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Harry Potter and the Breath of Life
"It's something strange and I have hidden it from Rowena the best I could but I fear she knows. Godric has inquired once or twice but he has that knightly quality to him, unable to believe that there is a problem he can't fix. Salazar...just looks and perhaps he has an inkling as well. It's so hard sometimes, so very hard. I am no longer sleeping through the night, nightmares of all shapes and sizes often seize me with terror. I feel jittery, as if there are crawling things just underneath my skin. My temper, oh my temper has been off the scale lately! I caught Godric cowering after breakfast this morning and I bet rumours are running abound in our school already! Our school..it hasn't shown in many of the students, thankfully but those that are slighty...off have given me my suspicions. Arthur is my top student, and lately he's been in a constant bad mood. I wish I could ask Salazar to investigate, but I know that he'd consider such mood swings to be an acceptable price for true necromancy. Well! I've decided, if it gets worse...I'll stop teaching. Godric will side with me, Rowena as well, I only hope Salazar doesn't do anything stupid." - Excerpt from Notes on True Necromancy by Helga Sarah Hufflepuff
Harry would never like the look of the Headmaster's office.
In spite of the old grandfatherly scheme the man had obviously tried to build up in the place, there was just too many factors in the room that gave Harry the opposite image. The over-stuffed chairs he could pass over as belonging to someone with a horrendous fashion sense, but everything else stood out. The gadgets placed randomly around the office, for example. Harry had no idea what they did but they frequently moved or flickered, looking alien and it reminded the boy of that movie he had snuck at the Dursleys about a mad scientist. He could feel the eyes of the numerous portraits on his back as he sat down a bit awkwardly around the Rose. The Sorting Hat was there but silent and with Snape to his left, Harry felt like he was about to be interrogated.
It was close enough.
"It's been quite some time since you were last up here," the old man started gaily, blue eyes twinkling despite having heard from Snape that he had been talking to himself. "Would you like some tea, or a Lemon Drop perhaps?"
Harry glared. "If you don't get to the point, this is going to end like it did last time." Snape stiffened, and Harry could just see him thinking 'Arrogant, just like a Potter!' while Dumbledore slowly stopped smiling.
"Harry, my dear boy, this is quite troubling." The boy bit his tongue and kept quiet. "I'm sure you understand that talking to yourself or an invisible person is not seen as normal?"
No shit, Sherlock, Harry thought grumpily but stayed silent.
Dumbledore's eyes drifted up to Snape and then back down again. "I must insist that you tell me who you thought you were talking to."
"Talking...to myself," Harry rolled his eyes. "I was trying to convince myself of something, because we wanted to help but the plan I came up with didn't agree with me," he said, managing to keep a straight face all the way through. "Simple, really, I don't understand why no one else does it. Having a second opinion helps."
Dumbledore didn't look amused.
And neither did Snape, for that matter.
"Harry..."
"Since we are talking about my mental health," Harry interrupted. "Could I convince you to call me Potter like everyone else?" Well, not everyone else, he had to admit. Hermione still had that rather nasty habit and for some bizarre reason couldn't seem to break it for all the books in the world.
There was a tense silence after that, Snape refraining from back-handing the boy in true Slytherin fashion (he fumed inside) while Dumbledore, tired and old as he was feeling, kept his stare locked on Harry, who stared back.
I could do this all day, old man, Harry thought, but as a couple more minutes ticked by, he amended his statement. His ass was getting numb and really, there was no reason to protect Pal of all people. The young immortal let out an aggravated sigh. Nothing could go his way for once could it?
"Ever heard of Incarnates?" he asked dully, not really expecting them to. Snape gasped though, face twisting in surprise and apprehension while Dumbledore paled. Harry just stared at the both, internally going "What. The. Fuck?"
"They don't exist," Dumbledore basically snapped as he regained his bearings. "Tales of horror but no more than obvious figments of your imagination. I'm sure you've heard of them and twisted the tales into reality."
Harry scoffed. "After your reaction, I doubt it."
"Harry, you don't understand," the old man stated gravely, folding his hands on top of the desk and gazing off past the Hogwarts' walls. "Grindlewald went further than any man, attempting to gain the attention of these 'Greater Beings' as he had called them. I worked with him, knew him and witnessed his descent into madness."
"Grindlewald, Dark wizard of the 1930's?" The boy cocked an eyebrow, tilting his head to the right. This was all very fascinating but he had no idea what it had to do with him. If he heard the name 'Voldemort' or 'You-Know-Who' just once, he was leaving no matter what.
