Darker Side of Me

Darker Side of Me –Chapter 23

Harry’s words had caused pandemonium in the little sitting room. Every which person was trying to get their two cents in on what it is they thought Harry should do. He stood there for a few moments, trying to pick up pieces of what each of them was saying. Every word he caught, however, referred to his intentions as ‘foolish’ or ‘irrational’. They were saying things suggesting that the whole matter was ‘pointless’ and that Draco was ‘expendable’. Snape’s comments were the loudest and protested the most. He seemed determined that Harry not go save Draco. Harry couldn’t stand it anymore.

“Look,” he finally called out to them. “I don’t give a damn about what you lot think of the whole matter. I’m going tonight and that’s that. Either you help me do it, or I’ll go it alone and then you’ll have to save the world from Voldemort without me. Draco is my number one priority right now, so you bloody well accept it.”

The room fell silent very quickly. Harry glared at them all and pushed past them. He ran from the room to get dressed properly and collect what he might need for what he was about to do. It hadn’t yet sunken in that this could be his last night alive. He hadn’t considered the possibility that he was jumping headfirst into a tank of piranhas with no backup plan.

He thought only of Draco and of what they could be doing to him. He thought of the past few months he’d spent with Malfoy and how he somehow felt as though he’d missed out during all those years of rivalry between them. He thought of that fantastically warm feeling that washed over him every time Draco pressed up against him. Then he thought of something else.

He thought of when Draco had cursed him in his sleep. He remembered the horror he had felt when he was jolted out of sleep by the excruciating pain of the Unforgivable curse. He remembered the heart wrenching expression on Malfoy’s face when he’d realized what he had done. He remembered Malfoy forcing him to curse him. He remembered the agony he had caused in Draco’s eyes and wondered if Malfoy hadn’t intended that to serve a different purpose than what he had claimed.

“Harry,” a calm voice addressed him. Harry turned to see Dumbledore standing just inside the doorway.

“Professor,” he said, getting to his feet.

“Harry, are you absolutely sure you want to go through with this now?” Dumbledore inquired without further ado.

“Yes, I am,” Potter replied instantly. His face was set. “Surely you understand that?”

“I do, Harry,” the old wizard agreed. “I simply needed to make sure there is no doubt in your mind. You need to be fully prepared to do what you are about to.”

“Professor,” Harry started. He felt his face flush slightly at the thought that had just occurred to him. “How am I to find Voldemort? I don’t know where he is…”

“But you do, Harry,” Dumbledore said. “You have always known. Or rather, you have always had the power to know.”

“Professor, I really don’t understand,” Harry admitted, his tone slightly rushed.

“You have had sensations in your scar due to Voldemort,” Dumbledore explained. “You speak Parseltongue because Voldemort can. Why? Because there was a strong bond between you too, one that he put there himself. When he used your blood to bring himself back, Harry, Voldemort –albeit unwillingly –strengthened that bond. While you can no longer feel him the same way you did before, you were attributed other powers instead.”

“Alright,” Harry mumbled, still quite confused. “But how does that help me find him?”

“Because the same blood runs through his veins as yours,” the Headmaster elaborated. “You have a unique ability to call to him. While that on its own cannot bring you to him, nor can it give you a direct location, I believe Mr. Moody has something that will do that for you.”

“Always perfect timing, Albus,” Moody snickered, limping through the doorway. He was carrying a number of things that Harry could not identify.

“What are all those things?” Harry inquired, suddenly feeling rather uneasy. Moody gave him a crooked smirk.

“These are just a few items that I collected for you to take with you,” the Auror explained. “Can come in quite handy when dealing with a number of dark wizards, though they are all only one-time uses, so use them wisely.”

Moody handed all the odd little items to Harry, who promptly put them in his pockets. He was worried about being weighed down but they were surprisingly light. Moody still had something in his hand. It was a thick-banded gold and silver ring. There were symbols inscribed around the band that reminded Harry of the runes that he had seen around the rim of Dumbledore’s pensieve.

“This, mind you, is what Dumbledore was referring to,” Moody explained. “This little item is what’s going to be able to get you to Voldemort and, provided you survive, bring you back.”

“What about Draco?” Harry asked, taking the ring from Moody.

“Don’t worry, Potter,” Mad-Eye reassured. “That thing’ll transport anything, or anyone, you might be holding along with you. All you have to do is place it around your index and press your thumb to the side and it’ll take you where you want. The effect is something like a portkey.”

