Yet again, my mind has changed on the number of chapters that there will be. Seventeen is the final number, as I always like to make the last chapter of my fics a nice long one (and by long I mean 10k words long). I have also decided and started on the next work that I will be writing after the trilogy is over. I will discuss that more in detail in the note at the end of the chapter.
I would also like to say that I had some problems uploading this chapter (I did it at a friend's house, and Internet Explorer is terrible, so I had to encode the file manually), so if there are any strange things, or spaces missing, please excuse it this once. Thank you ::wink::
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Chapter 14: The Calm
Harry sat in a wooden chair, facing a dying fire. His eyes were closed, patiently awaiting his guest. He didn't have to wait long, for a moment later a knock came from the door.
"Enter," he hissed. A figure hooded and in black robes entered the room and quickly knelt in front of Harry. The only distinguishable feature about this person was that straight golden hair was falling down from inside the person's hood.
"Narcissa," Harry hissed, with a sick smile on his face. "How wonderful of you to join me."
"How may I be of service to you, my lord?" the woman asked, keeping her head bowed.
"Let us have a talk, shall we?" Harry asked. The woman nodded, and he conjured another chair like the one he was sitting in with a wave of his hand. "Sit." Obediently, the woman got up from the floor and sat in the chair, still keeping her gaze lowered. "Look at me." Harry commanded. Hesitantly, the figure raised her head until the face of Narcissa Malfoy became visible.
"What do you wish to talk about?" she asked, visibly frightened from having to look into Harry's eyes.
"Did we get what we bargained for after I became unconscious?"
"Indeed, my lord," Narcissa replied. "The giants' envoy arrived a week and a half after you took to your bed."
"The power transfer was successful, then?"
"Yes," she answered. "They have already begun to move from the island and establish colonies in the north of the Scandinavian countries."
"Excellent." Harry said with a yellow smile. "Everything is proceeding as planned."
"What about the boy?"
"Which one?" Harry asked.
"Potter," Narcissa replied.
"My spy reports to me that he is still unconscious, though he is showing signs of regaining his power," he answered. "I must say, the power drain worked much more effectively than I thought it would. Perhaps Severus' lessons in Occlumency really taught the boy nothing."
"I wouldn't know, my lord."
There was silence in the room for a little while. Finally, sensing that something was troubling the woman, Harry spoke.
"What is on your mind, Narcissa?" he asked. "You are troubled."
"It's about my son," she answered.
"Ah," Harry said. "The other boy."
"He may have rejected our ways and faith, but he is still my son, after all."
"I do not blame you for the way he turned out," Harry said. "That remains Lucius' miserable fault. He was unable to help the boy see the true ways of the wizarding world, and instead let him be taken over by that little Weaslette."
"What shall become of him?" Narcissa asked.
"When we storm Hogwarts and take it by force, we will make him the offer to return to our graces," Harry replied. "He will be punished for turning, but he will still learn to be faithful to our cause. I feel he may become a valuable asset."
"Yes, sir."
"And now, I have one more question for you before I send you on your way."
"What is it that you ask, my lord?"
"Tell me," Harry said steepling his fingers. "Have we taken care of our 'friend' in the ministry?" For the first time during the conversation, Narcissa smiled.
"We thought perhaps you would like to do that yourself," she replied. "May I escort you?"
"You may indeed," Harry said, rising from his seat. He allowed himself to be led out of the dark room by Narcissa and was temporary blinded by the light coming in from the windows before he closed the shutters with a wave of his hand. The one thing he hated about Malfoy Manor was that being on the top of a mountain, it caught more sunlight than any other house he had the displeasure of being in.
"I'm sorry, my lord, I forgot you hate the light - "
"It is of no concern," Harry said. "I'll have to get used to it eventually anyway."
"He's being held in the basement."
"Take me to him, then," Harry said. They walked slowly down the stairs to the second floor landing, when Harry felt a familiar sensation in his head.
'You...' he said to himself.
