Author's Notes: Thank you to all my readers out there, who have now pushed this story to well over 10,000 hits. And a special thanks to all my reviewers.
ProfessorChris: The last Horcrux won't be coming for a while, I'll tell you that right now. As Harry is injured, that quest will have to be put on hold. Thanks for your support.
Fugatad: Okay, the necklace was my take on the Ravenclaw item that Riddle used as a Horcrux. I decided to make it a beautiful gold necklace, encrusted with various precious gems. Rowling used a diadem instead and hid it in the Room of Requirement. That's really all I have to say about the necklace. Thanks for your support.
Okay, last chapter's Monty Python reference was one I hope everyone got. It was the suit of armor singing the beginning of the infamous "Knights of the Round Table" song from "Monty Python and the Holy Grail." A classic, to be sure, but not the best of the Monty Python movies.
Well now, on with the next chapter.
Chapter 19: Dedication
"So Euan, are you going to be ready for Saturday?" Ritchie Coote asked Euan Abercrombie during Potions on Thursday afternoon.
Euan chuckled as he started stirring the potion in his cauldron. "Of course I'm ready," he replied confidently, "Slytherin won't know what hit them."
The first set of school Quidditch matches were coming up in a couple of days and, like always, tensions were getting high between Slytherin and Gryffindor (and, by connection, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw). This tension had been reduced somewhat by Headmistress McGonagall's announcement that there would be two commentators for each game, one from both houses involved. However, the added tensions from an escalation in hostilities outside the school were drawing clear lines between the Hogwarts houses and were causing isolated fistfights in the hallways, which made Professors Slughorn and Gryffindor extremely unhappy. They, along with several other teachers, were starting to remind their students to act civil toward their fellow classmates. Slughorn had given such words to this class of third year Gryffindors and Slytherins, but those words were extremely far away from Euan and Ritchie's minds as they were working on a rather routine potion for healing bad cuts.
"You think Ron was serious about us doing two practices a day if we lose?" Ritchie inquired as he began stirring his potion.
"I say it's better if we don't find out if he's serious or not by winning," Euan answered as he chopped up one of the snake fangs.
Suddenly, Ritchie sniffed the air audibly. "Do you smell that?" he inquired, "It smells like burnt wood."
Euan sniffed the air as he added the chopped up snake fangs to his cauldron. He too smelled burnt wood, but decided it was nothing as he chopped up the second fang. The scent was rather pleasant, anyway. As he was about to add this fang to his potion, he noticed that his potion was now a bright shade of red that appeared to be pulsating rapidly. "Um, Ritchie, what color is this potion supposed to turn after we add the snake fangs?" he inquired nervously.
Ritchie quickly looked through the directions until he came to the step Euan was on. "Uh, it says it should be a dim green," he reported.
"You sure about that?" Euan asked as he looked back toward Ritchie but kept his right arm near the cauldron.
At that moment, all hell broke loose as the contents of Euan's cauldron exploded into the air, drenching Euan's arm with red liquid as he fell to the floor and clutched his right arm. "God dammit!" he shouted in pain.
Professor Slughorn came bounding over to check on what had happened and saw that the skin on Euan's right hand was starting to look a bit patchy. Immediately, Slughorn knew what was happening and quickly picked up the student by his left shoulder. "Someone get the door!" he shouted as he moved as quickly as he could toward the dungeon room's door on his way to the Medical Wing.
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Two hours later, the other six members of the Gryffindor Quidditch team had gathered around the bed that Euan was lying on. His right arm was now completely wrapped up with a special solution on the inside.
"What exactly happened to him?" Ron asked Professor Slughorn and Madam Pomfrey.
"It's my fault, I should have been more careful," Slughorn admitted, "His snake fangs were impure. Usually, that's not a problem, but in this potion it caused an extremely volatile reaction which caused it to explode."
"The liquid then started to eat away the skin on Mr. Abercrombie's right arm," Madam Pomfrey continued, "He's lucky that Professor Slughorn knows his potions as he does, or he could have lost his arm entirely. But he'll recover and keep his arm."
"So he'll be okay to play on Saturday?" Ron inquired hopefully.
Madam Pomfrey shook her head immediately. "He'll need a week to recover, Mr. Weasley, so he's out for your game on Saturday," she informed the Gryffindor captain, "There's nothing I can do about that."
"You can't be serious," Ron muttered as he grabbed at his forehead.
Euan heard and understood what he heard, though he didn't want to believe it. "I can't believe this is happening," he muttered.
"It's alright, Euan," Ginny assured, "We'll just have to call up someone from the reserves, that's all."
Euan moaned in despair more than in pain. He really didn't want to miss Saturday's game. "All of that practice time for nothing," he complained.
"Mate, you just get some rest," Dean Thomas suggested, "We'll get it done for you."
