The Truth
Time Unknown - Hogsmeade
Harry's first order of action was getting his wand and notebook. He needed possession to anchor his mind to sanity.
The beautiful walk up to Hogwarts got Harry in a pensive and thoughtful mood.
Humans were hollow without possessions, he thought. They greedily stockpiled material wealth around them in order to avoid the open truth that human beings didn't have a soul. We are only ever looking for it and die in the attempt to find it. A rare few accept that fact and the result of that was what the deluded called enlightened beings.
Am I enlightened?
The change of scenery from hot, dry and yellow, to – cold, snowy and green felt was drastic enough to keep him spell bound with wonder for a few minutes before a small content smile lit his face and he began his trek to the castle.
Harry felt needing possessions was instrumental in holding on to sanity. He wanted to hold on to sanity and attaching the green to material objects felt like the right thing to do.
He felt his understanding of the soul disintegrate and reform into something that felt more Human. He was thinking he had a soul when he knew that was not true. He was a monster without a soul. He was already deluding himself into defining his self. Defining what his soul was.
I feel human.
The sentiment had been growing stronger since his outburst at the source. Rita brought him closer and the escape from the desert pushed him over the line of sanity. At least he felt like it was sanity. He was able to distinguish between his state of mind during the descent in the desert and his state of mind at present.
He missed the desert already.
The state of mind of being a survivor was simple and elegant. Truly experiencing it made Harry swell with happiness. But now he felt like it was time to move on. It was time to understand what magic needed to evolve into and what was his role in the change of era.
Harry pulled the Void closer around him and warmed his body.
The wind had picked up pace and the snow was falling faster. Leaves rustled in their groves and bats flapped around in the dark, looking for sustenance.
Harry frowned. Bats in winter?
He put the growing curiosity at the back of his mind when he finally reached the gates of Hogwarts.
The big iron doors were bent and broken outwards.
Something had been thrown out instead of breaking in.
Harry's survival instincts kicked in and he kept the Void ready for a fight.
The sun had broken free of the night and brightened his path towards the castle. A couple of minutes over the cobblestone path later, the Quidditch hoops came into view and after the last bend in the path, the black lake and Hogwarts came into sight.
His eyes widened at the condition of the grounds outside the castle. There were dozens of blackened holes and broken trees littered all around. He looked closer and realised there were holes in the walls of the castle as well.
In fact, one of the towers looked like it was recently repaired. It's colour of magic looked lighter than the other towers.
He looked up at the now blue sky and saw magic spreading across in the form of runes.
Harry frowned. He couldn't make them out. They were changing form chaotically but he recognised them as similar to the runic structures he had created in his quest to create the desert and her labyrinth. The twist however, was that there was no desert and no labyrinth.
Why?
As always, something happened to interrupt his running thoughts.
The great doors of Hogwarts opened suddenly and five figures walk out with their wands clenched firm in their fists.
Nostalgia greeted Harry and he couldn't help but smile.
He continued walking towards the doors, unperturbed by the wands pointed at him.
"Professor Snape," he said with a polite nod. "How nice to see you again."
"Harry?!" Professor Flitwick squeaked in shock. It was difficult to see past the faded and torn robes, long hair, gaunt face and dirt caked skin. "Harry Potter?!"
Harry's eyes slid from Professor Vector to Professor McGonagall to the out of place Mahoukotoro student he recognized as the chosen Champion in the Duelling tournament.
"Hitomi," he said, pulling out his memory of her magic.
He looked into her mysterious purple eyes for a moment, trying to gain a read of her but he couldn't. He smiled and observed the other professors.
McGonagall's missing arm was noticeable and the general dishevelled appearance of the rest was unmistakable.
"How did you get here Potter?" Snape asked. He was the only one who looked calm and calculating. The rest of the professors looked shocked and Hitomi was just blank.
Harry was feeling playful. It was an odd feeling but he was liking it.
"I walked."
Snape scowled.
