The Other Side
Time Unknown
"Please," Harry whimpered.
Night was coming and the man was eating calmly, not bothered by Harry's pleas. Creatures of the night stayed away. They could feel the pain of the boy's magic and were scared away by its nature.
"Please," Harry begged. "Please," he whispered through tear stained eyes.
Exhaustion stretched his mind thin.
"Please," he cried.
And then he lost consciousness.
Harry stared at his unconscious younger self in complete bewilderment. This was the forest where he killed Sirius's friend. The werewolf, and in front of him was the man who had caused him the most pain he had ever felt. Since this night, he had been set down a path on which by no control of his own, his green played chaos with his emotions. In a way, everything that had happened since this night had been because of his green. His Pain.
And now, after all these years, it felt calm. It was a part of him and he was a part of it.
The man was exactly how Harry remembered, his hair - brown and matted. Eyes - a curious brown and his pale skin was wrinkled in places over his thin body. He was wearing an orange sheet carelessly wrapped around his waist and was looking at Harry with amusement.
"Are you ready to tell me who are you, child?"
Harry goggled.
The man put down his bowl. "Sit," he said.
Was this real? Was he actually there? Was this some kind of illusion magic had cast upon him? He fiercely tried to expel any external influence on his senses but nothing happened.
The fire crackled, roused by his power, and the full moon light shone bright through the gaps in the thick canopy of rustling leaves.
He had to calm himself. There only two explanations: either time and space was being manipulated - a feat, he had imagined vaguely possible through his study of the language of magic but never really given it much thought as his intention was to strip humanity down to its core instinct and learn what they would do. It was either that or magic was manipulating his senses with the intent to communicate.
He calmed himself and carefully side stepped his now unconscious feeble younger self. A chair materialised in front of the man and Harry took seat, looking at the man in his deep mysterious eyes.
"Why am I here?" Harry asked slowly. The key to unravelling a spell or curse was to first understand its Will.
"You are the one in control. You called out to me."
Harry glanced at crazy Harry. He was out cold but Harry remembered the emotional chaos that had engulfed him this night.
"Who are you?"
"A Guide."
Harry observed him in silence; trying to make sense of the man's colours and the guide patiently waited. "Subconsciously I called out to you to guide me to the source?" It was the only thing that made sense. The setting chosen was just bizarre.
"What's the source?" asked the Guide curiously.
Harry stared. This Guide did not even know what he wanted? This was making lesser sense by the second. But he had to be patient. There was an answer here somewhere. He just had to be patient.
"The source," Harry said, taking a brief moment to articulate his thoughts, "is where the Void comes from," Harry said calmly. "It is the heart of my existence and I want to perceive it, untainted by the perception of an unworthy human society."
"The Void?" His voice was a deep vibration. Harry felt like he was hearing with the Void and not his ears. He could feel the words deep within magic. He could feel the innocence in the question. The Guide was not mocking him. He truly did not know nor yet, understand.
"The society I grew up in believes it is a curse. The society I was educated by believes it is a miracle, and they are the chosen ones gifted to manipulate it. I believe it is a language nobody truly understands. A language with a deeper meaning of life and death. It can only be truly perceived when I shed the limitation of emotion." Suddenly, Harry realised something important. "And you are the one who forced them upon me, derailing me from my goal by making me accept a part of me that serves no purpose!" Harry was getting heated. The faint desire to kill smouldered in the Void.
"You have a deep connection with the Void. I can see it. And you touched the Void within me and manipulated it. Of course I believe you have answers and I will get them one way or another."
There was unbendable iron in Harry's voice. The Void roared in agreement within him and the darkness around them glowed within the fire. Harry and the Void were one.
The Guide smiled. "I see. You're on the path and you want to see the end. Tell me child, do you really want to see the end? Don't you want to explore the meaning of existence before you reach the end?"
"I started something. Something amazing and I want to see where it leads."