"Severus, if we may be excused?" Once his Head of House left, Harry actually felt more relaxed, now certain that he wouldn't be falling out of his chair or down the stairs while leaving in an 'unfortunate' accident with no one but Snape near by. Harry sometimes had nightmares about that.
"Yes, Grindlewald, but he wasn't always that way. He was a brilliant man but he became slightly obsessed with his work," Dumbledore narrated and Harry was getting the feeling that he was telling the "child safe" version of the story. "I'm quite positive he started hallucinating as a result of pushing himself too far, he became convinced that something or someone would not let him die. At times, he even reacted as if someone really was there."
Green eyes narrowed, already figuring where he was going to go with this.
"In the end, I was forced to face him in battle. There have been many accounts of those unwilling to believe in their own abilities, seeking faster routes to power. Harry," Dumbledore looked at him as if the boy was some stray waif that needed lessons on morality. "I know ambition is a trait of your House but-"
Strange, like it had with Hermione last year, it was as if Dumbledore had stopped speaking but kept his mouth moving for show. The unwanted History lesson, Harry could deal with but having this, this, this --mortal-- telling him that Thana was a figment of his imagination that he made up because of his House was simply too far.
Dumbledore knew they existed, the boy wasn't stupid but for some reason he wanted Harry to believe that they didn't.
And it was partially successful.
I'm not making it up! he screamed in his mind as his outer face went cold. He expected to hear something but the voice in his head was silent. I'm not!
Then he heard something but it wasn't what he hoped for and it wasn't welcome.
We always thought it too good to be true, we're the freak, freaks don't have friends, remember our imaginary parents? Nothing good came of that, where is Thana now, we're making it up, we're always making stuff up, Uncle Vernon says we lie and steal things, we should be grateful for what they've done for us-
He slapped a lid on it with a simple, Dumbledore saw her last Christmas.
Said old man was speaking again. "Perhaps a preliminary check with St. Mungos, nothing official, just to make sure..."
"I'm not crazy." Harry said tightly and there was a pulse from over his right shoulder. And I have proof right here... "I'm not."
"Harry, hardly anyone will believe they are a little unwell..."
"I'm not!" Harry hissed, standing up and this time he could clearly see the troubled shadow that doused the twinkle in the Headmaster's eyes. The old man stood up as well, looking every inch the slightly senile old fool who meant nothing but the best intentions but something in the boy was screaming that he was in danger. Now or later, it didn't matter but he had to get out.
Dumbledore stepped around the desk, saying something and Harry took a step back on reflex, the room suddenly becoming a lot more oppressing. The man wanted him to explain things he couldn't, he was just Harry, he didn't make anything up, he wasn't telling anyone about Thana, never, never, never!
--Harry, geez, calm down!--
Harry backed into the chair a bit off, hitting the arm rest and tumbling to the floor. His glasses were jarred loose, hanging from his left ear but as he moved to put them back, taking deep breaths, Dumbledore moved into sight and ruined everything. Without his glasses firmly over his eyes, Dumbledore looked like a monster.
A thick, vicuous cord of what looked like oil was wrapped around the man's left arm up to his neck where it seemed to disappear into the body. The man was a lot more wrinkly and his eyes were a faded, washed out blue instead of the warm twinkling ones. Veins were popping out grostesquely everywhere, his robes were a faded grey and the only redeeming feature, was a single bright orange feather pinned over his heart, glowing. The most damning one, was a sickle shaped scar on his left hand.
--You really should listen to me a lot more-- a whisper said petulantly.
Upon seeing that scar, Harry's eyes rolled up in his head.
--Save us a whole lot of trouble--
And he passed out.
"Damn, boy." Harry's eyes shot open and he recognized the ceiling. Hospital Wing. "I can't leave you alone, can I?"
He turned his head slowly, hardly daring to hope...It was Thana, playing with the Rose like it was some kind of bat, with white hair of all things. He blinked a couple of times to make sure he was seeing right, but the hair remained sorely bleached.
"What the bloody hell happened to you?" he croaked and got a wide grin in turn.
"Nothing too important...mind telling me why you fainted...again?" Harry groaned, instinctively knowing he wasn't going to ever live this down, but fixed her with an intense stare. Slowly, he reached out and while she watched him warily, he patted her face. "Er...hello?" she muttered as he accidently poked her in the eye.
"Sorry," he snatched his hand back as if she had bit him, flushing something dreadful. "It's just...you're really here."
"You're not getting rid of me that easy," she responded cheekily, although her eyes showed she was still slightly confused.
