Chapter 5: The Devil Within
Deep within Harry Potter, there lies a dark secret. One that has been with him nearly his whole life, and he didn't know. No one knew. Now it is revealed!
Gradually, over the next week or so, the abject horror of what had happened began to loosen its grip on those who had survived. They were still very much grieving, to be sure, but it was no longer the only thing on their minds. And what else was on their minds was, of course, the war. They simply had to get started, before another such horror happened.
Ron and Harry floo-powdered their way over to the room Harry had rented on Diagon Alley. And while Ron packed Harry's things into the trunk for him, Harry paid up with the landlord. He would not be staying here. But he left open his ChimneyCom account. He could connect to that from the Burrow.
And back at the burrow, Ron had a few questions about Harry's things. "I don't mean to pry, mate, but... Where did you get the clear cauldron and green ring?" Before Harry could answer, Hermione spoke up. "Clear cauldron? Does it have a thick orange paste in it?" The look on Harry's face told her that it did, and he opened up his trunk to reveal it. For a moment, Hermione forgot her grief, and was jumping up and down. "Merlin sweet Merlin, we've got a World Floo Library account!"
Ginny looked equally awed, but not about the cauldron. "Oh; my; Gawd, look at this RING!", she drooled, putting it on her finger and showing it around. Everyone gathered around to gawk, and Harry decided to finally tell them. And he told them right then. He told them about the dream in which Harry, and yet not Harry, stashed that ring in the wall at the House of Black.
Ron simply gaped in awe of the story. Hermione looked like she was trying to figure out what it all meant. But what Harry noticed most was the look on Ginny's face. It was disillusionment. She thought he had bought the ring for her. And seeing her wear it, Harry wished he had. But as Fawkes leaned in closer, the ring began to glow.
"Do you realize what it is you have found, Harry?", squawked the phoenix. Harry offered his guess: "A horcrux?". Fawkes gave a look of stern disappointment. "Harry, if you thought this was a horcrux, you should not have simply reached in and taken it. If it were, that might have been the last thing you ever did. No, this ring is not a horcrux, but it is meant to detect a horcrux." Fawkes moved away from, and then closer to, the ring that was still gleaming on Ginny's finger. "Since I have within me fragments of Tom's soul, not to mention a fragment of Albus's soul, I am a horcrux. Note how the ring glows more brightly the closer I am to it. It is detecting those fragmented bits of soul."
"It doesn't have much range, does it?" observed Ron. "We'd have to figure out some other way what general areas the horcruxes are in." "Some other way", beamed Herminone, hanging the crystal cauldron from the fireplace swingbar, "such as this." And with that, Hermione began what would become a ridiculously long marathon session on the World Floo Library.
Ron, fascinated with those little floating words and images in the clear cauldron, joined her, while Harry went to talk to Ginny, who had taken the ring off and chucked it back into Harry's trunk. "Ginny, I, um... about the ring..." But Ginny was glaring at him, showing him her ringless hand. "Its in your trunk, ok?" Harry reached into his pocket. "Actually, I have it right here. It looks a lot better on you than it does in my trunk."
But as Harry put the emerald ring back onto Ginny's finger, Ginny noticed something. "This thing is glowing again. And Fawkes is twenty feet away!" Harry smiled gently. "It always glows a little." Ginny shook her head. "No it doesn't, Harry. It wasn't glowing when I was putting it back in your trunk." Fawkes, who had heard the conversation, called out from his perch: "Glowing again, you say?" "Yeah, a little bit.." Harry took a few steps towards Fawkes, and away from Ginny, who really started getting curious now. "Hey, its dimming out!" Harry turned around to see. But as he walked back to Ginny, the ring began to glow again.
"Well, well", squawked the phoenix, soaring across the living room. "Now this could explain a lot of things. Quite a lot." "A lot of what?", asked Ginny. Ron and Hermione had by now noticed, and gathered around too. "A lot", explained Fawkes, "of what has happened to you over the years, Harry. Why you could feel it when the dark lord was angry. Why you've been linked to him. Why your destinies are fated for collision. Close your eyes, Harry, and tell me what comes to your mind."
Harry closed his eyes, and let his mind go out of focus. And there they were, Albus and Tom. "Out of my way, old man!", hissed Tom. "You're dead now, and there's nothing you can do!" "You've just proven there is", replied Albus. "And I'm going to stay in your way. This is my bird, and he's going to make mincemeat out of you, Tom!"
Harry opened his eyes wide, for he realized what it was he was seeing. He had just witnessed an argument between the fragments of soul within Fawkes. And he had seen them from Tom's perspective. Harry stood in silence, with the look of a deer caught in a spotlight. "D.. Does this.. mean...", he eventually stammered. "It does." confirmed the phoenix. "You are linked to Tom, and the ring glows when you are near, because there is a fragment of his soul within you." Everyone else gasped at this revelation.
"Harry Potter, you are a horcrux!"
Harry stood silent for a moment, trying to process this insane realization. Then he closed his eyes tightly, balled up his fists, and screamed like a banshee.
"Why don't we just remove that?", offered Fawkes. No one protested the idea, so Fawkes perched himself on Harry's shoulder, and bit down (gently) on Harry's ear. Harry's eyes went wide and zombielike, and a ghostly glow could be seen where Fawkes was biting. The phoenix had removed from Harry the piece of you-know-who's soul. There were now within Fawkes three fragments of voldemort, with three more unaccounted for, and one final piece within the body of the dark lord himself.
"How do you feel now, Harry?" asked the phoenix. "Um, kinda weird... but.. I feel like... like I'm finally at peace with myself."
In Chapter 6: The Truth About Harry, we get to see the real Harry Potter in action; that is, just Harry, without that alien piece of someone else's soul stuck inside him.
Also, they go hunting as a group. To finish off the dark lord, piece by piece.
Review Reply:
Prongs: I suppose all that coding (bold for loud, italics for sneering, and underline for whispered, etc., with the explicit declarations done programming-style) was a bit complicated. So I've gone back to chapter 1 and gotten rid of, well, some of it. And tried to simplify the rest without losing too awful much of what I was trying to do with it. Now its all just plain old emphasis, except for the italics which are still sneering. I hope I've struck a decent balance now.
And any other hints anyone has, tell me. I do want to learn how to write better. I want to learn how to write things people will want to read.
