Chapter 6: The Gift That Has Been Given To Me
Harry sat down roughly in the chair before Professor Dumbledore's desk. He couldn't believe what he just saw. Voldemort had sent them a pensieve, and the memory he gave them sickened them both, and replayed in Harry's mind over and over.
"Do you see what fun we're having here, your friends and I, Potter?" Voldemort had asked before the Crucio curse on Ron and Hermione who were tied to a wall, and now writhing and screaming in agony.
"Harry, you will remain here, and I'll go and rescue Ms. Granger and Mr. Weasley," Dumbledore said standing up, holding the directions to where the two teens were being held.
"Like bloody hell I am, Professor!" Harry hissed standing to his feet, feeling the familiar power pulsing through his body, but he fought it back.
"Harry, that's exactly what he wants," Dumbledore explained, "He wants you to come."
"He won't get 'me', Professor," Harry growled, obviously struggling to keep it from being released. "You have two choices now, I release him here, or I release him there. You better pick fast, I can't hold him much longer."
Dumbledore looked at the boy for a few moments before nodding, "Lets go."
---
"Harry's not stupid enough to fall into your little trap," Hermione hissed defiantly at the Dark Lord and his Deatheaters.
"Well he was last year, was he not?" Voldemort retorted making Ron whimper.
The youngest male Weasley shook it off, and glared at him weakly, "You're just afraid, you know, Harry's much better a wizard then you, and he hasn't even graduated Hogwarts. Come to think of it, did you even graduate?"
"Crucio," Voldemort simply replied pointing his wand at the boy. Ron cried out as his eyes clamped tightly shut.
"Stop it!" Hermione yelled, "You're hurting him!"
"That is the idea, my dear," Voldemort replied looking at her, then turning his wand on her, "Crucio." The Dark Lord watched in pleasure as Hermione cried out, and pain caused tears streaked her face, "Only a few more and your minds will never recover from the pain, isn't it a grand feeling? Pain wiping out your sanity?"
"My Lord," Wormtail said as Voldemort hit the two teens with the curse again, "Potter and Dumbledore are here, Sir."
"Let them come," Voldemort hiss gleefully, "Let him watch the last of his loved ones fall into insanity then death!"
Dumbledore and a strangely calm Harry walked through the crowd of Deatheaters, and came to Voldemort and the hostages, "Harry, no …" Hermione whimpered, "go, forget about us, save yourself, please …" she prayed but then cried out again as Voldemort hit her again with a Crucio.
"Don't hurt her, Voldemort," Harry barked, but was held back by Dumbledore's hand, "you're making me angry, Voldemort. You won't like me angry."
"Perhaps you should stop, Thomas," Dumbledore said stepping before Harry, "This could be your last chance before you are given justice."
"Justice Dumbledore?" Voldemort laughed, before hitting Ron with the Crucio, "Now it's your turn, old man," he barked pointing his wand at the headmaster, "Crucio!"
Dumbledore sidestepped the blast, and Hermione and Ron watched in terror as the blast hit Harry dead in the chest.
"HARRY!!" Hermione cried out fighting against her restraints like a wild animal, "HARRY NO, STOP IT, STOP IT THIS INSTANT!!!!"
"Crucio," Voldemort responded hitting the boy again, causing him to tremble in pain.
"Dumbledore, help him! Help him … please …" Hermione begged while Ron just gapped at the scene.
Dumbledore didn't respond but watched with pain in his eyes as Voldemort cursed Harry again and again, "let it go Harry, just let it go. Show him what he's playing with …" Dumbledore whispered as he watched.
"Can you feel that, Potter?" Voldemort asked, as he cursed him again.
"Oh … shit …" Harry grunted as all pain was replaced by angry pleasure.
"Merlin's beard …" Ron gasped as all eyes in the room turned the size of saucers. Harry was changing in a way that was unnatural even in the magical world. His clothing grew tighter and was tearing to show green skin and bulging muscles. He began to punch the concrete floor of the warehouse while crying out like a rabid animal.
Drowning deep in my sea of loathing
Broken your servant I kneel
"H-Harry …" Hermione whimpered as from the pile of torn clothing the Hulk arose with rage.
"CRUCIO!" Voldemort cried as he fired another curse at the green titan.
The blast hit dead on, but all it did was make the already nine-foot monster grow bigger and angrier.
