Chapter 25 - The Black

The Day After The Attack, Friday, 11:00 am

"I've checked the common room Albus and asked around, no one has seen the boy since last night," said Severus Snape, leaning against the wall in Dumbledore's office.

"He's in his quarters," McGonagall said, walking through the door and into the room, "The Kitchen elves provided the elf Dobby with a plate of food this afternoon."

Dumbledore sighed, "Well for now, at least, I'm glad to hear he's inside the wards. But what he did…I've never been party to an act so dark, so heinous. It was pure hate. I worry what he has become."

"It was an act of hate borne of love, Albus," said Professor McGonagall, "You should've seen how he looked at Heiress Greengrass and how he nearly broke in the hospital wing. He loves her. I know it."

"But he didn't just kill Rookwood," Albus said, "He had him suffer a much worse fate."

"As much as I hate to say it, if it were Lily I would've done the same or worse," admitted Snape.

"But you were already down a dark path," Dumbledore replied, smiling sadly.

"I would do it now. Daphne Greengrass is the only woman he's ever loved and though I am loathe to admit it, he hasn't been as much of a dunderhead as was when they weren't an item." replied the Potions Master

"Still," Dumbledore said, "For him to be capable of such an act -"

"Doesn't make him evil Remember there is not just light or dark, but many shades of grey. He's rash, yes, but what Gryffindor isn't?" asked McGonagall.

"But how to nurture the light?" Dumbledore mused, aloud, "We know not when or even if Heiress Greengrass will ever wake up."

"He needs his family," McGonagall said, "Is Sirius aware?"

"Yes. He was on Azkaban Island helping with the rebuilding but I'm told he will be here by lunch."

"He's at Azkaban?" Snape asked surprised.

"Yes. It was his idea, according to Amelia. What better way to rebuild a prison than having one of the only two people to ever escape assist in its construction?" said Dumbledore.

"What about the other students?" asked Minerva, taking a seat, "After the Prophet tomorrow, even if they somehow paint Harry in a favourable light, many will be afraid of him."

"The news will undoubtedly already be out, Minerva, you know what the gossip is like," replied Dumbledore, "We'll grant Harry a reprieve from classes for now, at least until after the weekend. Hopefully, then everything will have calmed down."

"And Julius Rookwood? You know Septimus' Uncle isn't a declared Death Eater and will be at the next Wizengamot session. He'll request a duel to the death as part of the Blood Feud," said McGonagall, "And others the Rookwood are allied with will be allowed to attack Harry now."

"Good," said Snape, "A true test. After the speed Lord Slytherin-Potter displayed today I'm not concerned."

"But will Harry practice restraint?" asked Albus.

"Unlikely," answered Snape.

"I'd suggest that I might have a word with Sirius, but he won't listen to me," said Dumbledore with a sigh.

"I'll talk to him when he gets here," said McGonagall, "We're still on good terms."

Dumbledore nodded. McGonagall got back to her feet, it being clear that their short meeting was over.

"One more thing," she said, her lips pursing, "What did Harry mean when he said, 'The cupboard he was kept in?'"

"I don't know," said Dumbledore, folding his arms defensively.

"You didn't check on him, Albus?" McGonagall replied with a frown, "I told you! I told you they were the worst sort of muggles. If they…oh my…his growth spurt. He's been put on malnutrition potions. There's no other explanation for such a change."

Albus went white. "I…I didn't know."

"You didn't bother to check?" asked Snape, even he now glaring at the old man, "At all?"

"I thought he would be safe," Albus replied, "The blood wards…"

McGonagall was seething, " If he's gotten malnutrition potions they usually are signed out by someone from the Ministry. They will come calling. I'm not going to help you with this one Albus. You haven't a leg to stand on. I'd say to talk to Harry, ask him to forgive you, but you don't deserve it."

Promptly Snape and McGonagall left the office. Albus Dumbledore buried his head in his hands and sobbed. They were right, he didn't deserve it. What had he done? What had he wrought? He'd just thought the boy's natural form was skinny, his mother's body had been waif-like when she'd first arrived at the school, He'd just assumed Harry was the same as her. Now… no he better not beg. The only way he could get around this was if he allied himself to Harry, showed trust in him, became valuable to him, but how? Maybe he should pay the Dursleys a visit.


The Night Before

Rather than walking back up to the castle the long way, Harry once again portkeyed to the Chamber before making his way back to the hospital wing.

