Disclaimer… See Chapter 1 & 10 for the standard Disclaimer… I OWN NOTHING… *sniff* My Author's Notes are after the chapter…
HOGWARTS AND BEYOND - TAKE 2
By Muirnin Cocan and the Kindred Fellowship United for Harry Potter
PART 2 - Hogwarts, the Final Years
Chapter 14 - The Power of Samhain
"MATE!" Ron yelled as he ran towards his best friend. He could see a panicked reaction on his face as he stared horror struck at the ring on his finger.
"Hermione... she's in trouble... can't find her" Harry gasped as the rest of his friends gathered around him. He barely noticed the raven-haired girl that stood next to Seamus until she spoke.
"Ye must be Harry. Aye were talkin' to Mione when a giant Raven came and dropped this letter at her feet." the girl said in a very distinct Irish brogue. She handed the letter in a black envelope to Harry. He stared at it. "She read the letter an' then followed the raven... but dropped it before she took off running."
Harry looked down at the letter in his hands. It was black with a glowing fluorescent green ink on it.
"Hermione Granger,
Follow the Raven if you wish to keep your Parents alive
Otherwise, they die the same way that your beloved Harry Potter's parents met their deaths.
This is your only warning
Potter is powerless and will not be able to help you keep them alive
Only YOU."
"It's sealed with the Dark Mark..." Harry murmured. Taking a gulp, he looked at the young woman who had handed it to him. "Did you read this?"
She shook her head no.
"Which way did she run?" He said as he grasped her by the shoulders.
"Towards the forest." She said pointing in a direction away from the revelers.
"Thanks." Harry said as he turned towards the direction she had pointed. Both Ron and Draco grabbed hold of him. "Let me go, Hermione's in trouble and I have to get to her."
"Mate, you can't do this by yourself." Ron said as he tried to hold Harry in one place.
"If this has anything to do with Moldyshorts we have to get the Order." Draco said, but before he could say anything more the group heard a blood curdling scream from where the party was going on. The entire group rushed towards the disturbance and saw to their disbelief both Crabbe and Goyle laying on the ground with the affects of the curse from the list.
"Jaysus, Mary & Joseph" Seamus exclaimed as he looked down at the two Slytherin boys. Both had been cursed with a number of different hexes that had begun to formulate upon their bodies. They were both apparently under a variation of the Petrifcus Totalus spell, but were able to speak.
Harry rushed up to them. "Where's Hermione!" He asked Goyle.
His eyes held a glazed over look to them, but his voice in a monotone induced by a truth hex designed by Hermione began to say, "Wormtail brought us a message. The Dark Lord has ordered us to send Hermione Granger a letter. The letter was a hoax. The Dark Lord also sent us a raven and we delivered his message. He ordered us to send the mudblood into the forbidden forest. The raven was to lead her to a tree in there. Wormtail would be waiting for her to carry out the rest of the Dark Lord's orders. She will be by a giant oak with the gnarled roots deep within the Forbidden Forests depts. Her muggle parents are already dead. The mudblood will be soon. Wormtail is to insure that for the Dark Lord with Harry Potter watching her death. The Dark Lord is using her to get to Harry Potter. The Dark Lord plans on killing Harry Potter when he goes to rescue his mudblood girlfriend."
With the entire order by the Dark Lord uttered, Goyle's mouth slammed shut and what appeared to be stitches crisscrossed upon his lips keeping him from saying anything more. Harry looked up and saw Dumbledore and the other instructors who were members of the Order standing there. The fire from Harry's green eyes caused each of them to take a step back.
They knew that look. Harry was going after Voldemort. He was going to rescue Hermione.
"You can't do this alone Harry." Ron said as he and the others of their group stood by him, protecting him from running out into the dark woods.
"I'm going after her. He is not taking her from me..." He said when suddenly the raven dropped another black envelope at Harry's feet. He picked it up and read it.
"Harry Potter,
It has been 15 years to the day since I took your parents lives from you. It also has been 15 years since you was able to live against my death curse to you.
I have marked this occasion with the deaths of your true loves Parents
So now, we shall mark this occasion again for just you and I
With life in the balance, of she who in future would have been your wife.
Oh yes, you see I know she is your chosen... your soul mate for life... but yours is a short life that will be lived… I know the rest of the prophecy now and for one of us to live the other must die at the others hand… So you see, it will be just you and I.
If you value her life over your own you will tell the others to leave you be and you will come to battle me. Let's see shall we, how brave you are young Gryffindor... and whether or not you can survive against me one more time… not even my death eaters will get in our way this time. Wormtail is the only one carrying out part of my orders besides those who have betrayed your little ineffective Defensive Arts class… Oh yes, I know all about the curse your precious mudblood warned them about if they would join up… Nevertheless, they were under orders to get close to you, as were others however undoubtedly you already knew that, otherwise you would not have put such feeble and drastic precautions
Oh and Harry, one last thing...