"I'm sorry, but Mr. Abercrombie needs his rest now," Madam Pomfrey announced loudly, "So I must ask all of you to leave."
"See you later, Euan," Ron called as the team left the room with Professor Slughorn.
"Oh, Miss Weasley, can I see you in my office now?" he asked her.
"Yes Professor," Ginny affirmed as she followed him back down to the dungeons of the castle. As she entered Professor Slughorn's office, she noticed that a small cauldron was on a green fire on his desk.
"What's in that cauldron?" she inquired.
"This is Felix Felicis, my dear pupil," Slughorn answered, "Or at least it will be once it is finished. A little favor I owe to Geoffrey. But this is actually the reason I asked you to come here."
"Yes?" Ginny said, wanting him to explain.
"You see, one of the ingredients of Felix Felicis is a certain type of blood," Professor Slughorn explained as he searched through his desk for a couple of items, "And I believe you have this type of blood."
"Is it a special blood type?" Ginny questioned.
"Ah, no, not quite that way," he answered, obviously not wanting to explain what he meant, "The Felix Felicis potion requires the blood of a wizard or witch who has not had . . . er, a relationship."
Ginny rolled her eyes. Why is it so hard to get old people to just come out and say things? she wondered to herself. "You mean someone who hasn't had sex," she stated.
Slughorn started a little before replying, "Yes, yes, that's exactly what I meant. Would you be willing to contribute, or are you unable to?"
"This is for Harry, isn't it?" Ginny said.
"Well, I don't know what Geoffrey is going to do with this potion, but I'm sure his intentions are good," Horace clarified.
Ginny had already made up her mind. "What do I have to do?" she inquired.
Slughorn brought into view a small knife with a silver handle and a small, corked vial. "All you need to do is fill this vial with your blood," he explained as he walked toward Ginny, "It's not much at all, just be careful with the knife; it needs to be sterile."
"I made a commitment.
I'm willing to bleed for you . . . "
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A knock came from the front door of Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place later that afternoon. Gary walked to the door and gazed through the peephole at the man who had just knocked on the door. "Password?" Gary demanded.
"Don't even make me tell you to keep your mouth shut!" the man outside half-shouted.
"Right," Gary replied as he opened the door and let the man inside and shut the door behind him, "Severus! I thought you had been killed!"
"Not yet," Snape replied, "But there's no way the Ministry can stand for much longer. I'd give it two months, at most."
"Tell me something I don't know," Gary replied as they walked further into the house, "Geoff has been worried about you."
Severus nodded. He knew about all the disappearances and murders that had been going on over the past few weeks; in fact, he had been a part of a few. He didn't need to tell Geoff about that; he already knew and understood that he was still a double agent. To stay alive, Geoff knew that every gain Severus gave to him had to be offset somewhere else. And Geoff's staying alive meant that it was usually someone in the Order of the Phoenix who suffered for Geoff's gains.
"How is Draco doing?" Snape inquired.
"He's been at Wonder Boy's throat a bit still, but I think they're starting to get along better now," Gary answered, "Harry has a way with forgiveness, from what I understand."
Severus nodded. He knew that to be a fact. A fact which he was afraid would doom them all.
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Harry was returning to his room from dinner when he saw Draco Malfoy walking toward him down the hallway. He lowered his head the moment he saw Harry coming toward him.
This is getting ridiculous, Harry complained to himself. "Draco, we have to talk," Harry began, "Or else we're just going to end up killing each other."
The young man with pale blonde hair stopped and slowly looked up. His grayish-blue eyes reminded Harry of the incident they had less than a year ago in Myrtle's bathroom. Harry could tell they were not the eyes of a killer. And he knew what a killer's eyes looked like. He knew that all too well, and so did Draco.
"What do you want?" Draco's asked coldly, though Harry could tell that Draco agreed with what he had just said and desperately wanted this as well. He just couldn't find the words to say it.
"I hear your father was busted out of Azkaban," Harry answered, grabbing onto the first thing he could think of that he could talk about with Draco, "Do you have any ideas where he might be?"
"At the Dark Lord's side, that's where," he answered, "He has no other choice at this point. And my mother will be next to him. She's the one holding our family together now."
Harry nodded. "Do you think you'll be seeing them soon?" he inquired.
Draco nodded. "Snape says that I'll be accompanying him the next time he leaves this house and that I'll be seeing them at that time," he replied, "And we're probably going to have a very long conversation about all that's happened over the past few years."
Harry nodded, seeing how that was definitely in order. "I think you made a mistake by working for him," Harry pointed out.
Draco gave a sarcastic laugh. "You only just figured that out, Potter?" he inquired derisively, "Of course I made a mistake. And if I could turn back the hands of time and undo all I've done, I would. But I can't. You happy now?"