"How is she?" Harry asked, his expression grim as he entered. Poppy was sitting by Daphne's bedside, holding and watching a diagnostic charm. She looked up at him warily, having been quite shaken by the waves of magic he'd been displaying when he'd suddenly whisked McGonagall away from the hospital wing. Harry walked closer to the bed, to Daphne's still but steadily breathing form, a lone tear trickling down his cheek. He was struggling to keep it in.

"She'll live. I fixed the skull fracture but she hasn't woken. There was some damage to her brain, but I can't heal it here. I've put her in a magical coma. She'll be taken to St Mungo's and get the care she needs."

"When will she wake up?" Harry asked, "St Mungo's should be able to sort her out easily right? When she's seen by a specialist?"

"I'll be brutally honest now Harry, it looks pretty bad. When she wasn't breathing properly she was getting some oxygen in, that too will have caused some damage. There is obvious brain activity, but I'm afraid it's not a sure thing that she will wake up. There's a strong possibility that she will, but what state she'll be in is uncertain."

"You mean…she might not remember me?"

"It's unlikely, but it's a possibility. You know what happened to Neville's parents. Daphne wasn't held under the Cruciatus for nearly as long, but with the skull fracture as well..."

Now Harry openly started crying.

"Oh God. This is my fault. I should've protected her." he said, tears streaming down his face.

"You saved her life. I was panicked from the sudden change in the situation, it was completely unexpected. Your idea to inject the potion saved her." Madam Pomfrey said.

"If she wasn't with me, this wouldn't have happened," Harry said.

"Maybe, but you can't live your life like that. In fear. Isn't that what you've been trying to get across in your columns all this time?" Poppy replied.

"But I didn't protect her. It's my fault," Harry said, his hands in his hair in exasperation.

The doors to the hospital wing opened behind them. It was Dumbledore followed by three Aurors.

"Harry, my boy. The Aurors would like to have a word with you." the headmaster said.

Stiffly, Harry nodded, wiping his tears away from his face as Dumbledore left him with three aurors standing patiently just inside the doorway. Waving his wand, Harry levitated some chairs to a spare bed space at the side of the hospital wing, and after sitting, he gestured for them to join him.

"Lord Slytherin-Potter," one of the Aurors, a gruff, heavily stubbled man said, "I'm Gawain Robards, Head Auror and Deputy Head of the DMLE". He was bald with a large scar at the base of his chin.

"I know who you are," Harry replied in a monotone, giving a sad smile and trying his best not to think of what Pomfrey had just told him, "Amelia speaks highly of you." He thought vaguely that letting them know he was on first-name terms with the active Minister and his old boss might help him stay in the good books here.

"We need your report as to what has happened. Unfortunately, your victim, the heir of an ancient family, cannot tell us. We can't even remove him from where you stuck him." another Auror said, sneering at him. She was tall and willowy, with her shit-brown hair tied back in a ponytail that looked so tight it might hurt.

"If you speak to Headmaster Dumbledore, he will assure you that I declared a blood feud on the Ancient House of Rookwood shortly after I took my revenge." Harry snapped but then willed himself to calm down. He wasn't angry at the Auror, but the situation.

"A blood feud?" Robards said, raising his eyebrows, "That might not have been the best idea. The Rookwoods have several powerful houses allied to them, the Notts, the Selwyns, the Mulcibers and several Lesser Houses. They will now be legally allowed to attempt to kill you on sight. Of course, you can defend and fight back as you wish, but -"

"I'm aware, Auror Robards," Harry said, seriously, "I will also be calling in my allies to help me. Thank you for your concern."

"I need your statement as to what happened and then we will need to question you," the grizzled Auror advised,

"If you want, you can write a note to Professor Snape and I'm sure he will lend you some Veritaserum. I will give you a full account of what happened, spell-for-spell if needed, so hopefully, there won't need to be too many follow-up questions, but I'd like Madam Pomfrey to be there. Would you do that, Poppy?" Harry added in a raised voice.

"Of course," Poppy replied, "I've got some antidote here as well."

"That sounds agreeable," said Robards.

"Good, write a note and we'll have my house elf Dobby deliver it to him."

A few minutes later, Dobby returned with a small bottle of the emerald green liquid and a note from Snape saying that he expected his stock to be replenished. Harry told the Aurors not to worry about it and that he'd have Dobby purchase some ingredients for the brew tomorrow. A few drops were placed on Harry's tongue, they waited for a few moments for the potion to take effect while Madam Pomfrey sat down behind the group as a witness.

"Okay," Head Auror Robards said, "Tell us what happened."

