Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me.
Special thanks to Anna Rose and Kez.
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Chapter 6: WHEN MADNESS AND MAGIC MIX
Harry went to bed early that evening. The day's happenings and the ride to Grimmuald Place had really gotten more to him than he had expected. He fell asleep as soon as he had put his head on the pillow, without even thinking about emptying his mind first or removing his wand from his hand.
-
He was walking up an empty street. There was no light from streetlamps, and the half-moon was the only thing that gave light to the almost pitch-dark street, casting long, soft shadows.
Harry turned around a corner and saw what he was looking for. It wasn't exactly hard to find.... The house was big and slightly majestic, yet Harry knew the house would be welcoming if someone hadn't put a Venetian blind behind the windows, blocking all sight of inside. It was a pity really -their safety precautions were all for nothing.
The lady beside him, dressed in black hood that would match her hair if anybody cared, opened the gate and they went into the garden. The grass was long and the bushes had not been trimmed for a year, yet Harry knew that this was once a very nice garden. It even had a silly fountain.
Suppressing a tired snort, he turned around and looked the lady -Bellatrix, his faithful servant -in the eye. She took that as a sign and knocked on the door with a bony hand that almost looked silver in the moonlight.
A woman with short, black hair and PJs on opened the door, and for a second she looked comically shocked; with her eyes and mouth open in shock. Suddenly - as if a bolt of lightening just had struck her, she caught up with herself - she let out a high-pitched scream. Bellatrix fired a killing-curse at her, hitting the woman in the stomach, and the woman's scream died before she hit the floor by the door. Bellatrix laughed silently, and together they walked inside the house and into the empty living room. Or at least it had looked empty, they didn't see a balding man on the stairs, staring terrified at them, until he turned and ran back upstairs where he must have come from.
"HIDE!" He shouted. "IT'S VOLDEMORT!"
"How come they never mention me?" complained Bellatrix indignantly, but Harry didn't bother answering her.
They followed the man upstairs and found him pointing a wand at them.
"Don't come any nearer! The Aurors are on their way! You can't kill us!" said the man bravely, but the violent shaking of his wand betrayed him.
"Crucio!" cried Harry, pointing the wand at the man. The man collapsed on the floor, twisting and crying and yelling in pain. Harry laughed, and said:
"Bella, get the other ones."
Bellatrix nodded and did what she was told. She soon came back with a young woman with long, black hair. Strangely though, deep down she looked oddly familiar to Harry. But how could that be? Bellatrix threw the girl against the wall. The girl cowered , shaking in the corner. She didn't have a wand, but that wouldn't have mattered anyway. Harry ended the curse on the man, which had lasted for several minutes. However, even though Harry had ended the curse, the man didn't recover right away. He twisted and shivered on the floor, sobbing, crying, for what seemed to be like forever.
He didn't get a grip on himself before his daughter let out a stuffed cry, and he realized the seriousness in the situation. In a matter of seconds the man was up on his feet and in front of his child. Bellatrix broke them apart, and threw the man where he had just been. With a cry, the man tried to do the same again -but Harry stopped him with his wand.
"Stay," he bellowed, and the man froze in his steps. Harry's lips curved slightly in pleasure, feeling deep satisfaction. "Curse the girl."
The man with the name of Patil didn't do anything. The only thing he seemed to be able to do was to stare dumbly at Harry.
"Torture the girl!" said Harry again, more forcefully, and he raised his wand higher. "And I might spare her life."
The man looked from his daughter and to Harry, his eyes watered with tears. Pathetic fool!
"I… don't… know how to - to - to do it!" stuttered Mr Patil with difficulty.
Feeling impatient, Harry decided to move the process a bit quicker. "Imperio!" he shouted at the man, and Mr. Patil suddenly got a dazed look over his eyes and relaxed his shoulders. Almost boringly, he pointed his wand at his daughter. The teenage Patil looked terrified up at him.
"I d - don't b - blame you daddy…" she sobbed as she covered her face with her hands. "I love you!"
Mr. Patil hesitated for a moment, and Harry saw something flicker behind his eyes. He was clearly trying to fight off the curse. Good for him....
However, Mr. Patil's attempts were in vain: "Crucio!" he yelled, and red light shot from his wand and to the girl. Her eyes rolled up in her head and she screamed in pain. Her feet curled up under her as she grew desperate to get away.
Harry watched with pleasure for about a minute, and then he ended the Imperius curse. The girl's body went limp. She quickly began to shiver, tears still running down her cheeks, making her look like a drowned puppy.
Mr. Patil blinked, and when he saw what he had done his hand flew to his throat as he made some choking sounds that only a man in deep shock, guilt and sorrow could make.