“But, I still don’t know how to call to Voldemort,” Harry’s voice was strained and anxious. Dumbledore placed a hand on Harry’s shoulder to calm him.

“All you need to do is concentrate on Voldemort and the ring will pick up the rest,” he said, nodding his head softly.

“Now this is important too, Potter,” Moody chimed in again. He lifted a thin metal ornament that looked very much like a star with each of the points sharpened to a blade. “As soon as you get wherever you are going, throw this, as hard as you can, straight into the ground. It’ll sink in and send a kind of signal to us here so we can come join you.”

“You are going to come?” Harry asked, bewildered. Dumbledore smiled.

“You didn’t honestly think we’d send you into a snake pit on your own,” he whispered. It was not a question.

Both of the older wizards nodded to Harry and turned to leave him alone to prepare himself. Harry watched for a moment as they left then felt something stab at his stomach and walked over to Dumbledore.

“Professor!” he called. He hesitated in his words.

“What is it, Harry?” The old man seemed far too calm for what was about to happen, though that was always Dumbledore’s way.

“Professor,” he repeated, trying to buy some time. “I’m… I’m going to have to use the Unforgivable curses…aren’t I?”

“I suppose that you will have to use at least one of them,” Dumbledore admitted to him after a moment’s thought.

“But I-…” Harry whispered, thinking of what Draco had tried to teach him earlier. “I don’t know if I can. I’ve never killed someone before… what if I’m not strong enough?”

“Harry,” Dumbledore replied, his eyes kind and assuring. “You mustn’t doubt yourself. You are a great wizard and have talents beyond that of many adult wizards who spend their lives capturing dark wizards. You must have confidence and remember exactly for who and why it is you are doing this.”

Harry thought on that for a moment. Did he really know who he was doing this for? Was he doing it for the worlds he was to save by accomplishing his task? Was he doing it to avenge his parents, Cedric….Sirius? Was he doing it to avenge himself and the terrible events of his life? Was he doing it to fulfill his destiny as the ‘Chosen One’?

Harry thought on these many options very quickly and quietly as Dumbledore watched him over his half-moon spectacles. Harry stared into the old wizards eyes and sighed to himself. None of those reasons served to fully explain why he was going to do this. He knew, that had that year passed any differently, he would not be on the verge of facing his mortal enemy. If things had been different he would have waited and put off going to face Voldemort. He would not have been ready to do this yet. But he knew what the reason was and as much as he wished the other reasons were more important, they couldn’t be.

He was doing this for Draco, now. Sure his parents and Sirius played in important role in the whole matter, but had Draco not been part of his life he would have waited. He would still be at Hogwarts. He would not be standing in the master bedroom of Number Twelve about to go take on an army of Death-Eaters.

“I’m ready, Professor.” Harry nodded to Dumbledore.

He stepped away from his Headmaster, into the clearest area of the room, and concentrated every fiber of his being on Voldemort and Voldemort alone. He felt a rush of cold wash through him and a familiar stinging sensation behind his scar. Assuming that that was sign enough, Harry pressed his thumb to the now glowing ring.

With a dizzying motion and the sudden burst of wind past his ears, Harry began to travel through space to his destination. He just hoped that he wasn’t too late.

*_*_*

Draco felt himself dropped onto the moist grassy ground as he started to pass back into consciousness. His face was against the grass and he was lying on his stomach in a very uncomfortable manner. There was darkness overhead again. He didn’t know how long he had been unconscious. It could have been hours; it could have been days.

He opened his eyes a slit to try and make out what was in front of him only to realize that he was face-to-face with a large black (and rather ugly) shoe. He glanced upwards from the shoe and spied the two Death-Eaters that were standing at either ends of him like guards. He was outside the circle, he assumed.

Suddenly there was a soft popping sounds and a gentle groan from somewhere behind him. Everything was quiet if not for this sudden intrusion. He heard muffled footsteps around on the grass and then suddenly there was a strange thud on the ground. The grass and dirt pulsated a brilliant yellow beneath him and Draco bit his lip.

Potter had clearly arrived in the clearing, though by what miracle of magic, he didn’t know. He thought quickly and seriously about what it was he was going to have to do. Malfoy frowned and shut his eyes for a moment, wrestling back tears. He knew what needed to be done and it would be the most painful thing he’d ever done, but there was no other way.

He simply hoped that it would work.


A/N: So I hate to say it, but it might be another few days before I can post again... hopefully tuesday or wednesday. I hope you liked this and I don't think I left it at such a terrible place, not as bad as the other times anyway ^^;