"This morning I received a letter in the mail that looked like it was from Professor McGonagall," Harry said, "It was in her handwriting, in emerald green ink, just like she always uses. It requested for me to meet her after class outside the Fat Lady in Gryffindor Tower, half an hour before the feast was to begin. The letter said that she had some confidential information about my parent's wills. After class, I went to wait for her, but she didn't show up and when it became obvious that she wasn't coming I made my way down to the feast. When I arrived at the Great Hall, my friend Hermione said that Daphne's best friend Tracey had approached them in the library and told Daphne that I had requested for her to meet me on top of the Astronomy Tower as I had prepared a special dinner for her. I went to Tracey who said that she remembered telling her but not why. Taking this for what it was, a tell-tale sign of the Imperius, I knew I needed to get to Daphne as fast as possible, but I was too far from the Astronomy Tower. I destroyed the window to the Great Hall and flew out."

"You had your broom with you?" Robards asked.

"No, I have a family spell that means I am capable of unassisted flight. The whole school saw it."

"Go on," Robards said, with an impressed raise of his eyebrows.

"I flew up to the Astronomy Tower and on the way up saw flashes of spell-fire, including what was the same green as the killing curse. As I got towards the top I heard someone cast crucio and a scream. I shouted for Daphne but this made her attacker aware that I was coming. I cast family magic upon Rookwood who was there alone when I'd arrived standing above Daphne, he somehow managed to absorb it with some magic he had learned from his father that he said was called Void magic. I've never seen it before. He cast a killing curse at Daphne but I managed to pull her out of the way with a summoning charm. He transfigured a wolf and set it at me, while I was distracted he cast a Depulso and sent Daphne over the edge of the tower. I flew after her, but she hit a gargoyle on the way down and she hit her head. I got to the floor ahead of her, caught her with Arresto Momentum and flew her to the hospital wing. With Madam Pomfrey's help, we managed to heal Daphne's injuries, but it was a close thing. Cruciatus exposure meant that we struggled to get potions into her, but we formed a makeshift muggle inoculation needle and injected the potion into her abdomen. Her skull was cracked, she is now suffering from brain damage and we had to heal several broken bones. When I was aware that the worst was over I turned my mind to her attacker. McGonagall said that he would nearly have escaped by now. I used my family necklace to Portkey McGonagall to my family library to get us outside the wards and she side along apparated me to the Hogwarts Gates. Rookwood came our way with Dumbledore, Snape and Flitwick on his trail. I declared blood feud on his House and then proceeded to remove his limbs, eyes, tongue and nose, making sure to keep him alive, before carving a warning into his chest and taking him to Hogsmeade and using a strong sticking charm to stick him to the statue in the square. I then came straight back here. That's everything."

"I see." said Robards looking at him warily, "I'm glad to say that as you had declared blood feud I can't place you under arrest, but like I said this may put your House in a precarious position. Do you know who sent you the letter if it was not McGonagall?"

"I presume it was Rookwood, but I can't be certain. I did hear from Draco Malfoy that I should be wary of Heir Nott, but I haven't heard anything."

"And the two girls, Hermione and Tracey, their surnames?"

"Hermione Granger, Gryffindor and Tracey Davis, Slytherin."

"Very well, you may take the antidote. We have no recourse to press charges for your actions against Septimus Rookwood, but we are charging you with disturbing the peace. You can't be sticking people you've maimed to statues in Hogsmeade. A trial date will be set, but we will not arrest you at this time."

After drinking a small vial of antidote that Pomfrey had provided for him, Harry bit his lip awkwardly. He hadn't thought what the consequences of that would be.

"Okay. Thank you Aurors. Is there anything else?" Harry said, glad the meeting was coming to a close.

"No," said Gawain, getting up to leave.

The doors opened again and the Aurors stood by the exit to let four more people pass before they left. It was Professor Snape, accompanying them were Astoria, Cyrus and Ellanore Greengrass. Ellanore and Astoria were already in tears and rushed to Daphne's bedside while Cyrus stopped and stared at him.

Harry's whole body started shaking, the full weight of what had happened came crashing down around him. He couldn't hold back his tears.

"Cyrus - I couldn't protect…they imperioused Tracey…I couldn't…"

He couldn't handle the guilt, the despair welling up inside him. Cyrus' daughter had chosen to be with him, because Cyrus had allowed it, had trusted Harry to keep her safe. She was now in a coma and it wasn't clear when or even if she would wake up. It was his fault.

His voice catching in his throat, he thickly said, "I'm…I'm sorry," and portkeyed away.

Rage, once again took him for the second time that night. Not against Rookwood or Voldemort, but against himself. Upon arriving into the Chamber he swiped up the training discs, marched out in front of the Slytherin carving and began casting.

In his mind, he drew into a darker and darker spiral.

