Dumbledore\'s Folly

Chapter 3: Return of the Prisoner

When Bellatrix left Number 12, the room exploded with noise.

“What if she was telling the truth—”

“Good riddance—”

“Why did you do that, Dumbledore –“

“SILENCE!” Dumbledore shouted, louder than the rest.

The Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was now receiving many looks. From Ron and Hermione, the looks were identical to those of a faithful Labrador. From Lupin, if looks could kill, the Order would be writing obituaries. From the twins, equally angry glares were being shot at Dumbledore, a true rarity. Bill and Charlie both had clenched fists and looked ready to pounce on Dumbledore at a moment’s notice. Arthur and Molly both looked furious with the Headmaster. Even McGonagall looked mutinous! Tonks and Moody both looked ready to fling hexes at the Headmaster.

None of these, however, compared to the look of raw fury on the face of Ginny Weasley. She shot across the room at the speed of a bolt of lighting and tackled the Headmaster. She hurled punches, kicks, slaps, and put her knees to various good uses.

“YOU AS GOOD AS KILLED HIM! VOLDEMORT—“ the room collectively shuddered while still managing to look amazed at what Ginny was doing to the Headmaster “—WILL KILL HIM AND YOU KNOW IT! DARK MY ARSE! HE WON’T GO DARK UNLESS YOU FORCE HIM TO! AND WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’VE DONE? YOU’VE MADE SURE THAT THERE WILL BE NO AID FROM THE LIGHT! YOU OLD FUCKING FOOL! HE’LL DIE THERE AND YOU WILL HAVE TO LIVE THE REST OF YOUR LIFE KNOWING THAT YOU FUCKED THE WORLD IN THE ARSE! YOU HEARD THE PROPHECY! YOU HEARD WHAT HE SAID! WITHOUT HIM, WE ALL LOSE! GODDAMN YOU OLD MAN! WE ALL WILL DIE!” Ginny shrieked between blows.

Ron and Hermione physically pulled her off the Headmaster while the rest of the room looked at either Ginny or Dumbledore in shock.

“What did you mean? About the prophecy, have you heard it?” Remus asked, being the first to recover from the shock of seeing little Ginny Weasley beat the living daylights out of one of the most powerful wizards of all time.

“When Bellatrix Lestrange came here she talked to me, she told me she had to speak with Dumbledore. That Harry was being tortured and that Dumbledore had to stop it. I floo’d Dumbledore and he came over. Bellatrix explained how she got here – a magically enhanced Portkey, made Wandlessly by Harry – and what was happening to Harry.” Ginny explained to the audience.

“When Dumbledore said that Harry had gone dark and that he didn’t believe that Harry had really sent her, and that he believed Voldemort had, she said that Harry had created a mind-link between her and Harry using Legilimency. Her eyes went blank for a moment and then Harry started to speak through her. He said that Voldemort was using a new torture Curse on him. From the way he said it, it sounded much worse than the Cruciatus…” she went silent for a moment before continuing, “then he recited the prophecy. It said that Harry was the only one who could kill Voldemort and that Voldemort was the only one who could kill Harry. It said that Voldemort had marked Harry ‘as his equal’ with that scar that he has. It said that Harry would have ‘power the Dark Lord knows not’. Then he screamed that if Voldemort kills him, we all die.

“Dumbledore accused him of being a Death Eater again, and of telling Voldemort the prophecy. That’s when Harry started yelling more, then you all came down.” Ginny finished.

The whole room had been silent while Ginny spoke. When she finished, all eyes turned to Dumbledore. Roughly half the room looked ready to cast the Killing Curse on him right now, whilst the other half looked like they would be satisfied with a Cruciatus.

“You denied him the help of the Order of the Phoenix, accused him of being a Death Eater, and called him a Dark Wizard?” Remus asked with deliberate slowness, “If he wasn’t dark before, you have just effectively made him one. Assuming, of course, he lives long enough to become one. You have just signed his Death Warrant and handed him to Lord Voldemort. What proof was there that Harry had joined Voldemort, Albus?”