Bellatrix nearly jumped up and down in glee.
"Now," said Harry evilly. "Curse her again. You know how to do it now!"
"No! No, no! Please - please don't!" The young Patil cried between her sobs. "WHAT DO YOU WANT? I'LL GIVE YOU WHATEVER-!"
"Do you know the Prophecy?"
The girl stopped sobbing. "What? What prophecy?"
"You don't have it?" Harry hadn't really expected her too, but it would be a terribly pity if she did knew and Harry killed her first.
"No, no, I'm sorry! I don't know what you're talking about! Please-!" The girl was frantic now.
"Then I don't need a thing from you," sneered Harry and pointed his wand at her.
"NO! You can't!" said the girl desperately, she was running down from options and she knew it. "Harry Potter will bring you down! He will get revenge! If you do this, you will only motivate him even more to come after you! I swear - he has a plan, a brilliant one he says, that-"
Harry laughed. "Potter is no threat to me! Mr. Patil, you really should have joined me when you had the chance, then this would never have happened."
The man looked over to his daughter in the corner and to his dead wife in the entrance.
"Please, I've changed my mind! I will join you; I'll do whatever it takes! Just - please don't hurt my daughter!"
"It's too late for you to join me now, Patil," said Harry and curled his lip. "I have only use for faithful servants. And soon, you would be too late for your daughter too, if you don't torture her right NOW!"
"Please, be merciful-"
"One," Harry counted.
"Please!" cried Mr. Patil again.
"Two…!" Harry continued, and raised his wand yet again, so it pointed at the youngest Patil. The man did the same, weakly, and muttered "crucio." His eyes were closed.
The girl was hit with red light, but it was weak, way too weak. It almost looked pink! She only raised her shoulder and cried out, but she stopped after a second when nothing else happened.
"AGAIN!" Harry barked. "And this is your last chance!"
The girl said nothing as she saw her dad raise his wand arm again.
"Crucio!" the father said, more loudly this time. The girl's black, long hair fell in front of her face as she screamed, however, that was the only thing she did: She didn't cower in pain and nor did her legs curl up. Mr. Patil ended the spell with a relieved look on his face.
"That was fake, Master!" shouted Bellatrix suddenly and furiously as the two Patils' froze.
"Right you are, Bella," said Harry, suppressing a sigh. "That was not good enough. Did you really think you could fool me?"
"What? But I did-! I can show you-!" exclaimed Mr. Patil desperately, his hand waiving desperately in the air.
"No…" sneered Harry. "You had your chance, Patil. I was nice today, you even got a second chance, but you blew it. Now... take the consequences."
Harry, still pointing the wand at the young woman, said: "Avada Kedavra!"
The girl didn't even have the time to scream one last time before the spell hit her. The wall still supported her, but her arms were limp and her chin had fallen down to her chest. Her eyes looked empty and didn't wear the surprised and scared expression she just had.
Harry didn't see what happened next. Suddenly he found himself wake up of a loud bang, and something that shattered to the floor.
-
Harry awoke with a start. His heart had escaped up in his throat and it felt like he had run a mile, but he had the strangest feeling, something that he couldn't explain and that had settled deep down in his gut.
Something was horribly wrong!
Harry turned over in his bed, trying to figure out what had happened. He knew it had to be something to do with Voldemort though because his scar burned badly and the wand was still warm in his hand...
Wand?
Weird, he thought, he couldn't remember grabbing it. Actually, he couldn't remember leaving it either...
It wasn't before now Harry became aware that his room smelled burnt. And that a large, black hole was staring at him from the wall, where there used to be a picture of two birds. Some smoke came from the black hole and up towards the ceiling. Harry stared in disbelief. What had he done?
He looked down on the wand again and felt a tickling sensation from his fingers and up to his shoulder. He must have done something bad! He had never felt like this before.
Then he remembered the dream. He remembered the black street, he remembered the father and he remembered the daughter. The Patils. Parvati… How many times had he seen her in class, in the Quidditch stands, the halls, or in the Gryffindor common room? More times than he could remember. And now she was gone, and probably her -
Suddenly his scar burst in pain again, however, this time Harry could feel it open, and he got blood in his eyes. Yup, her father must be dead too...
Harry quickly got up from the bed, his eyes shut. He couldn't see ... there was too much blood. What was Voldemort doing? Harry tried to concentrate; he tried to image Voldemort and Bella-trix.
"…Coming! Master… Aurors…" Harry heard someone yell faintly as if coming from a long distance. Harry wasn't sure if he had imagined it or not, but he had definitely heard something.