"Don't be in a rush," he chided.
"Can you help me or not? Am I here for a reason or am I just wasting time?"
The guide laughed. "Are you talking about time when your younger self is right next to you? Time is an illusion child. The Universe is timeless and boundless. Let that be my advice to you since that's what you came here for."
"How is that going to help me find the source?"
"Well maybe the source that you're obsessed with is an illusion too. The reason why you're here, in my perception, is that you want to understand why I unblocked your Anahata and to help you define what it means. So why don't you stop posturing and tell me what you really want to say."
Anger boiled within the Void. Harry wanted to crush the man to near death and make him tell what he wanted to know.
Patience. Don't loose control.
"That's right," said the Guide. "Control is important. Without knowing control, we cannot perceive our form and energy. The scale of your control defines who you are. Your green was almost dead and I felt it was shame to let a form of consciousness with so much potential waste it without control. You seem to have learnt it."
"How did…?" Sense no longer held meaning.
"If you travel as long as I have, you might understand. You seem to be on the right track so don't loose control."
Did the guide know about the amount of death and destruction he had caused?
"You've understanding your conscience as well. Marvellous!"
The Guide seemed excited and suddenly, Harry realised there was a growing distance between them.
"No one can make you accept anything you don't want child. If you have accepted something, then there is a purpose. Perhaps we'll meet again and you can tell me about it."
Harry stood up to catch the man with the Void but the world began to distort. "Wait!" he shouted and ran forward only to trip on a root and fall flat on his face.
He pulled himself up quick and looked around wildly. The Guide was gone and he was in an unfamiliar forest. It was still night and the moon still brilliantly full.
This forest was missing the mighty presence of the enchanted forest and the trees had more gaps between them. It was easier to walk. The thinner foliage also made it easier to see.
Harry felt frustrated. The answer had slipped away again. He wanted to scream. Where the fuck was he?!
A faint sound caught his ear and the Void sharpened. There were people close by.
He began to feel an invisible presence all around him. He heard birds and felt a cool breeze even though there wasn't one. Was this an illusion? He felt his arms brushing against soft leaves and now it was like he was walking barefoot on moist earth. This was very strange. He could not sense anything different about this seemingly normal forest.
He heard the sound again and crouched low. He had to be careful. There was definitely some kind of magic at work here and he could see a faint pink hue in it. It was no threat to him but after his encounter with the Guide, Harry felt the need to take a few moments to contemplate an action before acting on it.
The Void masked his presence and turned him invisible as he walked towards the sound.
He heard moaning. Female. And lots of grunts. Male.
The Orange in him burned. It was a different feeling. A familiar sensation. One that felt like forbidden pleasure.
He reached a clearing and saw the pale flesh of the back of a woman gently rocking on a dark skinned man pined below her. Both were moaning and gasping.
Harry knew what was happening. He had read about it and dismissed it as juvenile. Something that served no purpose. But now, seeing the act with his own eyes. Feeling the power of their orange, their passion in the void… it made him feel... he felt good. His pulse raced and a naughty smile darkened his features.
The memory of slicing Aunt Petunia from ear to ear and feeling her warm blood sent tingles down his spine.
"Give me life," the pale blonde woman whispered to the man. She rocked on his cock with strong gyrating motions and grabbed his neck.
"It's yours!" the man groaned, his hands around her waist, slapping and groping. The sounds reverberated in Harry's mind. He was frozen. Unable to take his eyes away from the sexually charged scene.
Harry didn't realise the magic was affecting him. He didn't realise the Void was resonating with the woman's and become sedate, seduced… until he felt a pulse of malevolence rise deep within her. The man stiffed and the woman giggled.
Her voice cut through the illusion of pleasure that had seduced him and was revealed to be vicious and greedy.
Harry, then, with wide shocked eyes, watched - as the man began to scream as his life energy was sucked into her through their union.