“Severus—“

“SNIVELLUS?” Lupin said in complete and utter outrage, “YOU TRUSTED SNIVELLUS WITH THAT? ARE YOU SENILE? EVEN YOU AREN’T THICK ENOUGH TO THINK THAT SNAPE DOES FEELS ANYTHING FOR HARRY BUT HATE, DON’T YOU REALISE THAT HE HATES HARRY? OF COURSE HE WOULD SAY HE HAD GONE DARK! HE WANTS HIM DEAD! YOU JUST DECIMATED THE LIGHT BLINDLY ON THE WORD OF A MAN WHO HATES HIM!” Remus shrieked in fury at Dumbledore.

“He had gone dark! Mr. Weasley and Ms. Granger can both attest to that! They had told us all of Harry’s activities! It was very obvious Harry had become dark!” Dumbledore protested.

The room still looked mutinous for the most part, but people were beginning to sway to Dumbledore’s side. McGonagall was the first to side with the Headmaster.

“It is true; Mr. Weasley and Ms. Granger have been informing us of Harry’s dealings for nearly a year. It is obvious Harry had succumbed to the darkness, I’m afraid.” McGonagall said. She was nothing if not loyal.

“The things he did, it was obvious he was turning dark. It had become apparent during the Triwizard Tournament even. We don’t know for sure what happened in the Graveyard. All we know is that Harry emerged from the maze clutching the body of Cedric Diggory. It could have been him that murdered him, for all we know. He could have let his jealousy over Cho Chang drive him to murder, for all we know.” Ron said indignantly.

“It’s true, we don’t really know.” agreed Hermione, “And there were the ‘dementors’ last year. Harry could have just been showing off to scare Dudley, we don’t know. I researched it, and I know for a fact that squibs cannot see dementors. Mrs. Figg was lying for him! Harry could have used the Imperius Curse on her to make her do it!”

“Then there was Privet Drive. How do we know that Harry didn’t plant that memory of Narcissa Malfoy and the three other Death Eaters? How do we know that he didn’t kill the Dursleys – we all know he wanted to! – and then set fire to the house before leaving? He could have done it all himself then cast the Dark Mark above the house!” Ron said angrily.

“And then there were those books we found in the wreckage! All those books on the Dark Arts and Wandless Magic, and all those Curses, Jinxes, Hexes, Charms, and Transfiguration and Potions books! Harry has never studied that much in his life! I know he hasn’t!” Hermione added.

“And then there’s the Portkey he made! How could he have made a Portkey that could get around all the Wards and the Fidelius Charm unless he used Dark Magic? Then there’s all this Wandless Magic stuff, not even Dumbledore can make a Portkey wandlessly, he must have used some sort of Magical Power enhancement dark spell or something, there’s no other way! Harry simply isn’t that powerful!” Hermione said.

“Hell, he could have learned this stuff from Sirius! How do we know he wasn’t really dark –“ this is as far as Ron got before Remus punched him straight in the nose.

“Don’t – ever – speak – about – Sirius – like – that—“ Remus raged between clenched teeth.

Hermione turned her wand on Ron, pointed it at his nose and said, “Episkey”.

Ron’s nose was instantly fixed. “Tergeo.” Hermione said with her wand pointed at Ron’s bloodied face. The blood was suddenly gone.

Since Ron and Hermione were both members of the Order of the Phoenix, they both received special wavers to perform magic during the holidays during the summer before their fifth year, all of this unbeknownst to Harry, of course.

After Ron and Hermione’s fervent anti-Harry tirade, nearly all of the Order was swayed back to Dumbledore. The evidence was simply overwhelmingly in the favour of Harry being dark. Only four people in the room stood firm in their resolve of Harry’s innocence. Remus, Ginny, Tonks, and surprisingly, Alastor “Mad-Eye” Moody were the only ones still against Dumbledore.

“The first thing we must do is find Bellatrix. It is highly likely that Harry will go to her when he leaves Voldemort’s presence. We find Bellatrix, we will find Harry.” Dumbledore said, now feeling confident that the Order was on his side.