Suddenly, the bedroom door burst open and someone came in, but Harry still couldn't see anything except from the red blood.
"Harry, what happened?" he heard the voice ask.
The scar burst in pain AGAIN. How was that possible? Would it ever stop?
"NO!" cried Harry, his voice rasp. He could tell that Voldemort was angry, he must have felt Harry trying to enter his mind… Merlin-! "NO! STOP IT! ARGH!"
Harry collapsed to his knees and screamed in agony.
Let it stop, let it stop...
He felt someone grab his shoulder; pulling him up from his knees, but he didn't care. All he wanted to do was to get away, away from the pain, away from his life, away from everything.
"STOP IT!" he cried again, desperately trying to struggle away from the grip, which suddenly let go of him.
Kitchen, he thought. He was so thirsty… If he only could get to the kitchen, then everything would be all right… He could clearly see himself standing in the kitchen by the table - he really wanted to get there… Please let me get there…
Suddenly everything went black and he felt very light, like he was drifting off to sleep, his head was spinning. In the next second Harry opened his eyes and saw that he actually was standing in the kitchen.
What the-? How-? Harry wondered dumbstruck, and then it hit him. Had he just Apparated? But how could he do that? He hadn't even read about it, nor had he ever-
His thoughts where interrupted with a loud sound which sounded very much like an alarm. Harry quickly spun around, expecting to see death eaters or something worse, but he couldn't see a thing. There was still blood in his eyes, and without his glasses, it was a lost case. Suddenly he heard Arthur's voice, magically high, through the house.
"HARRY POTTER'S GONE! I WAS STANDING RIGHT BEHIND HIM, AND NOW HE'S GONE! REMUS! COME QUICK! WE NEED TO FIND HIM!"
Harry moaned. Great. Now they were all going to worry, even though he hadn't done anything wrong…
"I'M HERE...!" yelled Harry harshly. He didn't bother to look for someone, but drank some water from the spring instead. The cold water felt amazing.
"HE'S HERE, ARTHUR!" Harry heard Lupin say, and Harry turned around, making Lupin gasp, as well as Mr Weasley and the Grangers' who came quickly through the kitchen-door.
"What?" snapped Harry, but then remembered the scar, which, by the way, had stopped hurting and all the blood that surely must have been flowing down his face as well. Muttering an `oh' of realization he put his head under the spring once again, and washed his face with his hands. It stung a bit.
"Harry!" Harry heard Hermione exclaim behind him. "What happened? ...Harry?"
Harry didn't turn around. He simply replied: "Voldemort. The Patils - dead, - gotta … go."
Again Harry heard them gasp, but he had other things on his mind. What had he done to the wall? He didn't cast the same spell he - no wait, Voldemort - had cast in the dream, had he? Only the thought of it made Harry sick and the blood stench was the drop that made it too much for him. He vomited in the sink.
Embarrassed, Harry turned around and looked at the worried faces in front of him, not that he saw them very well, however.
He was their only hope, and he couldn't save them. He would fail… He had failed Parvati… The one with the beautiful black hair, the one who always giggled in Trelawney's classes… Cedric, Kingsley, Sirius…
Harry's legs were shaking under him, and it was impossible to stand up. He slowly sat down on the floor, trying very hard to stay awake. He heard somebody talking, but he couldn't figure out what they were saying....
Something in his mind took form, slowly at first, but then faster, until Harry was certain that it was a snake. It looked familiar, he had seen it before - he was sure of it - but where? The snake looked at him, and hissed:
"What are you doing there, young man? You ssshould be awake, you know?"
"I am!" Harry protested.
"No, you're not!" The snake snickered, and Harry groaned in frustration.
"Who are you anyway?" asked Harry.
"Me? Oh, I'm Nadini. Don't you recognissse me?"
"No, I-" Harry began, but then he remembered. "Hey, you're Voldemort's snake!"
The snake laughed. "I don't belong to anyone. I am my own massster."
"I don't believe you," said Harry off-handily, but someone was shaking him; forcing him back to the reality.
"Huh?" said Harry and snapped his eyes open, only to see the faint outline of Lupin leaning over him.
"She says she's her own master," said Harry and giggled slightly to Lupin, who, of course, had no idea what Harry was talking about. But Harry thought it made perfect sense.
What didn't make sense, however, was that everyone looked at him like he was some sort of alien.
"Harry?" said Lupin worriedly. "Are you drunk?"
"Bog off…" groaned Harry and put his head between his hands. He was so tired… He just wanted to go back to sleep… He had Apparated once; surely he must be able to do it again? Harry tried to imagine his bedroom, tried to image himself standing there… really standing there…he WANTED to get there…he really, really wanted to - Harry again felt his body drift away and his head spinning and he knew it had worked. In the next second he knew he was back in his room. He instantly collapsed in his bed, embracing it.
