I WILL NOT UPDATE FOR AT LEAST A MONTH AFTER THIS!
I am going away for all of spring break and won't have access to a computer. After that I have so much stuff planed I will not get any time on my computer until May most likely. Sorry.
Please ignore all spelling and grammar errors.
.-.
"Milord."
Harry glanced up at Severus from his seat on the man's leather couch.
"Yes Severus?" He asked, sipping his drink calmly.
"Lucius retrieved the item you wanted from the ministry." Severus said holding out a package of silk.
Harry felt a smirk take over his lips as he looked at the green silk wrapped object. He held out his hand and Severus dutifully unwrapped it and dropped the shimmering silver orb in his hands, wary of not touching it himself. Only those whom the prophecy was to, from, or about could touch the orbs without some very … disturbing consequences.
Immediately a silvery form of the Divination professor appeared above the orb, eyes glazed and a voice emerging not her own. Harry listened silently to the entire prophecy and when it was finally finished he rolled the orb between his fingers before carelessly tossing it at a wall to shatter.
"Interesting." Harry hummed sipping at his drink again.
"Does this mean you have to kill Voldemort?" Severus asked hesitantly.
"Prophecies are obscure at best. What I find particularly interesting is the last line. 'Neither can live while the other survives.' Why use two different words, live and survive? Hmm?"
Harry looked to the confused older man looking deep in thought and tittered lightly.
"Do not worry on it Severus Dear. I am not ruled by prophecy. The future is not set in stone, and I plan to change much."
.-.
"Ah Harry, back out here painting?"
Harry looked up at Dumbledore but did not bother giving a fake smile, keeping his face blank.
"Yes. I am doing a piece for an acquaintance."
"May I look?"
"One moment, it's almost finished."
Dumbledore chuckled.
"I seem to come at just the right time every time. Always in time to see you finish."
Dumbledore took a seat on the stone bench off to the side and watched Harry put the finishing touches on the canvas. The cold courtyard rustled with wind sending dried vines and leaves into the air. Harry put the last stroke on the canvas and then leaned back slightly to admire the painting.
Then he used his magic to breath life into the colourful master piece, drying the painting in the same sweep. He set his brushes and paint to the side and looked over the painting for a long moment. Then he looked to Dumbledore.
"It's yours." He said.
Dumbledore blinked in confusion as if he had not heard.
"It's yours." Harry repeated. "I made it for you.
He gathered his paints and brush and headed for the castle. He heard Dumbledore's sharp intake as he laid eye on the smiling painting and looked back to see Dumbledore's face etched in sorrow and self-hate, and heartbreak all in one.
The painting was not of one person, not a portrait. Instead it was a bouquet of lowers. But each petal was a mirror and in each mirror was a reflection. There was a red stone, a wand, a beautiful girl with long blonde hair looking no older then fourteen as she smiled, a man that looked remarkably like Dumbledore, a small boy that looked like Harry but with red eyes, and Harry beside him, and on and on. The reflections held a picture of a mistake Dumbledore had made over his vast life time. Beautifully depicted but mistakes all the same. The vase holding the reflection flowers was shaped like a vase but looked more like Dumbledore's face and beard as it was now. The stems and leaves making up to the flowers were filled with all his good and great deeds, all his heroism and all his love. Each scene moved, flitting in and out of the outlines and replacing one another, smiling out at Dumbledore.
Dumbledore turned and met Harry's eyes
"Thank you." He said softly.
And he sounded sincere, even with tears streaming down his face and a broken smile on his face.
"Though both good and bad," Harry replied, "It is your life."
And then he was gone, heading for his rooms.
.-.
"Soooo…" Hermione drawled "What homework are you doing?"
Harry raised an eyebrow as she peered at the old leather-bound book in hand.
"It's a book from the Black Library. Dark Magic. Sirius sent it to me."
When Hermione had first entered this world she had been against dark magic. All the fairy tales of good and bad had made her vision black and white. When Harry said that Dark did not equal evil and actually sat her down and explained, she had immediately started ranting on the rights that the Dark should have if the Light has them and on and on.
So hearing what he was reading she only raised a brow.
"Can I see after?"