“The activation word was ‘Sanctuary’ so it is likely a place that would be safe as well as very difficult to get into. Harry has always thought of Hogwarts as his home, and likely a sanctuary. Therefore it stands to reason that Harry sent her there; perhaps the Room of Requirement? I understand it can be sealed, it is possible Harry has sent her there. I can check the wards on the castle and see if anyone has Portkeyed through them, but it will not tell us the location of the one who used the Portkey, it will simply tell us whether or not one had been used.” Dumbledore said to the group.

“In the meantime, Kingsley and Charlie, I want you to go to the cave that Sirius hid in during the Triwizard Tournament. It is possible, however unlikely, that Harry sent her there.” Dumbledore commanded to the two men, who promptly nodded and Disapparated.

“Arthur, Bill, if you would go to the Burrow and examine the wards, he could have sent her somewhere on the grounds of the Burrow. Search very carefully. Any inconsistency could point to her.”

“Remus, Tonks, I want you to go to the Rock by the Sea that the Harry stayed at with the Dursleys in an attempt to escape the post that was sent to them concerning Hogwarts.” Dumbledore ordered. When neither Remus nor Tonks made a motion to leave, Dumbledore said, “Well, what are you waiting for? Go.”

“We will search for Bellatrix, but if we find her, we will find Harry and save him. Something you have obviously failed to do. You might not be convinced of Harry’s innocence, but we are. We will save him, and try to stop the now inevitable turn to the dark that you have forced him into.” Remus said.

With that, they Disapparated to the infamous Rock-by-the-Sea.

*~*


Appearing at their destination with a small Pop, Remus and Tonks searched the hut quite thoroughly. However, due to the smallness of the hut, it only took about ten minutes for them to determine beyond any doubt that neither Harry nor Bellatrix were there.

Conjuring chairs, they sat down and began to discuss the situation.

“I think Ginny knows something more than she is saying. Did you see that little nod they gave each other just before Bellatrix Portkeyed away?” Remus asked.

“Yeah, I saw it. I thought it was just my imagination playing tricks on me. It likes to do that sometimes.” Tonks said.

“We will have to talk to her, make her understand that we’re on her side. They could have communicated using a mind-link like what Harry and Bellatrix had going. He could have told her where he was going in her head.” Remus said.

“I think she knows we’re on her side. I just hope Dumbledore doesn’t do anything rash. He is pretty good at Legilimency. He could probably get it out of her head before she knew what he was doing.” Tonks reasoned.

“I agree, we’ll have to get back there and make sure he doesn’t try to do anything.” Remus said.

*~*


“Molly, Arthur, could I speak with the two of you for a moment?” Dumbledore asked in what Ginny thought was forced politeness.

“Of course, Albus.” Molly responded.

“In private?” Dumbledore continued.

Molly and Arthur simply nodded as Dumbledore rose from his chair and walked out the door and into the drawing room. Molly and Arthur followed him out the door and sat on the sofa of the room.

“I think it would be best to erase Ginny’s memory of what has just happened. She could become a liability. I would perform the charm without your permission, but the repercussions of that could be undesirable.” Dumbledore explained.

Arthur and Molly, for their part, looked stricken. Arthur was the first to speak, “You can’t just erase her memory of something that important! Harry obviously wanted her to know the things he said, otherwise he wouldn’t have said them in her presence! I will not endorse you erasing my daughter’s memory!” Arthur said indignantly.

“I agree with Albus, Arthur. If she remembers this incident she could join him. We can’t have Ginny turning into a Dark Witch!” Molly argued.

These arguments went back in forth for a few minutes before Arthur conceded and it was agreed upon. The three stood up and walked back down to the kitchen where most of the members of the Order were still assembled.

Dumbledore drew his wand and pointed it at Ginny. The entire room went still and stared at Dumbledore with confusion and anger in their eyes. “Ginny, it has been decided by your parents and myself that it would be best if your memory of this event was removed.” Dumbledore explained as if that settled everything.

Ginny immediately drew her wand and was about to Bat-Bogey him when Dumbledore quickly disarmed her. “It is for your own good that you not remember these events.” Dumbledore explained.