It seems what's left of my human side
Is slowly changing in me
"What are you?" Voldemort cried before changing tactics, "Avada Kadavra!"
The Hulking monstrosity side stepped the blast and ended up hitting one of Voldemort's top Deatheaters. Voldemort tried again, but the Hulk picked up a running Deatheater and used him as a shield.
"Restrain it, I want it alive!" Voldemort yelled ordering his Deatheaters to attack the raging beast.
Looking at my own reflection
When suddenly it changes
Violently it changes (oh no)
Voldemort watched as a group of Deatheaters attacked with melee and magic attacks and in the confusion escaped, leaving Wormtail to lead the fight against the Hulk.
A large number of them attempted a dog pile on the beast while sending Crucio and restraint spells, then the whole group went flying through the air as the beast burst from beneath them.
I can see inside you, the sickness is rising
Don't try to deny what you feel
"Come on, children," Dumbledore said as he untied Ron and Hermione, "We must get out."
"Harry?" Hermione asked not taking her eyes off the Hulk who was disarming or breaking in half many of the Deatheaters who were unlucky enough to get with in his grasp, "What's happened to him??"
"I'll explain everything later," Dumbledore replied, "Right now, this is not the time nor the place!"
"But the Deatheaters …"
"Are you bloody joshing, Hermione?" Ron gapped, "Harry's bloody slaughtering the lot! Lets go before he thinks we're with them!"
"But … ok, lets go," Hermione reluctantly agreed, before being led out by Ron and Dumbledore.
It seems that all that was good has died
And is decaying in me
"Stay away from me!" Wormtail cried as he held out his wand in his silver hand toward the beast, then cried out as the Hulk's grasp crushed them both.
"HULK SMASH!" Wormtail heard him cry out as he gripped his face, then felt his back slammed into the brick wall, again, and again, and again, until it all went dark forevermore.
It seems you're having some trouble
In dealing with these changes
Living with these changes (oh no)
Hulk continued his rampage, wiping out every Deatheater he could get his hands on. Voldemort watched from the shadows, "Such power, I had no idea Potter held such," he said, though his voice was nervous, he never really considered the boy much of a threat until today.
The number of Deatheaters Voldemort had brought had dwindled to less then twenty. All the others either ran or were laying in pieces across the floor. The Hulk roared as it stomped toward three cornered, Deatheaters, "Please, don't hurt us," one begged nervously.
Open up your hate, and let it flow into me
Get up; come on get down with the sickness
Get up; come on get down with the sickness
Madness is the gift that has been given to me
Outside Professor Dumbledore, Ron, and Hermione stood in the rain waiting, then flinching at the sound of fists hitting flesh, the cracking of bones, and the painful cries of people being literally torn apart.
A moment later the wall gave way and the Hulk leaped out before them, his emerald eyes narrowing on Ron, and started stomping toward him while growling. "This will change him back, Tranquilus!" Dumbledore said pointing his wand at the Hulking giant, the beam of light hit him in the chest and it appeared to slow him down, but he continued on toward Ron.
"Harry …" Hermione whispered then took a step toward the behemoth.
"Hermione, no!" Ron gasped grabbing her shoulders, and holding her back, "That's not the Harry we know!"
"Yes it is!" Hermione barked, jerking away.
"Let her try, Mr. Weasley," Dumbledore said stepping beside him and nodding Hermione to step toward the rage-filled green titan.
"Harry, calm down," Hermione said softly and soothingly as she approached the Hulk, "It's alright now, we're safe, and you're safe, you can calm down now."
The Hulk, his rage lowering, allowed Dumbledore's spell to begin to take effect. "Harry, it's all right, I'm here, I won't let anyone hurt you, come back to me," Hermione said barely above a whisper as the Hulk went down to his hands and knees.
She walked up to him and began to stroke his face and shushed him, "I'm here," She whispered as he began to shrink down to his original size, and tumbling down into Hermione's waiting arms. She fell downward with him as she held him tight to her chest, "I'm here …" She repeated in his ear, as he stirred slightly.
"Her … mione … D-Did … it hurt … you?" Harry said sleepily, as Hermione stroked his hair and the back of his neck.
"No, you saved us," She whispered. "Now sleep, we'll talk later." Harry nodded into her chest before drifting off.