Within seconds he turned into a husk of a human being. Silence reined for a moment as the woman consumed the man's life force, making hers more vibrant, more powerful.
"Yummy," she laughed and stood up. Her voice was musical again.
Panic, raced through Harry's blood, like a river of ice. The woman was a succubus. These creatures always featured in the first few chapters of dark magic. Sexual predators who hunted in a pack. Suddenly, the strangeness of the magic around him made sense.
He had walked into a trap.
"Did you enjoy watching young man?" A hand slid over his shoulder and sexual energy clouded his senses. He felt his knees go weak. He desperately wanted to turn around and bath in the beauty he knew was behind him. He wanted to run his hands over her naked body and drown in what he knew was the ultimate pleasure.
"Of course," he breathed.
His eyes were unfocused. The naked woman in front of him was joined by three others, wearing white robes. All of them were blonde and strikingly beautiful.
"Oh my… do you smell him, sister?! He is absolutely delicious!"
Harry's eyes clouded with desire and he began to grin as the woman began to trail her hands down his chest, towards his pants.
"You could feed us for months," she whispered in his ear. "Wouldn't you love that?" Her hands slipped past his shirt and touched the bare skin of his abdomen.
Harry knew he was about to lose control. CONTROL! The Guide's mocking voice echoed through his mind and as if, woken up from a deep slumber, Fear struck his green and with a scream of rage, the Void broke-free of the spell being weaved over him.
Rage became his emotion. He was being seduced. He was being manipulated. "Back away!" he hissed and the Void lashed out, punching all the succubi around him away from him.
The Succubi felt their magic shatter and they began to hiss in fury and begin to transform into demonic avian creatures.
Battle lines were being drawn. The situation was manageable now. Harry smiled and changed his stance to one of preparedness. An instinct driven fight was easier to manage than one of seduction but Harry knew the dark power of succubi was nothing to smile about. It was that paradox that made him smile even more. Would they be a match for him? How worthy were they of the magic that the source has bestowed to them?
"Stop!"
A shrill whistle followed and cracked through the forest like a molten knife resting on butter.
That magic…. Harry knew it well even if the encounter had been a short one. The succubi uncharacteristically backed away and changed back into their beautiful human forms.
Bellatrix Black cackled with amusement. "He'd slaughter you all like silly flies you idiots. That's Harry Potter."
One of the succubi gasped. "The Crazy One? The one Fleur told us about? Oh my!"
Harry tuned them out, the books also said when the succubi were not hungry they were incredible gossipers. He turned his attention to the Lady from Hogwarts. The situation had taken a dangerous turn. For a moment, a feeling of exasperation hit him. He just wanted a bit of alone time to digest his encounter with the guide and instead he had walked into a Veela Nest which happened to be playing host to a very dangerous woman whose favourite weapon was sexual teasing.
Control, he thought to himself calmly. Don't loose control. "You," he breathed coolly. His mind clear of all the foreign influences, he finally saw his surroundings the way it was.
He was at the edge of a misty village. There were four succubus near the tree line next to a dead man and symmetrical brick buildings went in and out of sight through the moon light shining in the mist.
The Lady was looking much better than the last he had seen of her. She had lost her haggard features, her hair was rested in cleaner curls and she was wearing leather pants and a printless shirt. Her eyes were wild and magic powerful.
She folded her arms and tilted her head with a curious expression wondering what to do. This was the kid who had fucked over a man she had believed was the strongest out there. What was his purpose?
"My names Bellatrix Black," she huffed lightly. "Let's talk." Diplomacy was a perfectly reasonable option.
She turned her back to him and began to walk towards the village but Harry didn't move. She paused and turned back with a frown. "You got something better to do?"
Harry did want to talk. The desire yearned within him like never before.
Bellatrix noticed and giggled. "Oh I see it," she whispered. "You're on a path aren't you?"
"What do you know about it?"
"There's a bar further in. I'm going to need whiskey for this."