McGonagall sighed exasperatedly. "Mr Potter. While it's wonderful to see you again we must know where you came from! It's almost been one year!"
Has it really been that long?
"Feels like its been lesser."
A flock of birds suddenly rose out of a tree and all wands pointed upwards in alarm.
They were all on the edge. Harry's eyes flickered to the hand Hitomi had on the hilt of a curved blade hanging on the side of her waist.
"Where did you come from Potter!" Snape snapped.
They didn't know anything. Harry realised. They were isolated which meant his curse had a reach greater than he had expected.
The thought pleased him and he decided to be vaguely truthful. He had never been keen on lying.
"I don't know," he replied. "All I know is that I survived."
"Survived what?" Hitomi asked loudly. There was suspicion in her voice.
Harry sighed and shrugged. "Whatever happened at the trial."
He was feeling too many emotions. He had always run away from them in the past and he had created the desert to keep them away forever.
Now he found himself analysing them. Trying to understand them.
The first emotion he was trying to decipher was relief.
He felt relief that he was outside the desert. He missed it. The return of emotion annoyed him. But he didn't feeling like burying them anymore. He was open to interpreting them and the idea that he was, was bemusing.
Among all the thoughts and emotions, one thing was clear. Harry welcomed the change. He wasn't supressing them anymore. He felt strange and different.
"What happened Harry? Please tell us!" McGonagall looked fearful and desperate.
Harry realised they had heard some news and wanted his confirmation or denial of it. It probably has something to do with the clear marks of battle, he thought.
Suddenly he felt tired. He felt like all those days of harsh survival catching up to him and his legs trembled.
He fell to his knees with a gasp and McGonagall's question ringed in his mind. What did happen? What has happening to him?
Watching him collapse broke the tension of suspicion and McGonagall and Vector ran towards him to help. Flitwick hurrying behind them except for Snape and Hitomi who did not move a muscle.
I want to sleep.
The concerned look of McGonagall swam in front of his eyes before he welcomed the loss of consciousness.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Harry knew he was dreaming. He tried to see it but all he saw was blood. His hands, shaking and bathed in blood.
He didn't understand it and neither did he fear it.
Why was there so much blood?
"Are you awake Mr Potter?"
Harry's eyes snapped open.
Light shone in and he immediately rose his arm to block out the light with a groan. He had to blink rapidly to adjust to the light and slowly a high ceiling and a plump woman came into view.
The light was from a candle she was moving across his face.
He tracked the tiny flame with his eyes and suddenly they were removed with a tut of acceptance.
"Wha-?"
He began to cough. His throat was too dry.
Immediately a glass of water was brought in front of his face and he grabbed the glass and drank.
"Slowly!" chided the woman.
The feel of cool water swishing down his throat felt like an elixir to life.
He gasped with relief and felt the room sharpen into focus.
"This…" he muttered. "This is Hogwarts?" Harry recognised the woman as well. It was Nurse Pomfrey.
"At least you're lucid," she muttered. "Don't move too much. Your body's not in good shape."
She was right. His body felt tired but his felt the void strong. He tried to make sense of his muddled thoughts.
To his right, he saw something turn green and he heard the nurse say, "He's awake."
It was the floo. The fire turned back to dull yellow and Pomfrey walked back to him with a kind smile.
"The headmistress will be here soon. They have a lot of questions."
"They?" Harry asked.
Pomfrey snorted. "The leaders of Hogwarts," she laughed.
Harry could let she was being sarcastic. Nurse Pomfrey was being sarcastic? Was he still asleep?
He was feeling too confused. "Wasn't I in the desert?" he whispered.
Pomfrey looked at him sharply. "What?"
Harry shook his head and tried to get off the bed.
Pomfrey tried to push him back down but he slapped her hands away and slid of the bed.
Blood rushed to his head and he felt light headed for a moment before he felt the nurse hold him around his waist and help him to his feet.
"I'm not giving you any painkillers if you fall," she warned.
