Chapter 105 – True Nature
Harry's afternoon got off to a rocky start at lunch, because Neville had told his friends of Harry's visit with his aunt.
"Why in Merlin's name did you even talk to that woman?" Ron fumed, the food in his mouth threatening to land on the table with each word. "You realize, of course, that you could use magic here, no way the Ministry could come after you for underage wizardry. Were you planning to hex her, maybe?" he added, perking up when he realized that there might be an appropriate outcome and maybe his anger was a bit premature. He had been inordinately proud of his father after his mother told him of his right cross to the vile woman's chin, although his father looked very embarrassed about the entire thing and had sworn him to silence.
Harry's answer wasn't what he, or Neville or Seamus, had wanted to hear. "I hadn't seen her in a while, and just wanted to see if she was alright. We just chatted for a couple of minutes, guys. She's anxious to leave, I told her it looked like another month before the muggles woke up, but if she really wanted to take Uncle Vernon and Dudley and wait it out with them at home, I said I'd get it arranged."
As the boys maliciously speculated about the horrors that could befall this particular lone squib tending to two sleeping muggles, Hermione looked very thoughtfully at Harry. Not that she'd say anything in front of this lot, but she suspected there was a bit more to it than that. She'd have to try to get Harry alone later to get the full story.
It occurred to Harry that Petunia had asked a question about finances, and maybe this group, or more likely, Hermione, would know. "One thing she asked: does Hogwarts charge people who stay here? How does that work?"
Ron looked about to say something, but blushed a bit. Hermione, of course, stepped right in. "The Founders endowed Hogwarts with most of their fortunes, and many wealthy families have made gifts and endowments through the years. The School hasn't charged students to attend for centuries. If a name appears in the Enrollment Book because a child has strong enough magic, they are invited here, and all they have to pay for is their books, supplies and clothes. Did you think you were paying tuition?"
Harry shook his head with a shrug. "I have no idea. I guess I assumed that Professor Dumbledore took what I had to pay directly from my vault." That got looks from his friends; the details of Harry's finances were unknown to them, but if he didn't even know about something as potentially significant as tuition, maybe he had more in his Gringott's vault than they'd guessed. "Anyway, what about the guests? And the people in the Infirmary?"
"Same thing, Harry. Hogwarts made room for people invited here, and there is no charge, for rooms, or food or even being in the Infirmary. No one here will get a bill when they are ready to leave."
That struck Harry as extremely generous. No doubt there was something involved here about the wizarding world that had escaped his attention to this point, but he might figure it out at some point. At least it was one less issue to be sorted out with the muggles like Uncle Vernon when it was time for them to leave.
The ravens were distracting him with their continual whispering, and it was frustrating Harry that he really could not understand what they were trying to say to him. It was just a soft, persistent noise, but with just enough inflection that he was sure if he concentrated more, he'd find the distinct words. But even when he did concentrate as hard as he could, he could not make out what those words were. By late afternoon, when he finally got back to his rooms, he had a pounding headache.
He found the small pouch in which he kept his cash in the night stand on his side of the bed. He had withdrawn money from his Gringotts vault before doing his school shopping and heading to school, and he had held aside 50 Galleons to cover his spending money during the school year, for school supplies, trips to Hogsmeade and such. Given the events of this year, and Severus' insistence that he pay for pretty much everything, there were still 50 Galleons in there. Harry had no idea what ladies would spend on an afternoon trip to Hogsmeade – he and his friends bought butterbeers and candy mainly, never meals and he suspected people like his aunt would not be going into the other stores they frequented, so he had no idea what sort of things were on offer. He counted out 20 Galleons, which he guessed would pay for a nice meal or tea and probably some shopping, and summoned Dobby.
"Dobby, would you please take this" as he presented the little elf with a handful of the golden coins "and put it in the dresser used by Petunia Dursley?"
The little creature wrinkled his nose in distaste, but took the offered coins. "Harry Potter is too generous" he began, but he was suddenly overcome with the need to punish himself for challenging a wizard's request. Before he was able to lift a book from the nightstand with which to hit himself in the head, Harry had grabbed away the book and tried to placate Dobby.