Just then Tonks and Remus Apparated into the room. Upon seeing Dumbledore with his wand drawn on Ginny, they nodded to one another and drew their wands on Dumbledore.

“You cannot attack an innocent like this, Dumbledore!” said Remus forcefully.

While Remus was saying this to Dumbledore, Tonks looked at Moody, the only one still looking at her and mouthed the word Portkey to him. Moody nodded and quietly created a Portkey out of a bracelet Ginny was wearing.

Ginny looked at Moody and mouthed Hogwarts! to him. He nodded and then the Portkey moved into a standby mode. The Portkey was to activate the moment someone tried to cast a spell on her.

“I have parental consent, Remus that negates any accusation of it being an attack!” Dumbledore said.

“And what about what Ginny wants?” Remus asked, angrily.

“What Ginny wants is not at the moment pertinent, Remus!” Dumbledore said, beginning to get angry.

“That is what your problem is, Albus! You’ve spent so long gazing at the forest; you’ve lost sight of the trees!” Remus retorted.

“Enough of this, Obliviate!” Dumbledore said loudly.

Just then, the Portkey activated and Ginny was sent to Hogwarts.

“Where has she gone?” Molly asked concernedly. “Who created the Portkey?”

Dumbledore stared at first Remus, then Tonks, then Moody. Remus gazed back in defiance, Tonks stared at him in a similar style, but Moody gazed at a spot just above Dumbledore’s right shoulder.

“Alastor, is there a particular reason you have your Occlumency shields up and are staring at a spot just above my shoulder, rather than at my eyes?” Dumbledore asked, calmly.

“Constant Vigilance!” barked Moody, still not looking him in the eye.

Dumbledore did not look convinced but did not question him further. Instead he turned to the rest of the Order and said, “It is quite likely that Ms. Weasley has gone to the same place as Ms. Lestrange. We now find ourselves in the unfortunate position of having another Dark Witch to contend with.” Dumbledore said sadly.

Uproar met this statement from the Weasley family (except, of course, Ron), Remus, and Tonks. After assurances from Dumbledore that he would try to bring her in peacefully the crowd calmed down somewhat.

“I must now return to Hogwarts to examine the wards and see if anyone has Portkeyed in within the last twenty-four hours. It is quite possible that Ms. Weasley and Ms. Lestrange are there.” Dumbledore said.

He walked out of the room, into the drawing room, and went to the floo. “Hogwarts, Headmaster’s Office.” said Dumbledore, loudly and clearly.


*~*

The Chamber of Secrets was dark when Bellatrix arrived. There had been no source of light in the entire Chamber, except a few of the torches that littered the walls. Harry had returned to his own body as soon as she had taken the Portkey, so she was quite alone now.

Without a guide she groped along the walls and strained her eyes until she came to a room toward the end of the Chamber. Upon grasping the handle and opening the door, the torches inside flared to life, giving her more than sufficient light to find what she was looking for.

In the back of the room was a silver box. It glowed slightly, as if asking her to open the box and relieve it of it’s’ contents. She walked slowly toward the back of the room where the silver box stood on a pedestal. Coming to stand in front of the box, she outstretched one hand and carefully lifted the lockless lid.

As the lid opened, the insides of the box emitted a warm golden glow. Lifting the lid completely so that the box stood open, she looked inside.

Surrounding a singular black strip of wood was silver, pure thick silver. She reached into the box and retrieved the wand. Holding it she felt power, she felt the abilities of Salazar Slytherin course through her. Feeling quite powerful, she strode confidently out the door of the small room.

Upon entering the main hall of the Chamber all the torches flickered to life. It would appear, Bella thought, that the Chamber recognises this wand. At least I won’t be stuck in the dark anymore!


*~*


Harry was snapped back into his own body and the first thing he experienced was intense pain. It would appear that he was being tortured again.

He tried to bite back the screams that came forth as he was hit with the Cruciatus Curse over and over. Twelve men were in the room, each casting the Cruciatus or other such curses on him. He recognised one, but only vaguely. It took him a few minutes before he realised that the Death Eater he recognised was actually Severus Snape!