No tricks from that muggle loving Dumbledore or your true love dies instantly and her skeleton will rot in the gnarls of the trees"
The letter was marked with the same Dark Mark as a signature.
"Harry he's trying to trick you!" Ron exclaimed.
"Does this look like a trick?" Harry said as he showed the ring with it's black stone. "She is in mortal peril, no matter what, I have to go and save her."
Handing the letter to Dumbledore, Harry turned and began to walk towards the dark forest. Harry's features were like stone, holding what was a look of resolve upon his face that foreshadowed the weight of the prophecy he knew to be true.
Dumbledore stared after the retreating figure, feeling something that was absent from Harry, which he had never felt from the young man before. He could see the determination and realized that Harry had not felt any emotion from Voldemort through the scar that marked him as his equal. That alone-told Dumbledore that because of the love Harry felt for Hermione, Voldemort could not be within Harry's mind.
"But Albus, you can't let Harry walk in there alone!" Petunia cried as she looked at the letter in Dumbledore's hand. Remus had wrapped a comforting arm around the terrified woman.
"Peta, I must... Harry knows what is at stake and he is not alone. This night above all others, he has the spirits of those who have died before to help him in his quest. I just hope Harry remembers that the power is with in him to vanquish Voldemort... once and for all."
**********
The weather had grown colder within the darkened woods. Harry had been walking around for about three hours without even the Centaurs confronting him. He knew with every fiber of his being; this was not a coincidence. Something was shielding him from the other beasts that lived in the Forbidden Forest.
Periodically, he would hear the distant caw of the raven and would follow in that direction. His search seemed futile, yet he kept going on. He felt the warmth of the ring on his hand and knew that no matter what Hermione was still living. That small glimmer of hope was all he needed to keep his search active.
Time seemed to pass slowly as Harry continued on his way and finally out of frustration he stood stalk still, stretching his arms out wide he yelled.
"DAMN YOU TO HELL TOM RIDDLE! Get your half-breed, pureblood loving ass out here and fight me, you cock-sucking worthless soul! I have played your game, I have done as you asked I even FOLLOWED your fucking raven and you have yet had the gonads to face me. Are you that chicken-shit that I will win over you?" Harry knew his taunts were a ploy to get Voldemort to reveal himself. He had yet to feel anything from his scar, which made him wonder what game, Voldemort was playing.
A slight scurrying in the last vestiges of snow made Harry look and he saw a flash of silver attached to the paw of a rat running for the mass of giant oak trees.
"WORMTAIL! You fucking backstabbing bastard!" Harry yelled as he dashed off after the animagus rat. The cawing of the raven grew louder and he saw that both the raven and the rat were in the same area. Harry had already pulled his wand, preparing to stun the rat, when his foot tripped over a gnarled root and he fell forward then began to fall downward.
"OH SHIT!!!!!!" He screamed, his voice echoing, as he spiraled out of control into an open pit. The opening of the pit that he had fallen into was closing up and Harry quickly turned his wand on himself and muttered a charm that would slow his decent and keep him from completely breaking every bone in his body when he hit the ground.
Finally, he landed… his body bruised, but not broken. Looking up from his seated position he saw that the way he had come in was useless to get out. He gingerly stood up prepared for what ever would come his way. His eye-glasses lay broken on the ground, he bent over and picked them up. "Occulus Repairo" he uttered, to no avail.
"Why is it that Hermione can fix these but I can't?" He said aloud to himself. He pocketed the broken bits not able to wear them at all. "I really should think about getting contacts." He chuckled to himself. "Ok, I'm talking to myself… If I start to answer myself then I must be insane."
The smell of burning wood not far off guided him, and he let his other senses take command. Without his glasses on, he found the world was a blurry image and the rocks and boulders that surrounded the cavern cast great strange shadows in his myopic world.
He felt rather then heard the sound of wind rushing around him. A sense of calmness overtook him and he relaxed his entire body and mind. Then a voice spoke to him.
"Harry, do not be afraid. Your parents are here with me as are Hermione's parents."
"Sirius?" he choked out as tears began to fall against his cheeks. He collapsed to his knees.
"Yes Harry, tonight the veil between life and death is at it's thinnest. We are here to give you and Hermione strength, hope and encouragement to go on."
"Son," the voice belonging to James said, "There is a way out of here… it will take a great deal of courage and cleverness on both of your parts to succeed. You still have a great duty within the Wizarding world to perform and after that, you will be able to live."
"Dad, I'm afraid I won't know what to do. How will I know?" Harry asked the darkened shadows around him.
"Trust your heart son, your heart will never lead you wrong." James said.
"But it was my heart that made me go to the Department of Mysteries and made Sirius die!" Harry cried.