"No, no, Dobby. You are right to point that out, it wasn't criticism. I took no offense and did not see that as anything wrong for you to do. Please, just put this into her top dresser drawer, no need to do anything else. You can do that for me, can't you?"
"Oh, yes, Harry Potter! Harry Potter can trust Dobby to do this! Dobby is honored that Harry Potter would trust him to do this!"
Harry was enormously relieved when the overly-grateful house elf finally blinked off to run the errand.
Severus found him sleeping in the chair that Severus himself usually occupied, close to the fire that was kept burning even in the summer to warm the chill air in the dungeons. Harry had tried sitting on the couch, and then the other chair, and finally Severus' favorite chair – he realized that he could catch a faint whiff of the herbs in the soaps that Severus used in his bath, and found that inhaling the scent seemed to calm him. After a few moments watching the flames and taking deep breaths, he'd finally nodded off.
Severus took the spot that Harry usually claimed on the couch, and studied the sleeping young man. He was a beauty, with his tousselled black hair framing pale skin. There was a tightness around his eyes, though. It wasn't enough to mar his beauty, but it suggested that he was distressed, or might even have a headache. Severus' far more craggy features contorted in a frown as he studied Harry and tried to diagnose what might be bothering him. Before he got too far with that, the startling green eyes fluttered open. The two men stared at each other for a moment, Harry trying to get his bearings, and Severus intent on uncovering the problem.
"Is something wrong, Severus? Why are you staring at me?" Harry asked, as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes.
"You have a headache? Or are not feeling well? I can see tension in your face, and I was wondering what might be wrong," he replied, as he shifted closer to Harry.
After a couple of blinks to regain his focus, Harry heaved a sigh. "I have a bit of a headache. What time is it? I came here after Arithmancy – how long did I sleep?"
"It's just half past four, so you were probably asleep for just an hour or so. What do you think gave you the headache?" he asked as he leaned forward with his hands outstretched to massage Harry's temples. Once again, Harry was taken aback by the extraordinary gentleness that Severus could show as he sought out the proper spot on Harry's temples and between his eyes to which to apply pressure. Harry closed his eyes and concentrated on the feeling of those probing fingers gently moving back and forth. Severus held the pressure firm until he saw some easing of the tension around Harry's eyes, at which point Harry confirmed the success of Severus' assistance by opening his eyes.
Harry took a moment to stretch while he considered his answer. He was not entirely comfortable sharing the news of the ravens'.
"Harry, if you don't share what is going on, I am not going to be able to help you. I think we have a better chance at dealing with issues if you speak your mind."
"It's not that kind of issue. I noticed this morning on a walk back to the castle from the greenhouses that the ravens are back."
Severus' face darkened at that announcement. Before he could say anything, though, Harry continued.
"I could tell it was them right off, just like before, but once they started whispering, I couldn't make out any words. That's were I think the headache came from. I think I could hear inflections and sounds that should be words, but no amount of concentration made them clear enough for me to hear what they were saying. I tried, I really tried all afternoon. It was terribly distracting, and took lots of concentration, but it's just these noises."
Severus watched Harry intently for a few moments, assuring himself that, despite the news of the ravens, the boy was otherwise alright. Once he was confident that Harry was recovered from his headache, he stood and gently helped Harry stand as well. "I think we should pay a visit to the Headmaster's office before dinner. I'll firecall him to let him know we are coming."
Harry said nothing in response to that suggestion, but put on his school robes and stood by the door as he waited for Severus to stand after his brief chat with Professor Dumbledore. When that conversation was concluded, Severus swept to the door himself and the two walked quickly along the corridors.
"What is the problem, Severus? Why do we need to see the Headmaster?"
"Albus and I have had some conversations about your ravens, and I think it's time that we shared some of our thoughts about this with you."