“Come on, Potter! Scream for us!” Snape’s voice goaded him. With renewed vigor Snape and the others put more power into their Cruciatus Curses. Suddenly they got their reward. Harry opened his mouth to retort at Snape when the overwhelming pain caused him to shriek in pain.

They tortured him like that for the better part of an hour. The torment was relentless, as soon as one Curse would begin to dull another would spark more power. Harry was helpless to fight back. He was too weak to create another Portkey at the moment, and so he was here at the mercy of his tormentors.

After awhile Harry felt consciousness begin to waver, eventually succumbing to the overwhelming pain and the exhausted state he was in, he dropped to the floor, still shackled and passed out.


*~*

Ginny Weasley Portkeyed into existence in front of the Fat Lady’s portrait. Immediately she set off for Moaning Myrtle’s lavatory. She ran down the halls that would lead her to her destination and upon arriving at the loo, pulled open the door and stepped in quickly. She vaguely registered how odd the loo seemed without the trademark moaning of one Moaning Myrtle. Quickly she ran to the sink that had the snake etched into it and yelled, “Open!” nothing happened.

“Open!” again nothing.

This time she concentrated on the snake and envisioned it moving, slithering, and hissing the way a real snake would. Vision fixed on the snake, the eye of her mind working overtime, she took a deep breath and said, “Open”, she did not, however, say it in her voice. But rather it came out as a deep hiss which reverberated around the empty, Myrtle-less lavatory.

Immediately the sink rearranged itself into the hole that she would have to slide down to enter the Chamber of Secrets.

Summoning all her courage, she jumped into the hole and slid down the slide that would take her to the Chamber of Secrets. Landing with a light Thump! she got up and continued along the path that would lead her to the main room of the Chamber.

She walked through the path as if in a dream. This was the place of countless nightmares, a place she had visited in the terror of slumbers. She instinctively knew the way to the large room where she lay near-death years ago.

She continued along the corridors until she saw ahead of her, a faint light. As she went closer, the light grew brighter and larger. She came to the doorway of the large chamber of the Chamber of Secrets and peered inside.

Standing in the middle of the room, wand outstretched, was Bellatrix Lestrange. She muttered an incantation and a large bed appeared. Upon its appearance Bellatrix turned around to receive her visitor.

“Bellatrix?” Ginny asked tentatively. She was not quite sure she should trust the tormentor of Neville’s parents.

“Ginny? What are you doing here? We didn’t intend for you to arrive until the start of term.” Bella said to her.

“We?” Ginny asked.

Bella tapped her head, “Yes, we.” she said.

“Oh. Well, Dumbledore was tried to Obliviate me, but Moody made a Portkey to get me out before Dumbledore could erase my memory. He keyed it to go just outside of the Gryffindor Common Room, that’s when I ran to the entrance of the Chamber, clambered down, and now I’m here.” Ginny explained.

“Oh, okay then. Have you got your wand?” Bella asked

“Yes, it’s right here. Why?” Ginny asked and answered.

“Because I am going to train you up until Harry returns. If you are going to outcast yourself like us, which you already have rest assured, then you’ll need to be powerful enough to fend for yourself against a dozen Death Eaters. Not to mention any Order or Ministry forces we may encounter.” Bella explained. “There is something you must understand before I can do that, however. I will be teaching you Dark spells as well.” at seeing Ginny’s slightly pale look she continued, “Harry knows many Dark spells. He is technically a Dark Wizard. That does not, however, make him evil. Nor will you be evil for learning the spells. It is what you do with the spells that makes you evil. Even Dumbledore knows dark spells, even if he does not use them, he knows them and their power. You must accept the powers of both the Darkness and the Light if you are to be powerful enough to handle yourself against the foes Harry shall encounter.” Bellatrix said. She was in her element. Explaining the dark spells was something she was unusually good at, and she was very comfortable doing it.

Ginny had the decency in her to look stricken at the prospect of learning dark magic from one of the darkest witches of the century. She realised, however, that this was a necessary evil (for lack of a better word) to learn these things if she was to have a chance against the Death Eaters, Ministry, and/or Order of the Phoenix. All of whom she was now enemies with.