Dumbledore walked up and removed his cloak and placed it around Harry bare body, "This will help him be decent in appearance for our trip back to Hogwarts," he said, a twinkle sparked in his eye when Hermione blushed at the realization she was holding Harry nude, "Come along now, children, we must go before we draw attention to ourselves."
---
"I understand you had the intention of telling Ms. Granger something on your trip to Hogsmeade last night, Mr. Weasley," Dumbledore said to the only other person in the carriage still awake, "Did you share what was on your chest?"
Ron looked over at the old Headmaster, then at Harry and Hermione. They were both fast asleep Harry was lying across the bench-like seat with his head in Hermione's lap, and Hermione was leaning against the wall of the cabin with her fingers intertwined with Harry's unruly hair, and a soft content smile on both their lips. "No, I didn't get a chance to … But I think I should soon."
"One should not try to change the ways of another's heart, Mr. Weasley, perhaps you have learned that," Dumbledore said smiling at the two sleeping teenagers, "But you should also learn to follow what your heart truly says."
"Meaning?" Ron asked looking at the headmaster in confusion.
"I understand you and the Ravenclaw, Ms. Lovegood, have gotten quite close this past year." Dumbledore said with a knowing smile.
"Luna and I are just friends …" Ron said with a blush the color of his hair.
"Is that not what these two have professed?" Dumbledore questioned, waving slightly at the other two in the carriage, "Think on this, Mr. Weasley, I'm sure you'll make the correct choice."
---
Harry began to stir from his slumber, his eyes slowly fluttered open and he looked up at the ceiling, "Another unfamiliar ceiling …" He looked to his left and found himself in a cot in Dumbledore's office and his glasses sitting beside it on a coffee table. He reached for them and put them on before trying to sit up, only to find a strange weight holding him down.
He looked down to see a bush of brown hair resting on his chest and he suddenly went scarlet, "Oh bloody … I didn't … we didn't … in Professor Dumbledore's … oh bloody …"
"Calm down, Mr. Potter, neither of you did anything improper," Dumbledore said walking in with Ron who was holding a tray with four goblets of pumpkin juice, "You two were sleeping so soundly we didn't think it would be right to awaken you to separate you and take you to your separate rooms so, I had Mr. Weasley fetch a cot large enough for the both of you." He then smiled at the boy, "Now if you'd care to awaken Ms. Granger, we can get down to business."
Harry shook Hermione gently and she groaned, "fuck off, Lavender …I'm trying to sleep …" Hermione hissed under her breath and cuddled back up against Harry's chest.
"That wasn't very ladylike, Ms. Granger," Dumbledore smiled, apparently trying to keep from laughing, "Nor fitting of a class Prefect."
Hermione's eyes shot wide, and she set up so quickly she fell out in the floor, "Oh, Professor, I'm so sorry, that was terribly inappropriate, I am so sorry …"
"Now are you going to tell us what's going on, Professor," Ron questioned, "Why does Harry turn into that … that thing?"
Harry looked down cast, and on seeing that Hermione, sat back down beside him, and hugged his arm, "Oh, I'm sorry, Harry, it's just …"
"I understand, Ron," Harry said weakly, forcing a smile, "I guess it is kind of scary …"
"Bloody wicked if you ask me," Ron said beaming at him.
"Even so, you know of Harry gift or curse, which ever way you look at it," Dumbledore began taking a sip of his juice, "It is time you knew all of it." Dumbledore then went on to explain what happened to Harry, from the curse Voldemort placed on him, to the accident in potions, "… so whenever Harry becomes overcome with anger, it triggers the power to be released and thus he becomes what has become known as 'The Hulk'."
"Wicked …" Was all Ron could say, while Hermione just looked down so her bangs hid her eyes but not her trembling lip.
"Why?" She asked, bringing silence to the room.
"Why what, Hermione?" Harry asked, gasping when she looked up to show her cinnamon eyes filled with tears, she then looked at Professor Dumbledore, "Why, Professor, why Harry?" She asked chocking on a sob, "Has he not been through enough, his parents, Voldemort always hounding him, wanting his death, Sirius, the weight of the whole bloody world on his shoulders, why him? Is there a spell or a curse to cancel it, maybe even pass it on to another, I'd gladly take this burden from him!"
They all looked at Hermione like she'd grown a second head, but it was Harry responded first, "I'd never let you even if there was a way."
"Harry …" Hermione started, but Dumbledore cut her off.