"Yes, but no attempting the spells." Harry said easily. "You know that you are light aligned. You can do dark magic but it will strain you and easily escape your control."
"I know, I know." She waved her hand.
Cedric Diggory just stared at them in shock.
"Dark magic will get you expelled." He squeaked after a minute.
Harry paused. Sometimes he forgot that Cedric was still not as open to dark magic.
"Cedric," Harry smiled, "If you walked into a room and then realized that there were no shadows or color. If everything was just white and it was bright but there was no life source, what would you think?"
Cedric furrowed his brow but answered.
"Well I'd be pretty weirded out. It would probably hurt your eyes after a while. It wouldn't make sense."
"And if you lived in a room that was always dark would you know it was dark?"
"Well…I guess not. I mean if that's all I knew it wouldn't be dark."
"Do you see?" Harry smirked. "Without light there can be no shadows. Without Dark there can be no light."
Cedric furrowed his brows further and stayed silent.
"Really Harry, you're confusing the boy even more. Just think of it this way Cedric," Hermione rolled her eyes, "Everything is balances in the world. There is night and day, left and right, blue and yellow, Dark and Light."
"Doesn't that mean Good and Evil, right and wrong too?" Cedric frowned.
"Yes, but none of those are the same. They're all opposites but one is not the other. Right is not Good, nor is it Light." Hermione said gently. "They are all in similar category of course, all being consequences of actions and choices and nature. But just like Red and Green, blue and yellow, and orange and purple are all colors they are not the same colors."
"You've confused him even more." Blaise said absently from where he was sipping his milkshake.
"I think what they're saying is Dark is not Evil and Light is not good." Cedric frowned. "And…and I guess I can see that."
"Another example," Hermione added brightly, "Is that dark magic is generally seen as evil because it's mostly offensive while Light magic is usually defensive in nature. Another example of opposites; offensive and defensive. But that doesn't mean you can't use light magic to just as much harm as Dark magic. If you used a dark spell to say decapitate someone, you could use a light spell such as a levitating spell to levitate a blade or boulder over a person and then drop it. Or you could banish them off a cliff or use a cleaning spell to scrub their skin right off, or use a stunner to make them drown, or the rope spell to hang them, or the tickling spell to make them suffocate, or even-"
"You're making him ill." Harry said idly.
And Cedric did look fairly green.
"I get the point." he swayed. "I had never thought of such a thing."
"Well, anyways," Hermione huffed, "While light magic can be use to kill like most people think Dark magic is used, dark magic can be used to help. The decapitating curse be used to chop trees down, burning curses could be used to start a fire, and most could be used on a criminal to save a victim, and some could be used to remove people from danger and so on."
"Let him process this before you go on with your rant." Blaise said absently stiffing his straw.
Cedric gave the Italian a relieved expression as Hermione huffed but returned to her homework. Harry just gave his fake smile.
.-.
"Potter! Detention! Six o'clock tonight, my office."
"May I ask why Madame Umbridge?" Harry asked, turning to tilt his head at the woman.
She glared at him, eyes squinting and chest puffing up with self righteousness.
"For loitering in the hall. And another one for talking back to me."
Hermione looked apocalyptic, ready to kill and more then willing to. Blaise's eyes narrowed dangerously, sharpening on the woman suddenly.
"Should I not have detention also then, professor?" Hermione asked, voice a bare whisper, filled with fury.
"Of course." Umbridge smirked. "With Snape, at six."
Hermione hissed at her, for all looking like a cat. Blaise stayed silent and the toad strode off.
"The nerve." Hermione spat. "I want to wring her filthy fat neck."
"Now, now Hermione." Blaise said with a wry grin. "Let us not plan such murder out in the open."
Hermione glanced at him, eyes still sparking with rage then snorted, washing away the fury with a wave of composure that straightened her posture and had her face blank.
Harry gave an odd smile.
"Hermione, how would you feel about animagus training? I'm quite sure you're a cat."
"Animagus training? You're one?" Hermione squealed. "And why do you think a cat?"
"Because you look like one when puffed up in anger, kitten." Harry said.
Hermione's scream of rage echoed through the hallway.
.-.
End of Chapter 46.