Harry's initial reaction was anger, that once again others were talking about him, or things that pertained to him, without him being present. He felt the familiar frustration of being a pawn, someone for whom the moves were all determined by someone else. As he kept walking quickly to keep pace with Severus, some of the anger and frustration ebbed. The ravens were not the most exciting of things to him, but if Severus and the Headmaster felt it appropriate to spend their time discussing them, maybe this was important, just in some way Harry could not yet see. He was actually slightly curious by the time he and Severus had reached the stairway up to the Headmaster's office.
They were greeted by the Headmaster at the door, and shown to three chairs clustered in front of the fireplace. Albus studied Harry's face with some interest as they all took seats.
"So, my boy, I understand from Severus that your ravens have returned."
Albus made a statement, but the expression on his face made it clear that he expected Harry to respond to it.
"Yes, sir. Late this morning, as I was walking back to the castle from the greenhouses, I heard them. As I told Severus, I could not make out what they were saying. It was noises, and I was pretty certain they were speaking and if I just listened harder, I would be able to understand. I'm afraid that all I got for trying to listen harder was a headache, though."
Albus seemed to be weighing options or trying to reach a decision. Severus was having none of this delay, however.
"Headmaster, it is time that we share out suspicions with Harry. He should know what we believe is happening, if nothing more than to be sure he understands how critical it may be for him to tell us about these sort of events immediately."
Harry gave him a bit of a sideways glance; typical Slytherin. He couldn't just tell Harry that this might be significant, he had to set it out as some sort of deal.
Albus allowed the silence to build for a minute as he pondered Severus' statement. Finally, he steepled his fingers across his chest and with a sigh, nodded his head. "Yes, Severus, as much as I wish we did not have to do so, I think it is in the best interests of all of us that Harry know what we suspect is afoot. It might help us better analyze the information that we have, to make the best choices in the conflict to come." Turning his pale blue eyes on Harry, he took a deep breath and went on. "Harry, Severus showed me your extraordinary Heart Stone after you gave it to him. We were struck then how much it resembled what little we know about the Eye of Odin. You are probably the last person on earth to actually see the artifact; I am quite confident that it exploded in your hand and is no more. But, from reports of it through the centuries, and a few grainy photographs, we imagine that it looked like your Heart Stone."
"We wondered how that might have happened, and concluded, on a preliminary basis, that perhaps your mind's eye captured that image and it somehow became expressed in your Heart Stone. However, around the time of the Calling, you'd made reference to ravens counseling you and whispering in your ears, and at the Ministry in the aftermath of the Calling, you said you saw the path before Lucius Malfoy. What do you know about the Eye of Odin, Harry?"
Harry had not really given the Eye of Odin much thought for quite a while. Of course, the whole event weighed hugely on him all summer, with the death toll from the battle and then the explosion of magic once he snatched it from Voldemort's hand pressing in on him like a massive boulder, but it was about the deaths, not the Eye of Odin. "It made Voldemort invincible in battle, and that's about all I knew."
Albus nodded his head energetically at that. "Yes, yes. The Eye of Odin was regarded as conferring a power on the one who possessed it that could defeat anyone. But do you know why, or how it worked?"
Harry shrugged his shoulders. "I've no idea, sir, sorry."
With a wave of his hand as if batting Harry's apology aside, Albus continued. "Not many do, Harry. The power of the Eye is not military might, nor personal or magical power, but vision, the access to information that others do not have. The legend of Odin tells us that his familiars were ravens, and they travelled the world and reported back to him things that enabled him to choose the best strategies, take the bold actions."
Harry, and for that matter, Severus looked puzzled by that. "But then why, when the Dark Lord attacked the school last summer, was he so successful against the Aurors? There was hardly a battle in the traditional sense, where superior strategy could prevail. It appeared that the Aurors were overmatched in power," Severus interjected.
The twinkle went out of Albus' eyes as he contemplated that. "Actually, that horrid outcome was not attributable to the power of either Voldemort or the Aurors. I've studied the field notes of that battle, and there was absolutely no reason that the Aurors could not have taken the day. Except for one thing. They believed that Voldemort was invincible with that relic, and it was their belief that made him so."