"This can never happen again. I need to be better. I have to be better. I must protect them. Everyone. Why couldn't I… Oh God. Daphne. What if she never wakes up? You are weak. You're pathetic. Why didn't you just jump off and Accio her and try to fly with her in one arm or something? Why didn't you leash her to the side and stop her from hitting that fucking gargoyle? When she wakes up…if she wakes up you'll still be what you are. Pathetic. Not good enough for her. Might as well hand yourself to Tom now."

Harry fired spell after spell as he descended further and further into the black. When casting became painful it almost felt good, the pain, a slight reprieve from the anguish so he kept going. After nearly a solid hour of furiously firing overpowered spell after overpowered spell, he collapsed to the floor, unconscious.


The Friday, from 10:44 a.m

The stone floor of the Chamber of Secrets was cold on his face when Harry came to. He blinked groggily upon first waking, having that sudden nervous sensation we all have upon first waking up in a place that aren't our own bedrooms. He turned over and grimaced, his back was stiff. Steadily he got to his feet and felt a wave of dizziness overcome him. Stumbling slightly, he waited for the bout of postural hypotension to pass, for his blood pressure to return to normal. Looking at his watch, he took a double take. Nearly quarter to eleven. He must've passed out for nearly eleven hours.

His darkened thoughts about what happened took him again and he wandered back into the library, sullen and walked back into his bedroom. He wouldn't be leaving for the rest of the day. His stomach rumbled. He hadn't eaten since lunch yesterday and so quickly summoned Dobby to bring him something from the kitchens. Several minutes later, Dobby arrived with a silver platter of sandwiches, pasties and cakes as well as a large jug of pumpkin juice, setting it on the coffee table in the seating area and giving Harry a sad smile before popping away.

Harry settled on the comfy armchair and ate some, but realised he still felt sick. With Daphne no doubt in St. Mungo's by now, he wasn't that hungry. Instead, he stared through the window into the rippling blue/green murkiness of the black lake watching the vegetation under the window sway back and forth and the occasional fish or Grindylow swim by.

He didn't know how long he stayed there but was suddenly ripped out of his near-catatonia by five hard raps on his quarters' door. Only one person apart from him was able to unravel the tapestry. Dumbledore. He didn't feel like speaking to him, the man who clearly must now think of him as some sort of dark abomination, the next Lord Voldemort himself. He ignored it. The raps came again. "Ugh, just fuck off," he thought and stayed put. Thirty seconds later the knocking came again and was unrelenting. With a huff, he got up and pulled open the door and as expected he did find Dumbledore, but also found the one person in the the world he needed right now.

Harry's lip quivered as Sirius barged straight into the room and wrapped his arms around him in a fierce hug. Then, for what seemed like an eternity, Harry cried into his godfather's shoulder. In that time, Sirius had shot Albus a look that he needed to leave, so he had before the ex-convict brought his attention back to his Godson. Letting him cry it out.

They then sat on the sofa and Harry explained what had happened, every bit of it. He'd been told most of this of course, but Sirius didn't interrupt him, what he really wanted to see was his reasoning for how he'd reacted. In the end, Sirius couldn't blame him, but he was concerned, nevertheless.

"Well, it could be a lot worse, pup," Sirius said, "You saved her life. Pomfrey was able to heal her skull."

"Yeah but what if she never wakes up?" Harry said, not daring to look at Sirius for shame.

Sirius sighed. "I'm not gonna mollycoddle you and say that she will, but in the moment, you did all you could do. If you weren't able to fly there would've been no way you got there in time. Did the Greengrasses come after it had happened?"

Harry nodded in embarrassment. "I saw them, they came into the hospital wing, but I couldn't face them, Sirius. I took one look at them, said I was sorry and portkeyed out of there."

Sirius nodded. "Probably a good thing. It can't be easy having a daughter whose boyfriend is the Dark Lord's nemesis. Even after all you've done for them, this is the worst part of your relationship, the risk."

"They'll probably say I can't see her anymore," Harry said numbly, a lone tear sliding down his cheek.

"Perhaps, but their lot is in with you now already, Cyrus already attacked the Death Eaters at my trial, and they've been vocal in their support of you recently. From what I know of Daphne though, I doubt she'd ever want to not be with you."

"I love her, Sirius, I don't know what I'll do if she doesn't wake up."

"We just take it one day at a time," Sirius replied, putting a hand on Harry's knee. "I do want to ask you though. What you did to Rookwood…it was… gruesome. I'm not saying he didn't deserve it but, you didn't enjoy it…did you?"