“Do you agree to this, Ginny? If not, I can send you back to Grimmauld. I warn you that they will probably erase your memories. But you do have a choice.” Bellatrix offered.

“I agree.” Ginny said, her voice sounding odd to her. She knew that there was no going back, but she recognised the necessity.

“Good. I will teach you what I can now, but we will have to wait until Harry comes to us to learn the more advanced spells. Harry will have to fortify the wards here, otherwise some of the spells could destroy this place.” Bellatrix said.

“In the meantime I will teach you what I can of Occlumency and Legilimency. Now –“ she conjured a two chairs for them to sit in “—what I want you to do is clear you mind. Lose all conscious thought and just stare blankly at something.”

When Ginny had accomplished this task Bella continued, “Now, with your mind’s eye envision a wall. A blank, white wall. Picture yourself standing 100 feet or so from this wall and slowly envision another wall rising up in front of it. Continue doing this until you are surrounded by the walls.” Bella said to her.

Ginny sat staring blankly at nothing in particular envisioning the walls rising out of the plain ground and surround her. When she had finally finished she felt very much at peace. A calmness claimed her and she looked at Bella and nodded that she had finished.

“How long was I blank like that?” Ginny asked Bella.

“Six hours, more or less.” Bella responded.

Upon hearing this Ginny’s jaw dropped. Six hours? It felt like it couldn’t have been more than five minutes, but six hours? At least I know what to do when I’m bored Ginny thought to herself.

“Good, now we will continue on. I will now ask you a question, and you will lie about it in your mind. For instance, if I were to ask how many fingers you had, you would envision in your head that you had eight fingers. Now, let’s begin.”

“Legilimens!” Bella said, her wand pointed at Ginny.

In her head, Ginny heard Bella ask What colour is your hair? Ginny immediately showed Bellatrix an image of herself with black hair.

“Excellent!” Bella praised.

Ginny blushed and muttered a quick thank-you before looking up again. “It really isn’t much more than that, keep practicing inserting false truths in your mind and keep building those walls and you will do great! Now, on to Legilimency,” Bella said, her look of praise quickly becoming one of seriousness once more, “Raise your wand to my head and say quite clearly ‘Legilimens’. You will be cast into my mind and you must try to break through my walls, much like the walls you erected. This requires a good deal of concentration and can be quite tiring to beginners, I warn you. Now, try it.” Bella instructed.

Ginny soon discovered she had quite a talent for Legilimency. She found she could break through Bella’s shields with extraordinary ease. She saw many of the things that Voldemort had done to her and it enraged her. Voldemort had tortured her ruthlessly, putting her in terrible pain. This disturbed her greatly, because she realised that it was quite likely that Harry was experiencing the same thing.

A week later Ginny had become proficient in all the spells Bellatrix had taught her. Ginny proved to have something of a knack for the more advanced neutral and light spells. She had learned most of the curses, hexes, and jinxes that a seventh year Hogwarts student would know. Ginny and Bella had yet to really start on any Dark Curses, Bella wanted to wait for Harry to come to them before they did anything life-threatening. Harry could reverse the effects of any of the spells cast at her, while Ginny may or may not be able to.

Bella proved to be a rather excellent teacher, and could have been a professor at Hogwarts for all the knowledge Bella possessed. She told Ginny that Voldemort had taught her many things during her tutelage with him. She knew as many spells as anyone of the professors at Hogwarts with the exception of Professor Dumbledore.

A week later Ginny knew much more than any student at Hogwarts could have at such a point. Bella, as it turned out, was excellent at potions and would make strengthening solutions and pepper-up potions to keep them awake and alert during their twenty hour plus per day training sessions. As Bella explained it, there wasn’t much time for sleep when you had to be ready for a fight at a moments’ notice.

One day (or night, they couldn’t tell in the Chamber) when Ginny and Bella were studying a particularly useful shield called the Shield of Eternal Fire, someone Portkeyed to about five feet to the left of where they were.