Harry leant forward in his chair. "How could that be? How could all those brave people die, for no good reason?"
Severus was wondering the same, and looked at Albus with the same intense curiosity as Harry.
"There is tremendous power in our expectations and beliefs. If we enter a battle believing we have no hope, that is often a self-fulfilling prophesy. I firmly believe that the Aurors went into that battle with no hope or expectation of a favorable outcome, and got what they expected. The only person involved in that battle who did not have that belief, who did believe that we could prevail against Voldemort, was the one who rode right up to Voldemort on his broom and grabbed the offending artifact right out of his hand."
Severus looked a bit skeptical at that. Those were brave, trained Aurors who went into battle that day, and he could not believe that they did not put up a strong fight. And yet they were beaten, just because they thought the Dark Lord was invincible? Harry was clearly wrestling with this notion as well, although Severus was glad that Albus' comments might shift some of the young man's guilt off his shoulders.
"And the ravens? Why on earth are they speaking to me?" Harry wanted to know.
This was the aspect of the situation that Severus and Albus had spoken about at some length, and Albus looked to the younger man to explain this part. Severus was not sure how Harry would take this next part, and was not sure that he was the best to share their suspicions, but he did want Harry to know and understand. He leaned toward Harry as he spoke.
"We suspect, Harry, that when the Eye of Odin exploded, which we think it did based on the Dark Lord's furious release of energy and not because of its own nature, some of the attributes within the stone were released and were captured by your power. We did not understand this at the time, but now that your true nature, and the extent of your power, is better understood, I think we see the pattern. It is likely not a coincidence that you captured some of the Dark Lord's power and abilities when you defeated him the first time. In the chaos of the rebounding Killing Curse, scattering the Dark Lord's being, you became a Parselmouth. Now again, in the chaos of the exploding Eye of Odin, you captured Odin's connection to his familiars and probably the sight that enables you to see the Paths of Destiny."
Harry looked horrified at this revelation, and sat mute, his large green eyes flitting between Severus and the Headmaster. Albus now leaned in as well, and placed his hand on Harry's forearm, hoping to console Harry in what seemed to be his bad reaction to unwelcome news.
"There is nothing to be afraid of, Harry. This is not a bad thing! Your talent as a Parselmouth has done great service to the magical world, has it not? You've been able to access knowledge and discoveries that had been lost to us for millennia. I would suggest that your capturing the skill of a Parselmouth has been an enormous boon to all of us! We spoke about this many years ago, my boy. It is not our abilities, but our choices that determine who we are. In your hands, with the choices that you are empowered to make, the skill of speaking and reading Parseltongue had been a blessing to many. I am confident that the new skills you have acquired will similarly be to the great benefit of our world, because you choose to use your powers for the good."
Albus leaned back with a satisfied sigh, and a final pat to Harry's arm. Harry still looked quite discomfited by the news, although some of the horror initially evident on his face was starting to ebb away. He looked to Severus, to gauge his reaction. Typical Slytherin – his face gave away nothing, but Harry thought he saw a flicker of something that might be approval in his eyes.
"This "seeing paths of destiny" thing – that's not very reliable, sir. I mean, sometimes, I can see a path and it all makes some sense, but that's only happened twice. That day in the Wizengamot, the path before Mr. Malfoy just appeared, but that's only happened once since then. After Severus and I spoke about it, I've tried to see if I could do anything to show me a path. It seems very intrusive (at that comment, Severus' eyes rolled slightly) so I've only tried with friends who I figured wouldn't mind, but I don't always see anything, and even when I have, I haven't understood what it meant. And today, all I got from the ravens whispering in my ear was a headache!"