'Ah, Potter, you've returned to the world of the living,' a hauntingly familiar voice said through his body, though he could tell it was not his own. 'I wonder, how much have you seen.'
'Why would I tell you that?'
'It's no matter,' the voice said. 'Although I sense that the old protector of mud-bloods and muggles will be attempting to wake you soon enough, so I think perhaps our time together will be cut short.'
'I'm curious,' Harry said after a moment. 'Why are you in such a forgiving mood? On a normal day you would've tortured Narcissa to within an inch of her life for leaving the windows open.'
'Ahhh,' the voice replied with a chuckle. 'That, dear Potter, is because the time for my victory....is at hand.'
And without another word Harry's consciousness was thrown from his body and he blacked out.
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"Harry? Can you hear me?"
"Mmmm?"
"He's conscious, headmaster," a familiar female voice said.
"Very good, Poppy. You may go now," another familiar voice, this time male, replied.
"Where am I?" Harry asked, cracking an eye open. Sitting in the chair next to his bed was Dumbledore, and leaving through the curtains closing his bed off was Madam Pomfrey. "Hogwarts?"
"I will answer all of your questions in a moment, as you must have many," Dumbledore said. "But I think it would be prudent to awaken your fiancee first." Harry turned and saw that, in fact, Hermione was asleep next to him on the bed. "She has refused to leave your side since you fell unconscious."
"Hermione?" he said gently, rubbing her shoulder.
"Mmmm?" she mumbled sleepily, barely opening one of her eyes. The moment she saw Harry was awake she sat bolt upright and threw her arms around him. "You're back," she whispered urgently.
"I'm back," he said holding her tightly. "How long was I gone for?"
"I'm not entirely sure how to tell you this..." Hermione said hesitantly. "But it's almost the end of October."
"The twenty-fourth, to be precise," Dumbledore added.
"Two and a half months?" Harry asked incredulously.
"Nearly three," Hermione said sadly. He looked at her worriedly and could tell from the expression on her face that if he asked, she could probably tell him the number of minutes he had been unconscious.
"How could I have been out for so long?" Harry asked.
"We do not know," Dumbledore replied. "In fact, we were hoping you might be able to enlighten us on the situation. You seemed to have a faint idea of what was going on right before you blacked out. I distinctly remember you gasping the word 'giants' before collapsing to the floor." Harry went into thought for a moment at hearing these words.
"I had a dream while I was unconscious," he said after a minute. "It was right before you woke me up; at least I think it was right before you woke me up. It's still a little fuzzy though."
"Were you in Voldemort's body again?" Hermione asked. Harry nodded.
"Yeah. He knew I was present in his mind towards the end of it, but I don't know about the beginning. I don't think he knows that I saw what I actually saw."
"And what did you see?" Dumbledore asked.
"I was sitting in Malfoy Manor," Harry said. "And I had summoned Narcissa."
"Go on," the headmaster urged.
"I...Voldemort, that is, asked her if he had gotten what they bargained for after he became unconscious."
"Did he?" Hermione asked.
"Yes, something about an envoy from the giants."
"Did he say what he bargained for?" Dumbledore asked.
"No," Harry said. "But he did say something about a power transfer being successful."
"I think I know what has happened," Dumbledore said quickly. "Not too long ago, we received reports of massive amounts of giants leaving Great Britain for the mainland. They seemed to be heading to a location where a massive amount of magic potential was stored. It is my belief, that whatever Voldemort got from the giants, he guaranteed them a safe place to live in return."
"What would guarantee their safety?" Hermione asked.
"Most likely a massive shielding enchantment," Dumbledore said.
"But how would that make Harry unconscious?" Hermione inquired.
"Voldemort mentioned something about a power drain," Harry said.
"Indeed," Dumbledore agreed. "An enchantment of that magnitude would require a massive amount of magical energy. I think it's probable that Voldemort found a way to drain Harry of all his energy at the same time of his own."
"Wait," Harry said quickly. "Does this mean that in a battle against him, all he would have to do is drain me of my power and knock me out? He'd be able to kill me before I could get a spell off!"
