. "It's not like I can go back in time and completely ignore 'these people'. It would change my entire life. It's not like I'd want to, anyway."

Monsieur ignored this last comment, and said excitedly, "But you can erase these memories, Élève. You can erase them!"

Harry looked at Monsieur with his jaw dropped, horrified. "You expect me to completely wipe my whole life from my mind?" Harry was too surprised to address Monsieur as he was supposed to. "Everyone that's always been important to me?"

"There's no other way, Élève."

Harry stood up. "But there must be!" Now he was screaming. "I can't erase all my friends from my mind! I won't!"

"You will do as I tell you to, Élève," Monsieur said sternly.

"You can't tell me what to do!" Harry yelled at Monsieur, swinging his hands in fury.

Monsieur sighed. "You're right, Élève. I can't. But I want you to know, I have your best interests in heart. Listen to me, Élève. If you go on with you life, with all of your memories, you won't be the only one who's in danger. All of your friends will be in danger as well, especially Ms. Weasley."

Harry's cheeks reddened.

"You see, Élève," Monsieur continued, "if your enemies know how close you are to these people, they will use them as a way to hurt you, Élève. You must understand this, Élève. I'll give you till tomorrow morning. If you choose to have them erased from your mind, come to me. If you choose to keep your memories… well then, you're on your own."

Monsieur walked past Harry and went into the room opposite the unfurnished room, which Harry could only guess was Monsieur's bedroom.

Harry stamped upstairs to his bedroom and threw himself on the bed. He was confused. He didn't know what to do.