"Harry, do not blame yourself. I knew it was my time to go… I had known for a long time. It was the reason why I would not give you a straight answer about coming to live with me." Sirius' voice sounded so gentle in its gruff tone. "You know that I would have done anything within my power to protect you… You are the son I never had, I am so proud of you and I love you very much. NEVER forget that."
Suddenly Harry felt his mothers presence with him and heard her soft voice, "My precious son, you have made your father and I so proud with all of your accomplishments. Albus was right when he had told you that you have shouldered more then anyone who has ever passed through the doors of Hogwarts. When you place your hand upon my journal again, it will increase the knowledge of what we are saying… it will also be a comfort to Hermione as well. Her parents are here with us. I love you son, with all my heart and have been so blessed to have you live on."
"Harry, Emma and I want you to know that we know, you will take care of our little girl." The voice of Daniel Granger said softly. "We also know want you to know that you have our blessings…"
Harry could feel the singular presence that had been Daniel Granger separate himself from the others along with his wife.
Tears fell freely upon Harry's cheeks as he listened to those who had passed on… his window beyond the veil. "I don't want you all to leave us…" He cried, "I don't even know where Hermione is at… I haven't been able to make a mental link with her."
"Don't worry Harry, Hermione is alright. You will find each other here, you both have a power within you that will help you through your grief together… use it, draw strength from it and know we are always here for you…" Lily's voice said comfortingly.
"We have been protecting you in the forest tonight, keeping the creatures away from you while you searched for Hermione." James said.
"Why can't I see you?" Harry asked his eyes still searching around the cavern.
"Because we are not ghosts, just voices from beyond the veil that separates the mundane from the here after. You heard the voices when you were on the dais. That is where our voices are strongest… but do not go there to talk with us… " Sirius said firmly.
"Harry, listen to me carefully." Lily began "The love in you, that encompasses everything about you is the greatest power you have. There is nothing more great then love that will help you to vanquish the Dark Lord. It is a power that he has no connection to and will never have. Treasure the love you possess and protect it at all costs… Now, the time of the Samhain is at hand. Believe in love and know that we love you and Hermione very much and will protect you when ever we can."
"Mum? Dad? Sirius? Please don't go!" Harry cried out but felt the swiftness of the wind again and could feel the magical energy that had surrounded him drift silently away. He wept bitter tears as he continued to kneel on the hard earth.
Had it all been a dream, his and Hermione's parents there talking to him… and Sirius… he had been there too. He stood up, his resolve to find Hermione encompassing his soul. Originally he had begun following the scent of the burning wood, he knew he had to go that way again.
Taking hold of his wand once more, he blindly made his way in the direction of the fragrance of burning oak. He had chosen to not use his wand to guide him with light but use his other senses to carry his feet to their destination.
He entered into a large cavern and could see the blazing of a roaring fire in a corner it's warmth giving him comfort. On the ground, he saw Hermione's brown velvet cloak very similar in style to his own, but Hermione was not around. He picked up the cloak and held it in his hands.
"Oh Mione" he whispered, "Where are you?"
He heard a growling that did not sound pleasant at all. He blindly headed towards the sound. It did not take long before he found the source of the sound...
A huge black bear and it did not look very happy trapped in the cavern where it was... It massive hulk began to move towards Harry at an incredibly fast rate of speed... too fast for Harry to respond. Harry's emerald green eyes widened with alarm as he saw the big black bear rushed towards him. The furry beast lunged at Harry and pinned him by the shoulders onto his back, hitting the ground with a tremendous thud.
Please Review… Thanks; I will try to personally respond to reviewers if e-mail is left… I will answer questions and comments that you make… But to all (including Enter Name) of you who have reviewed I truly thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Author's Note: (December 1, 2003) Good grief… it is hard to believe that we are already in to December… and that the end of the year is quickly coming upon us. In accordance with a promise to one of my reviewers, I am striving to live up to my title by having more Cliffies within my story… that said, you may find that my chapters may be a bit shorter then before and a bit more frequent (time permitting of course)
Ok, this chapter is a bit shorter then some of my others… but I am trying to live up to my title and keep the Cliffies there…
Hugs and Kisses…
As Always,
Muirnin, Queen Mother-Royal Family of Cliffies
(the very frustrated writer!)
With loving support (and sometime co-writers and Betas) by…
Becky, First Princess-Royal Family of Cliffies
*¤*.¸¸.·´¨`"*"´¨`·. ¸¸.*¤*.¸¸.·´¨`"*"´¨`·. ¸¸.*¤*
Lisa, the Lovely Alluring Lady-Royal Family of Cliffies
*¤*.¸¸.·´¨`"*"´¨`·. ¸¸.*¤*.¸¸.·´¨`"*"´¨`·. ¸¸.*¤*
Founders - KFUFHP - Kindred Fellowship United for Harry Potter
"An imaginative mind is a terrible thing to waste..."
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