Albus chuckled softly. "Not all skills arrive to us in full flower, Harry. You are a natural at some things – flying, for example. Your first time on a broom, you exhibited a level of skill that others cannot hope to achieve even with years of practice, according to Professor McGonnagal. Your experience with Parseltongue, being fully able to speak and apparently read it with ease, is another example of a skill that came naturally to you. But some of the other things you've learned since coming to Hogwarts have required hard work on your part, have they not? That's far from unusual. Severus and I wanted you to know our thoughts on this, because we want to work with you and help you develop these new skills. There are no textbooks on this, unfortunately; to many people, the Eye of Odin was simply a legend, until Voldemort arrived with it in his hands.
"The ravens are of greatest interest to us all right now, Harry. If they bring you images, or thoughts, or words, please, tell Severus or me right away. Something that seems like nonsense to you might be very significant, in some other context. Please, help us."
Harry seemed to have calmed down a bit now. "But, sir, today, all I heard were indistinct whispers, nothing at all clear, no vision, nothing else."
"Ah, but Harry, that in itself is helpful! The Daily Prophet was persuaded to keep news of some of the recent events out of the paper, but attacks continue, in England and throughout the world. There is not a pattern yet. There were several more demons summoned in the week after the first ones were summoned and banished, but that seems to have stopped. Nothing like that has occurred in a month now. There are attacks by groups of witches and wizards believed to be Death Eaters, on more remote magical communities, but nothing more than minor acts of vandalism in Diagon Alley. There are random attacks in the muggle world, too. I am in regular touch with the Ministry, and they are in constant contact with other wizarding governments. All in all, we would say that it is relatively calm now."
"The calm before the storm?" Harry softly suggested.
Albus nodded. "That is very possible. That is why we want to know whatever your ravens share with you. At some point, we do expect Voldemort and his followers to take some greater step, and I hope that the ravens will have news that will help us prepare for whatever they are planning to do."
"Sir, you know I will do all that I can. If I hear or see anything, I will alert you or Severus right away."
Albus smiled, and his eyes were twinkling again. "I know that you will, Harry, and I appreciate it. Now, now, dinner will be in a few minutes – we don't want to be late!" He stood and shooed the two out of the office.
Severus pulled the door open onto the landing before the revolving stairs down from the tower and Harry stepped through, but he did not head toward the stairs. "Can we speak for a few minutes, Severus?" he asked, some distress still evident in his voice.
Severus followed Harry into his office, and spelled on lights and a small fire in the grate. He thought of asking what was wrong, but decided to allow the tempo of this conversation to be led by Harry. He would wait to hear what was on the young man's mind.
Harry stood by the fireplace, idly poking at a log with the toe of his boot, soberly watching the flames flicker. After a few moments, he turned.
"Am I a freak, Severus? A magical sponge? What other things am I sucking up from the environment, that I've already managed to capture a new language, a sight I can't see with, and someone else's magical familiars?"
Severus' heart ached to see the panic and self-loathing in Harry's eyes. He closed the distance between them in two steps, and gently folded Harry into his arms.
"You will not speak like that, Harry. You are not a freak. That almost sounds like your aunt speaking," he said with great passion and conviction. "You are a more powerful wizard than many of us ever imagined could exist, so we do not have all the answers in matters pertaining to your magic. I think I would compliment you on the skills you've managed to acquire – they have come in very useful so far. I have great hopes that these new familiars will provide us with information that will enable the Light to prevail in the battle that is coming."
Harry just held on tight to Severus for a few minutes, ear pressed against his chest, allowing the sound of Severus' heartbeat to calm him. He finally took a shaky sigh and then a half-step back.
"Why do you think the demons have stopped? Are they no longer being summoned?" Harry asked, changing the subject somewhat.
"I had occasion to discuss that very thing with Lucius the other day," Severus replied. "There were several demons summoned that first day, and several more over the next week, and then they stopped. Clearly, there are people in the Dark Lord's camp who are capable of summoning demons. Granted, they were not summoning Elder Demons, but the ones responding to their summons were quite sufficient to inflict a good deal of damage. So why stop, indeed? Lucius heard from a business contact that the Death Eaters didn't stop trying to summon demons; he has had some reports he regards as reliable that Death Eaters were seen performing the spells and ceremony required to summon a demon, as recently as last week. What worked before is not working now.