"Fortunately it's not that simple," the headmaster said. "In any form of power drain, mental or physical, the drainer needs to be transferring his or her own power to something else as well. So the answer is that if Voldemort were to transfer all of his magic to one of his death eaters, for example, he could drain all of your energy while giving his away. Thanks to a certain prophecy, however, none of his death eaters could kill you in your unconscious state."
"How lucky," Harry muttered sarcastically.
"Was there anything else in the dream?" Hermione asked.
"Yeah...now that I think about it," Harry said. "I'm almost positive that Draco's not the spy." At this, Dumbledore and Hermione shared a glance. "All right, what am I missing here?"
"We...er...we know that already," Hermione said.
"How?" Harry asked.
"About a month after you fell unconscious, Peter Pettigrew was broken out of custody in the ministry," Dumbledore said. "He was guarded in such a way that it would have been impossible for him to escape without assistance."
"The spy helped him?" Harry asked.
"Help might not be the best word," Hermione said. "After all, Voldemort probably knows that Wormtail cracked when you questioned him. You said yourself he was at Malfoy Manor when we took Draco. How else could we know that Draco might've been a threat?"
"That must've been what he was talking about," Harry mused.
"What who was talking about?" Dumbledore asked.
"Voldemort," Harry replied. "In my dream, Voldemort asked Narcissa if they had taken care of their 'friend' in the ministry."
"What did she say?" Hermione asked.
"That they wanted to let Voldemort do it for himself," he replied. This answer was met with a contemplative silence for a few moments. "So what did we do with Malfoy?"
"After meetings with the Order, he was released about a month after Pettigrew disappeared," Dumbledore. "It did take time to find a suitable place for him. He can't very well go back to living at Malfoy Manor now, can he?"
"So where is he?" Harry asked.
"Mate!" a familiar voice shouted from outside the curtains. "Pomfrey told me you'd just woken up." The familiar form of Ron floated through into Harry's small cubicle. "How you feeling?"
"Could be better," Harry said. "These two were about to tell me where Malfoy's staying." At this, Ron gave a distinct snort. "What?"
"If they're the ones who are going to tell you, I'll let them tell you," Ron said, looking at the ceiling.
"Don't tell me..." Harry said with a skeptical smile.
"After much debate, it was decided best if Draco went and lived at the Burrow," Dumbledore said. "The protection of the Fidelius Charm, along with the blood protect that Fred now possesses, makes it an adequate, if a little bit awkward choice."
"I'll say," Harry said. "You've had to live with Malfoy?"
"Yeah," Ron said half-heartedly. "I feel bad for Ginny though. She had to see him everyday until term started."
"Narcissa sounded worried about him," Harry said. "She asked what would become of him."
"What are you talking about?" Ron asked.
"I had dreamed that I was in Voldemort's body while I was out," Harry said. "I'll give you the details that you missed later."
"What did Voldemort say when you asked this?" Dumbledore asked.
"He said that when he stormed Hogwarts, they would try to convert him back to a death eater," Harry replied.
"Did he say when he would try to storm the school?" the headmaster asked.
"No," Harry replied sadly. "Although....towards the end of the dream he figured out that I was in his mind."
"What was his reaction?" Hermione asked.
".....He laughed," Harry said. "Laughed and told me he was in a good mood because the time for his victory was at hand." At this, Dumbledore's face almost turned white.
"Ron," he said with a sense of urgency. "You must make haste to the ghosts. There is no more time for talks. Bring whoever will fight, and return here immediately."
"Why?" the ghost asked, bewildered.
"Lord Voldemort may be a madman, but he is no idiot," Dumbledore replied. "He would only consciously let Harry know of his plans if he was going to attack quickly enough so that we would not have time to prepare, even with this knowledge. Come with me to my office, and I will portkey you to the mainland right away. You won't be able to come back with a portkey though, so you'll have to fly."
"I...I understand," Ron said as the headmaster got up, obviously a little apprehensive.
"You must fly as fast as you can, Ron," Dumbledore said. "I feel that if the Dark Lord is finally attacking, he will have made sure he has enough forces to take the castle. Let us make haste."