Yes. I was in the desert. I was surviving. I found Rita and then…., Harry's line of thought stopped.
"I changed," he whispered in wonder.
Harry looked at himself and focused on his colours. To his shock, he saw his green pulsing with greater colour than before, sending signals through his other cores, causing stirrings of strange emotion in his heart.
What am I feeling?
What made it stranger was that he didn't want it to stop. He wanted to understand it. He felt like knowing what it was would help him somehow but he didn't understand.
"Are you alright Harry?" Pomfrey asked gently.
He was still standing and taking support of the bed headboard.
"Yes," Harry said shortly.
The door opened at that moment and in walked McGonagall, Snape, Flitwick, Sprout who looked solemn. They conjured chairs and took seat at the foot of the bed.
Harry sighed and sat back down. There was always the shred of annoyance lining his new found clarity in the forefront of his mind. The familiar spike of anger lashed out but for the first time in a long time, he was able to calm it down and face down his interviewers with an arrogance that felt good to express.
"Harry," Flitwick began gently. "We need to ask you a few questions. Are you okay enough to answer?"
"What do you want to know?"
"Ever since the day of the trial. Hogwarts has been cut off from all communication with the outside world and anyone who leaves does not return. Do you know why?"
Harry stared them down with disdain growing in his eyes. "So you all have been locked in here and have been helpless? How pathetic."
"Answer the question Harry," Sprout scolded.
Harry leaned back on the bed and put his hands behind his head. He grinned and grinned wider when he saw Snape's expression turn sour and McGonagall's turn shocked with outrage.
"Potter!" he snapped.
"There is no one to contact," he laughed. "My curse has overrun this land and I must say the result was spectacular."
The looks on their faces confirmed what Harry had suspected. Their ashen faces told him they knew he was responsible.
"I don't know how far the magic has spread but what used to be London or Britain is now a wonderful desert where only one rule applies." Harry leaned forward and his eyes glinted with the remains of madness that had evolved into intelligence with a blank slate. "You have to survive."
The Professors stared at him with jaws unhinged.
"What? What are you saying Harry!" Sprout burst. "Desert? What are you talking about?"
"Tell me professors. Why haven't any of you left the castle to see what's out there? What do you fear?"
Harry saw all their reds flare with fear. The fear of death.
He smiled. At the back of his mind, he realised he was talking more than he had ever done before and for a reason not yet understood, he felt like talking some more.
"I grew sick of people trying to control my fate so I took control away from them all."
Harry's eyes grew dark and suddenly there was an immense power crushing against the professors and the nurse.
Harry had summoned the Void and was preparing to subdue them when suddenly, he felt the Void bounce back and hurt him instead!
His eyes widened in shock and pain as he saw blue and red magic form a strange cage around him. He looked around sharply looking for the source of this runic cage when he saw a familiar face appear from under an invisibility cloak.
It was Hitomi and she was using his invisibility cloak.
With Harry's recent desire for belongings, seeing his cloak being used as a tool against him igniting his rage and cold rationality.
"You," he growled.
Hitomi grinned. "Got you."
Harry quickly read the magic of the cage and came to understand that it was a unique design which was strengthened proportional to the effort put into escaping it. The rune structures were brilliant.
Harry realised it was going to take him time to break through them.
The entrance door to the hospital wing opened and in walked his classmates who again, stirred that feeling of nostaligia in him. However he was too pissed off at the moment to reveal and understand those emotions driving the feelings.
Harry scowled at them.
Hermione laughed. "Now isn't that a familiar face," she joked.
Tracey wasn't smiling. She had only one question on her mind and she ignored the silent looks the professors were giving them, indicating to stay quiet and let them ask the questions.
"Where is Daphne?" she demanded to know.
Harry's mind flashed to a spunky girl who had managed to penetrate his vision. His green pulsed and Harry's breath shuddered with confusion.
He looked into Tracey's eyes and answered brutally. "She's probably dead."