Harry thought about it. "I don't think so. I was angry and I felt…pleased to be getting revenge I guess but yeah, I was just more angry than anything else. I just wanted to make him suffer and make sure that no one else ever goes after the people I love again."

Sirius nodded, "I'm not sure I'm happy to hear you say you were pleased with getting revenge but I get it. Just…be careful. You've got a crazy amount of power and going down that road…it's a slippery slope."

"You don't feel like I'm going dark, do you? I'm worried. I feel angry all the time. I went to Pomfrey yesterday about it. I don't enjoy hurting people I just, I just get carried away. When Daphne's been there she's always been able to calm me, but…"

"We need to get you some books on Occlumency. Maybe there's some in the library?" Sirius said.

"That's what Madam Pomfrey suggested too. I haven't had the chance to look." Harry admitted.

"Why don't we Portkey down and have a look?" Sirius said. This was the first time after everything that Harry allowed himself a small smile.

"No need," Harry said, getting to his feet, he beckoned for Harry to join him. After muttering "Library." in parseltongue he gestured for Sirius to open the door.

"What? No stairs or anything?" Sirius said, looking around in wonder, going in and out of the Chamber, looking at either side of the doorframe.

"Cool, huh?" Harry said with a half smile.

"Definitely."

After a short chat with Salazar Slytherin it was clear that they did have books on Occlumency, but during his time he'd created a type of magic that he'd said thankfully would relieve his ancestors of having to commit to the long, laborious process of learning it. He'd named it 'Neuromancy', or the 'Neuromantic Ritual' as it could only be achieved after completing said ritual under specific conditions. He'd need to create a difficult potion and then sleep in a very specific runic symbol in the open air under a new moon. Simple enough, but it also had to be raining throughout the ritual chants which he would have to complete before he fell asleep, naked. Harry wasn't a fan of how it wouldn't be allowed for him to have a blanket, so Harry and Sirius agreed that they would need to do the ritual soon, at the next new moon so that it wouldn't be too cold. Hopefully, the weather would be in their favour.

After they'd retrieved the book though, they went back to Harry's room and Harry shrank into himself. He would talk to his Godfather, but he wasn't really listening. After half an hour of trying, Sirius had decided enough was enough and told Harry to grab his broom, they were going out flying. Harry was reluctant at first, but he wasn't taking no for an answer and when they went out to the quidditch pitch, what they found was the Gryffindor Team getting ready for their first training after tryouts with their new keeper, Cormac McLaggen.

The team's reception to Harry's arrival was nervous at first. News had already flown around the school at what had happened to Rookwood, but Angelina thanked him for coming and even though Cormac had said he didn't want to play with a dark wizard, he was told that if he didn't want to be on a team with Harry then he might as well leave. This made Harry feel better. Fred joked that they were glad that he was there because now they'd maim the competition, which made Sirius laugh and gave Harry a weak smile. The practice was good and just what Harry needed. Having a good battle with Ginny to catch the snitch, focusing on something else that wasn't the relentless pressure of facing the Dark Lord or what had happened to Daphne felt good and gave him a welcome reprieve from his own head for a while. A couple of hours later with Sirius cheering and whooping from the stands, the team hit the showers and everyone began to head back up to the school.

Sirius joined Harry at the Gryffindor table which was highly amusing, especially after he'd insisted that they pop back to Harry's quarters so he could wear one of his school uniforms. The feast went well. While there was a lot of whispering and now a lot of scared looks from a lot of the student populace, the only other people whose opinions he really cared about, Hermione and Neville, didn't treat him any differently, in the end. They'd looked at him strangely at first, but Hermione had talked to him about their homework, Neville had told him he was there if he needed to talk and they both joked with Sirius, Fred and George while they ate. Harry guessed they'd end up talking about what happened later. Ron blanked everyone, apart from Seamus and Dean, that is, but he did glare at Harry a few times. Once, Harry dared to look over at the Slytherin Chamber, his stupid heart half wanting to believe it hadn't happened, but there was no Daphne there and no Astoria either. Only Tracey remained, but her back was facing towards him. He was glad he didn't see her expression. As he walked back with Sirius to the Slytherin Common Room, Harry started to feel the smallest inkling of hope. His friends hadn't deserted him, he still had Sirius and the Weasleys. He would fight, for as long as he needed to.

Sirius stayed the night after they decided they would go to Ollivander's tomorrow, Saturday, rather than on the Sunday as planned. They would go in the morning and then as they would be in London, Sirius said he would go with him to St Mungo's to visit Daphne. Harry just hoped that the other Greengrasses would be at work or something and wouldn't be there.