After quick 'goodbyes' and 'good lucks' to Ron, he and the headmaster left the hospital wing nearly running (or in Ron's case, flying). Harry turned to Hermione and sighed.
"I can't believe I was out for so long -" Whatever else Harry was planning on saying got muffled when Hermione crushed her lips to his.
"I was so scared," she said when she pulled away a minute later. "I was so scared when they said they couldn't revive you."
"I'm sorry," Harry said wrapping her in a tight hug.
"It's not your fault," Hermione replied. "Just make sure you kill him so we don't ever have to go through anything like this again."
"I'll do my best," he said, not letting go. "What have you been up to while I was here?"
"Since term started, I've been assisting Professor Flitwick in his classes," Hermione said with a slight blush.
"What about our auror training?" Harry asked.
"Since both Moody and Kingsley are in the Order, they understood," Hermione replied. "We're to resume training as soon as you're better, but if Voldemort attacks within a few days, I don't know if we'll be doing much training before that."
"I still can't believe it might be over in a few days," Harry said with a sigh. "Almost seven years of constantly looking over my shoulder to see whether a madman is there with a wand pointed at me, and in a few days it'll be all said and done with, no matter which way it ends."
"He might not be attacking," Hermione said, with a hint of false hope. "He might just have been saying it -"
"If Dumbledore is worried, then he's attacking," Harry said. "It's that simple. The man may have made some errors in judgment over the years, but tactically, I've never seen him make a mistake."
"Draco?" Hermione asked.
"Fine," Harry acquiesced. "One mistake. But nobody's perfect."
At that point Dumbledore walked back into the hospital wing, looking slightly out of breath, but at least fairly calm.
"Ronald is on his way," he said, taking a seat next to Harry's bed. "It depends on when Voldemort attacks, but I believe that he should be able to return in time to defend us all."
"How long will it take them to get back here?" Harry asked.
"Two days," Dumbledore replied. "Maybe three. It depends how the winds fare."
"What should we do until then?" Hermione asked.
"Assuming there are no attacks," the headmaster said. "I suggest continuing assisting Professor Flitwick. You should help too, Harry. It's never bad to brush up on your charms."
"All right, sir," Harry said.
"Good," Dumbledore replied. "Now I must be off. Lots of business to attend to."
"The Order is on alert, right?" Hermione asked.
"The Order is always on alert, Hermione, I promise you," Dumbledore said with a smile. "Now, perhaps you two should get some rest." With that, he left the two of them lying in Harry's bed.
"You know," Harry said looking around the hospital wing contemplatively. "I know it's only been a few months since I was last in here, but it feels like forever." Hermione said nothing, but rested her head on Harry's shoulder and closed her eyes. "Are we doing charms tomorrow?"
"Yeah," she replied. "Fourth years in the morning, seventh years in the afternoon."
"Good," Harry said. "I'll be able to brush up on my N.E.W.T. charms then."
"Mm hmm," Hermione mumbled. "Harry?"
"Yes, love?"
"I missed you."
"I can't say I missed you too, since it feels like I was only out for a few minutes," he admitted bashfully. "But I can say that I'll try never to leave you again."
"I know," she replied.
"I can promise you one thing, though."
"What's that?" Hermione asked, picking up her head slightly and looking at him.
"That I'll never stop loving you."
"I like the sound of that," Hermione said, putting her head back on his chest before they both drifted off into a light sleep.
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There it is. The last chapter before the big climax. I hope that the big battles that take place soon will have been well worth the wait.
And now, as promised, information on my next work. I have not 'officially' decided on a title yet, but the one I'm using for a working title right now is 'Fawkes' Gift'. It's a sequel piece to What It Costs To Save The World, by Ahn Na Blue. If you haven't read that, I suggest you do so, since it is simply a marvelous piece of writing. However, since I'm behind on work, I will not be posting any of that story until this one is OVER and DONE with. You may expect the first chapter of that in late April.
Until next time.......