Startled, both Ginny and Bella had their wands out and were about to start flinging curses when they saw the features of the offending Portkey user. He was a man of about five feet ten inches, deathly skinny, with jet black hair. Both girls at the same time shouted, “Harry!” and flung themselves on him.

He stumbled backwards for a moment before regaining his composure. They saw from the look of him, he had been fed and watered only enough to sustain his life. Both girls were simultaneously kissing his cheeks and hugging him.

“Air!” he managed to choke out. Both girls immediately hauled him over to one of the beds they had conjured in the centre of the Chamber. The girls removed the muggle clothing he was wearing and, after a great deal of blushing by both of the girls, got him in the bed where he promptly passed out.

Bella quickly conjured a basin while Ginny pointed her wand in the centre of it and said quietly, “Aguamenti!”, the basin immediately filled with water and Bella conjured hand towels. Dipping the hand towels in the water, they squeezed them out and then placed the damp towels on Harry’s forehead.

Dabbing his forehead, Ginny noted how terrible he looked. His hair was filthy and unkempt, blood-matted and sweaty; his face was chalk-coloured and much too skinny to be considered normal; his chest bore marks from what were probably whips, deep gashes, filled with a sticky, gauzy substance that she thought might be burnt skin and tissue; his arms were covered in black and deep purple bruising and covered in gashes and cuts, but his wrists had holes in them, these holes went straight through and out the other end of his wrists; his bum, which she noted was as skinny as the rest of him, bore bruises, which she reasoned was probably from falling or prolonged sitting on a hard surface; his pelvic region looked, thankfully, unmarked; his legs bore signs of whippings and there were deep holes on either side of both kneecaps; his ankles had the same holes in them that his wrists bore and Ginny wondered what could have possible made such marks.

Bellatrix too noticed his wounds; her face had gone very pale upon seeing them and muttered something that could have been “crucified?” but Ginny wasn’t sure. Upon seeing all his wounds, Bella began casting Wound Healing Spells on him. Ginny mimicked her wand movements and began casting the spells as well.

It didn’t take long for them to heal him of much of the damage he had sustained from his torture, but they both knew the psychological scarring on someone who has been tortured for so long is often much more serious than the physical wounds.

Bella and Harry’s mental link had long since been severed by one of the countless torture sessions Harry had endured, so this had been the most interaction the two had had since just after Ginny arrived.

After Harry had been sufficiently healed, both girls were exhausted. The adrenaline of his appearing had worn off, and was now replaced with a deep tiredness. Stripping off her clothes, which was how she always slept, Bella climbed into the bed next to Harry’s also naked form.

Seeing the questioning look on Ginny’s face, Bella said, “I’m too tired to get to my own bed right now,” she lied, “and besides, I want to hold onto him and make sure he is real.” the look in Bella’s eyes confirmed her story.

Ginny shrugged and followed suit, stripping off her clothes much the same way Bellatrix had, and she lay down on the other side of Harry. Both girls snuggled up next to the prone figure next to them and settled their heads on his chest.


A/N: Thank you so much for the reviews! I can’t believe I’ve yet to receive a single review threatening me with immediate decapitation. Wow, this is doing loads for my ego! I had this chapter finished on Sunday morning, before I even submitted chapter 2, but I figured that I wouldn’t be able to keep up such a quick pace of chapters, so I have been forced to let some space come in between.

I must say, however, that the more people like this story the more difficult it is to do anything other than write another chapter, it really does help get the Creative Juices flowing!

Anyway, I want to thank all my reviewers, I honestly thought this fic was going to get perhaps three reviews, grand-total, all advising me to immediately jump off of the nearest bridge. So thank you, thank you, and thank you!

There won’t be an update tomorrow, I don’t think, because I have to go to my grandparents house (it’s my old fogey of a grandfather’s birthday, which means I get to eat grass-cake!... again!)

I’m currently starting the writing of Chapter 7, so take solace in knowing that if I were to die in a horrific car crash tomorrow you would still get at least that far before the story became abandoned.

I still don’t know how long this thing will be, but my rough goal is to write a 100,000 word story. I don’t know if it will be that long, but one can dream!

-PhoenixEternus
9/11/05