"What do you mean?" Harry asked, confused by that last comment.
"You always wanted to see me tumble down," Draco explained, "You always wanted to see me down and out. Well, congratulations. I've tumbled down. I'm down and out. I found out the hard way that I can't be what I always talked about being. I found out the hard way that I'm pathetic. You've beaten me, just like you always wanted to. You won. Congratulations."
Those words stung Harry quite harshly. He wanted to deny all those things, but he had to agree with Draco on this one. They had never liked each other, and they had come to see each other as rivals. And seeing Malfoy in this state did indeed satisfy Harry in some way.
But I never saw it happening like this, Harry thought, It wasn't supposed to be like this. I didn't beat him. He beat himself.
"Draco, I never really wanted you to get hurt like you have been," Harry assured, "I know what it feels like . . . "
"You have no idea what it feels like to be where I am!" Draco exploded in anger, "You have no idea what it feels like to realize that all the words you've said all your life were just words, with no action behind them! You have no idea what it feels like to realize that you are nothing! You have no idea how it feels like to have the threat of death over your head! You have no idea what it's like to realize that I will never be able to make my father proud of me!"
Harry couldn't let this pass. "Draco, I may be wrong, but it seems like people have been trying to kill me since the day I was born," he reminded, "And at least you know your father. All I have are those few pictures and those memories others have of him."
This reminder derailed Draco's tantrum from its tracks. But it only took a moment to find a new line to run on. "But look what you have in return," he retorted, "Fame, fortune and glory. You're going to be remembered as the one who saved the Wizarding World once this is over. Me? If I'm remembered at all, it'll be for all the mistakes I've made. How I got Dumbledore killed, how I helped the Dark Lord's resurgence. You'll be a hero to millions, maybe even billions. I'll be nothing but a faceless villain, that's all. Your picture will be praised for generations to come!"
"You think I wanted all this?" Harry exclaimed, "You think I wanted my parents to be murdered? You think I wanted to live with a family that hated me for more than ten years? You think I like having a bull's-eye on me all the time? You think I wanted this fame? Let me tell you this, Malfoy. If I could trade all this fame, fortune and glory for a normal life, for a life with my parents and siblings, I'd do it in an instant. I never wanted this! I never asked for it!"
Draco had no way to keep this going any longer. A lot of things that he had once thought of Harry Potter had just went flying out the window. In fact, the Harry Potter he once thought he knew was gone forever. Here was the real Harry Potter, and he wasn't the fame-hunting, glory-seeking punk he always thought he was. He was just an ordinary wizard who was in over his head. No, he's not in over his head, Draco corrected himself, He's just staying afloat. I'm the one who's in over his head.
Draco struggled with finding what to say next. He wanted to say that he was sorry, but those words just wouldn't come. "How do you manage to keep yourself from thinking it's all hopeless?" he asked instead, "I mean, we're up against ridiculous odds here. The only thing keeping us safe is the secrecy of some shady figures."
Harry had to think about that one for a moment before he found an adequate response. "Well, you have to always look on the bright side of life, I guess," he answered.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Draco inquired.
"You have to keep what we are fighting for in mind," Harry replied, "You have to think about what we'll have waiting for us when this is all over."
Malfoy nodded as he began walking again and passed by Harry in the hallway. "It was good talking to you, Potter," he said as he departed.
"Likewise," Harry replied as he walked up to his room.
Draco had to think for a moment about that last statement from Harry. What will I have to go back to when this is over? he wondered to himself. His family's reputation was ruined either way; Voldemort would never give him respect because of both his failure and that of his father, and the Ministry would see his father back in prison and all of his own wrongs laid bare to the public in the quest for scapegoats. He would have a tough time either way, no matter how it ended.
But then he thought about his friends, the ones who would forgive him. Crabbe, Goyle, Pansy . . . I guess that's what friends are for, he thought, To lean on in bad times. To be there when you need them most. Harry's always relied on his friends. Why can't I rely on mine? Feeling partially assured by this, Draco continued on his way.
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Author's Notes: Ah, this is one of the chapters I've been dying to get to, especially for the last section of it. It seems that human beings always desire two things: fame and fortune. However, Harry has both, but would give all of it up to have a normal family life (at least, this is what I would think is true). Are fame and fortune really not as great as they sound?
My answer to that question is that it depends on if you feel like you have earned them. Traditionally, the hero of a story often starts out as a nobody and becomes something of a savior figure by the end. Harry's story is different in that Harry begins the story already a hero in the Wizarding world, so he is introduced to having fame and fortune when he himself feels that he hasn't earned it. In that sense, the Harry Potter series is the story of Harry trying to earn what so many have already given to him.
Obviously, a big chapter in terms of character development. Until next week, everyone!