"You've all been through a terrible ordeal," He spoke softly, "Mr. Potter, go to your dorm room and get some rest, Mr. Weasley, Ms. Granger go to Madam Pomfrey and both of you make sure You Know Who didn't cause any permanent injuries."
They all nodded dumbly before walking out, at the part of the hall that they would be going in different directions, Hermione grabbed Harry's arm, "Harry, get some rest, and try to hold your temper, ok? I'll check in on you when we're finished."
Harry gave a weak smile before walking down the hall, leaving Ron and Hermione to go to the hospital wing.
"Hermione …" Ron started nervously, gulping when Hermione's eyes turned to him, "Do you remember what we started to talk about before the Deatheaters nabbed us?"
"Oh Ron, don't you think our relationship can wait until we get this with Harry taken care of?" Hermione asked exasperatedly
"No, Hermione," Ron gulped, "I'm afraid it cannot."
---
"NO!!" Harry gasped sitting up in his bed, breathing heavily. He looked at his clock, "quarter past three? Can I ever get a good's night rest anymore?" he then looked over and was surprised to see Ron was also awake, "Ron?"
"Yea?" Ron grunted, his voice was rough as if he'd been crying, "What's wrong? Is it about my … problem?"
"No it's not Harry," Ron snapped, before rolling over, "Just leave me alone right now, ok?"
Harry started to say something else, but thought better of it. He decided to go sit in the commons room, to try to relax before trying to return to his bed. He exited his dorm room, and froze at the sound of sniffling in the thought abandoned Commons room. "Who's there?" Harry asked, "Hermione?" he questioned seeing her sitting on the couch closest to the slowly dieing fire, wearing only her nightshirt.
"Harry?" She asked turning toward him, and the sight caught his breath in his throat.
"What's wrong? Can I do anything?" Harry rambled worriedly, quickly moving to sit beside her.
"Ron …" She sobbed, looking away again, "Ron … b-broke up with me …"
Harry didn't know what to say, all he could do was pull her into his arms and let her sob on his shoulder, "Am I really that terrible of a person? I know I'm not very attractive and sometimes bossy but … can I never have anyone?"
Harry squeezed her tighter, and began to rock her slightly, "So what, Ron didn't know what he lost, Hermione, you're not terrible at all, you're a terrific person, the right guy for you is out there, just waiting for you to come into your life."
"And … what if he's already in my life?" She asked looking at Harry in a way he never seen before.
"I … don't know …" Harry stammered, "just wait, I reckon, till your both ready."
"I can do that …" She said getting comfortable, "Just don't want to wait too long …" She yawned before drifting off to sleep.
"I don't want to either," Harry whispered, before picking her up in his arms, and carrying her toward her dorm room.
---
The next morning, Harry and Hermione sat at the breakfast table, much to Harry's surprise Hermione was in a much more chipper of a mood then he expected, and Ron still refused to come out of his room. "So … Hermione …" Harry started but Ginny cut him off running toward them, holding the morning copy of the Daily Prophet.
"Harry!" Ginny gasp, "Trouble, BIG Trouble!"
"What's wrong, Ginny?" Hermione asked, and Ginny responded by pushing the paper in front of her, "An article about the Hulk?" Hermione asked, and Harry's heart began to speed up. "Just talking about Har-Hulk's appearances … oh Merlin …"
"What's wrong?" Harry gulped.
"The Ministry of Magic and the Muggle Government of Great Britain have made the first joint project since before the Great Witch Trials. This project is for the hunting down and termination of the strange creature known only as The Hulk. Minister Fudge has announced that all magical school in Great Britain will be released by the end of the coming week for an early Christmas holiday for a thorough search for the creature and termination without worry of harming innocent people … Fudge also … r-reassures that … this … creature … will be dead … and the threat will … be … over …oh Harry … if he finds out …"
"I'll be ok, Hermione," Harry said squeezing her hand, "as long as I can keep him inside, it will be alright."
"But Harry …"
"I'll be ok, I promise," Harry nodded boldly, "I promise."
To Be Continued …
Song: Down With The Sickness by Disturbed
C. Cowboy: sorry for the delay, writers block had a hold on me ^^, anyway that's over now so back to the show, things are about to heat up, so hold on because it's gonna be a bumpy ride. I'd like to think Fusion Blaster for betaing for me. that's it for now, don't forget to leave a review!
Next Chapter: Hermione's Christmas Wish