"He had done some research on the subject of demon summoning years ago for the Dark Lord, and consulted his notes and some old reference materials. His theory is that the demons are aware that just as there are wizards summoning them, there are other wizards here who are capable of banishing them. In light of the fact that the demons who have answered all the prior summons have never returned, he suspects that they are ignoring the summons now. While demons at their cores want only to wreak death and destruction, Lucius is now of the opinion that they have a surprising instinct for self-preservation. They choose to ignore a summons and the opportunity to wreak havoc in this world rather than answer the summons and likely be banished from existence. If this is true, it is evidence of a shocking level of thought and reasoning from creatures we had believed to be mindless embodiments of evil."
Harry shuddered at that. "Mr. Malfoy still has contacts with Death Eaters?"
Stroking Harry's hair, Severus could not help but smile at the naivete of his young bondmate. "Lucius is one of those people who has contacts everywhere. He cultivates that lack of clarity as to his real agenda. He has contacts among those aligned with the Light and Dark, and he's in regular touch with the most reputable members of our world, and scum that aren't even accepted among the denizens of Knockturn Alley. I'll wager he's probably even got someone in his web who can feed him information about the muggle world."
That last surprised Harry. "But he's always spouted such vile sentiments about muggles."
"I doubt all of his contacts are direct, among many who share information with no idea where it ends up. He just knows, better than anyone I've ever met, how to use his wealth and influence to have a continual flow of all sorts of information, on all sorts of subjects, flowing his way pretty constantly."
"Might he be a spy?" Harry wondered.
"Unlikely. He's totally self-centered. It's all for his own use or profit." Severus saw Harry about to speak, and assumed he was going to protest at least part of what he just said. "And if he is now on a different path, I assume the use or profit might extend to the furtherance of whatever lies down that path, but I'd still venture that Lucius' information is flowing, and he's planning to use it for his own purposes."
Harry accepted that conclusion with a small smile.
"So, what sort of things are going on now out there?"
"Albus does not share all the news with me, of course, but I am aware of attacks on some families who live in fairly isolated communities. In the muggle world, several buildings have been blown up, damage done to some of their infrastructure." Severus wanted to ask some questions of his own. "And what other paths have you seen, since we last discussed this?"
Harry figured he'd hear from one more person about his aunt today. "A while back, I ran into Aunt Petunia when I was walking with Neville in the greenhouses, and while she was rather horrible, I saw a path before her. That's the only other time a clear path appeared like that."
Severus wrinkled his nose in distaste at anything to do with Harry's horrid aunt. "And other times?"
"Well, I tried looking for the paths of my friends, but the only one I could see was Neville's path, sort of. It wasn't clear at all. I got the impression of great distance, and I saw sand. That was it. I first thought it meant that Neville would travel. I figured he was going to maybe go into the business of sourcing exotic plants, maybe some from the desert or something. Now, I think it means something different."
Severus eloquently arched his eyebrows at that, clearly demanding additional details. "It turns out that Neville is still in touch with Pharaoh Nitrocris, and she had seemed rather sweet on him while she was here. Now I think it might mean that his path will lead him to her. But who knows? It's all pretty vague and non-specific most of the time."
Severus considered that, and he had to concur. "All things considered, Harry, I think the ravens are the most significant right now. Please share anything, anything at all, that they show you or tell you. Right away. If you do see a path, tell me. It might or might not mean anything, but I don't want you carrying this burden yourself. I am by your side. I will help you, at every turn."
Harry closed his eyes, as a feeling of happiness and a warmth he'd never experienced before washed over him. When he opened them, to the strikingly handsome face of his bondmate, the moment was broken as his stomach growled loudly. With a sheepish smile, he took Severus by the arm and pushed him toward the door. "As the Headmaster said, we don't want to be late for dinner. And there is a squib class after, tonight. I think I heard that Hagrid is bringing a Blast-Ended Skrewt – wouldn't want to miss that, would we?"