-
-
He woke up when he felt something wet on his forehead. He opened his eyes and saw something or someone standing over him. Harry jumped off the bed in fright, grabbed his wand, which luckily was on the nightstand beside him, and he pointed it at the intruder while he took on his glasses.
It was Hermione. His beautiful Hermione, and he had almost hurt her!
Harry lowered his wand. He would never use it again. Never. He didn't want to be a wizard anymore. He wanted to be someone else, anyone else, he wanted to-
All of the sudden, he saw himself using the Killing curse. Not on somebody else, but on himself. The thought was scary, terrifying, and Harry quickly pushed it in the back of his mind. He took a deep, shaking breath and took the wand away. If he would sink so low as to kill himself then he would not do it in front of Hermione. No way!
However, he was sick and tired of being weak. Enough of it! No more!
Hesitantly, he took a step towards Hermione, who looked very uncomfortable, and politely said: "Thank you, Hermione. Sorry if I frightened you."
"That's okay," said Hermione slowly, keeping a close eye on him. "But Harry? What happened?"
"I don't know," said Harry, what pretty much was the truth anyway. "How long have I been sleeping?"
"Two days," said Hermione with a sad shrug, and Harry gaped at her.
"What?"
"You did."
"Oh. Have you heard anything from the Weasleys'?" asked Harry, quickly changing the subject.
"Yeah, they're coming over tomorrow." Hermione looked a bit worried.
Harry was not, however. He felt a bit relieved actually. Now he wouldn't have to worry so much about Hermione anymore. It felt weird when the two of them were alone.
"I'm going outside to take a ride," Harry said shortly to Hermione and went out the door.
"What do you mean?" asked Hermione, catching up with him.
"I'm going outside to take a ride."
"What about food?" asked Hermione, more urgently.
"I'm not hungry."
"You got to eat something, Harry!"
"I don't think I do," said Harry, and he turned around, realizing he must have sounded very rude.
"I'm just not hungry Hermione, I'm sorry."
"What's wrong with you?" snapped Hermione, her eyes flickering angrily. "First you're screaming, waking Arthur up, then you disappear and reappear at the kitchen! You got blood all over your face, saying the Patils' are dead, which, by the way, is true, and then you start speaking Parseltounge and muttering nonsense words before you disappear again! And you don't even have a Apparating license. You're too young, you aren't even allowed to do magic-"
Harry, who had blocked most of what she was saying out of his head, snapped back to the reality when he heard the last sentence.
"I am," Harry said. "Dumbledore told me ye- er- some days ago."
"What?" said Hermione, her mouth hanging open. Harry nodded. "But, what about-?"
"Just forget it, `Mione. I don't even know for myself."
Hermione didn't say anything more, and they joined Lupin and Hermione's parents for lunch, even though Harry didn't feel any hungry. He wanted to do something more valuable with his time.
As soon as he was finished, he hurried upstairs to the Black's library. He could go flying later.
-
It was a huge library, with almost - Harry noticed - nothing except Dark Art books. Harry could bet that ninety percent of the amount of books in the library would fit into the Restricted Section at Hogwarts.
Harry scanned some of the titles: The Art Of The Dark Arts, You-Know-Who's Tactics, Why You Should Use Dark Arts, Bloody Revenge, A Death Eaters Journal... However, what really caught his eye was a book called: All About The Unforgivables. Hesitating, he wondered if he should look at it. It could come handy, and he needed more information about them, he really did. How else was he supposed to defeat Voldemort?
Harry took the book down from the dusty shelf. The bind outside the book was grey and uncomfortable to touch. When Harry blew some air on it the dust whirled up and tickled his nose.
Resisting a sneeze, Harry sat down on an armchair and looked through the register:
Ch1: What the Unforgivables Are
Ch2: Why the Unforgivables are So Unforgivable
Ch3: Who Invented the Unforgivables
Ch4: How the Unforgivables Works
Ch 5: The After Effects
Ch6: The First Time an Unforgivable Was Used,
Ch7: How to Cast an Unforgivable
Ch8: The Usual Mistakes
Ch9: How You Know You Have Succeeded
Ch10: How To Keep it Hidden
Ch11: After Words
Harry paused. Should he really do this? Sure, he needed the information, and his life probably depended on it, but ... it was … Harry's brain suddenly couldn't find a reason not to learn. After all, to learn it wasn't the same as using it - to cause pain at least - was it?
Harry sat down more comfortably in the chair and started to read.
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