He opened his mouth to ask about everything that had been bothering him lately. Did she know why Hermione changed and was now acting weird? Why Mrs. Norris...if she did it in the first place? What about Creevey? Dumbledore? But then he turned the questions into a small smile. It would be too easy for her to simply lie to him. He beat his inner Gryffindor back down, savagely.
"Are you going to stay?" he asked and felt a mild sense of deja vu. Instead of leaving or freezing though, she shifted from the air onto the bed, poking him in the side with her finger.
"Why not?" Harry's eyes widened but he didn't say anything and settle back into the hospital cot, half expecting Pomfrey to burst in and throw Thana out. The image made him snort. After a moment, he felt something on his forehead and looked up. Thana gave him a quick smile but then refocused on whatever she was doing. It took him a while to realize that she was tracing his scar with a finger. It creeped him out a little and red as a tomato, he tried to ignore it by glaring at the Rose.
The sword didn't respond and Harry felt oddly offended.
--You gotta stop blocking me out!--
I'm not! Harry shouted back immediately.
--Yes, you are! You got pissy over the kid being petrified and kept blocking me!--
Harry opened his mental mouth and found himself with nothing to say. Why did he even care about Creevey? As soon as the mandrakes grew, he'd be back to normal and un-petrified. Harmless, he really was being a git about it, wasn't he?
"Sorry," he mumbled and realized too late that he said it out loud.
"What was that?"
"Nothing!" he brought his sheets up to his chin, wanting to just sink through the floor and disappear. Today, hadn't been a good day. But it ended well as he began to drift off, Thana still tracing his scar and remembering the odd look on her face as she did so, wondering what it was for.
But he soon stopped caring. Thana was back, hurray, hurray, now to make it through the year alive.
Harry grimaced in his sleep.
And the Rose pulsed.
Deep within the castle, someone was feeling a little guilty as she watched the basalisk, her basalisk, slither about the large chamber. When she had first stumbled upon it, it had a rich green hide with reptilian yellow eyes and heavily infused with the stink of Death, having collected stores of necromantic energy from the Dead Zone over the centuries. Now it was a deep black and its eyes a harsh gold that reminded her far too painfully of Death's Incarnate.
"What do you want me to do?" She turned and smiled ruefully at the red headed little girl that stood there, clutching that disgusting black book to her chest like it was a shield.
"Get close to Potter, make him care about what happens to you." The girl's dull brown eyes got a little brighter as she nodded. "You can go."
Before she obeyed, she threw her arms around the woman's waist and mumbled, "I love you" childishly before scurrying back to the other side of the chamber. There was the sound of a harsh hiss and a stone door rumbled open.
Palquenta stood there, slightly shocked but very much aware of a sudden guest.
"Charming girl," Mystery stated politely as he looked around the chamber critically in his volumous robes, rubbing a woman's ring between his fingers. "It's almost a pity we have to kill her."
Pal didn't seem to be paying that much attention to anything, staring at the floor and clearly somewhere else.
"Where is he?" a small girl with almost white hair, freckles across her nose and stormy blue eyes tugged on someone's robe impatiently. She was going to be taught how to control Life today, he had promised!
"Ah," this dark skinned man with a shiny bald head and his eyes bandaged, scratched his cheek and looked nervous. "I suppose he is...not coming back." She reeled back, eyes wide with a sudden fear. "Jumped right into Styx and got carried off. Unorthodox, but it worked."
"He cannot be...dead!" she screeched, stomping her foot on the ground. "Cannot be!" She paused as she saw someone out the corner of her eye, her favoritest person ever and excitedly ran over, throwing her arms around the woman's waist as she always did. "Thana..." And then suddenly, she was on the ground. The girl looked up and was shocked speechless, gone was the easily smiling and trickster Incarnate, replaced by someone whose eyes were cold enough to make her shiver.
The woman turned to the blind man. "Osiris is dead," her voice cracked on the last word but she plowed through. "That means Palquenta is Life Incarnate."
"What!" the girl cried. "He hasn't trained me yet!"
"Is that all you care about!?" Thana exploded. "Does the word dead mean anything to you? Does it!"
Palquenta couldn't stop the reactionary tears that gathered in her eyes while the blind man stepped between them. "Thanatos, calm down, she's just a child with no experience at all."
The woman sneered, her eyes flashing this strange and harsh golden color as she sharply turned away and left without a second glance.
Palquenta's face hardened. "Yes...a real pity..."
And ta da...something is going on with Harry's mood swings and what the heck did all that stuff on Dumbledore mean? But to make sure I got it right...Dumbles is right handed, correct? And a peek at what the little (or big) feud between Pal and Thana is about...what's going to happen with Ginny?
