Harry Potter and the Birth of a New Sun

Harry Potter and the Birth of a New Sun

Chapter 52 - Love Found

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The ground rumbled. The sound of wandfire and screams of pain bounced around the trees surrounding the lake like ping pong balls trapped in a turning bingo cage. The ground rumbled again. Ron Weasley opened his eyes and discovered he was face down in the dirt, starring at a rather large spider. Without flinching he reached over and smashed the creature between his thumb and forefinger. Okay, it wasn't that large... but it could have been. He rolled over and blinked to get the sand out of his eyes. When he rose to one knee a stunner shot past his head, shattering a large stone behind him. To his side, he heard weeping; it was Hermione. Time had restarted.

The wandfire spread out all along the tree line; the battle was still raging. Across the lake, someone was tending to Professor Snape and others that had fallen. At least the rocks near Ron's position provided their small section of shoreline a modicum of protection. He scanned about and found that Cho was also crying, her brother James held tightly at her side. He couldn't see Jamie. Ron reached for his wand, but it was missing. It took him a moment, but he found it a few feet ahead of him in the sand. He crawled over and picked it up, and then continued to crawl along the ground toward Hermione whose back was to him. She was still near Tonks' body and was crying worse than ever. He placed his hand on her hip.

"Hey... It's okay, Herm--" She screamed.

"RON!"

In a flash she was upon him, squeezing for dear life. In a matter of seconds, Cho was holding him and then James. He felt sort of like a kitten in a pre-school, unsure what the fuss was about. Tears and hugs diminished and at last Hermione grabbed him by the front of the robes. She was... upset.

"You couldn't have Apparated, could you?" she asked, confused. "Where have you been?" He wasn't sure if she was more upset that he'd been missing, or that she didn't understand why. "We thought... we thought you were..." She shook her head and turned away. He placed his fingertips on her chin and pulled her back so that she could look into his eyes.

"I've been right... right here," he pointed to where he had fallen after trying to bring down the robes. The robes! He raised his wand higher and scanned for some shimmer of white. There was nothing except the burning orb still hovering above the lake.

"See! I told you!" complained James to his sister. "Ron, she wouldn't--"

"James appeared only a few minutes ago," said Cho. "He gave us some demented story that we were all statues and that you were together... you, him, Gab and... and Jamie?"

Her questioning tone made Ron look around for the child. It was then he noticed that the boy was missing.

"He's gone? And Gab?" Ron muttered suddenly spinning around, searching for her as his thoughts became clearer. "Where's Gabriella?"

"You were both across the lake," said Hermione. When the dragon attacked there was an explosion of cold fire and then you disappeared, all of you including Gabriella, Harry, Draco, Professor Barghouti, James and little Jamie. You all just vanished and that... that thing appeared." She pointed at the flaming sphere.

"Ron... does he have my child?" asked Cho nervously. "Does Voldemort have Jamie?" Her eyes, already red, began to glisten once more.

"It was the robes!" said James.

"Stop that nonsense," snapped his sister.

"She was right there," said Ron, pointing to where Gabriella had stood when he leapt at the white robes. "And you... you had Jamie in your arms. And the robes... the robes attacked James first."

"Seeee!" James sneered.

"She was right here with me! Gabriella!" Ron cried out. "Gabriella!"

Hearing the name, a large wizard in brilliant, red robes strode over to Ron and spun him by the shoulders. "You've seen her? Where has she gone?"

"Who... who are--"

"Where's my sister?" he demanded, his azure blue eyes filled with fear and anger.

"This is Antreas, Ron," said Hermione, trying to make a quick introduction. "Remember from last year? Gabriella's brother. He arrived about an hour ago, searching for her."

"An hour?" said Ron in disbelief. "It's only been--"

"Where is Gabriella!"

Ron looked back at Antreas. He was not the same broken young man he'd met in the Ministry last year. He was nearly as large as Ron but his chest was broader and his demeanour more regal. His robes were scorched and smeared with grime and blood. There were scratches upon his face, some deep, and a small piece of his left ear was missing. He needed a healer, but was clearly focussed on his sister.

"She was with me..." Ron looked about as if he were searching for the keys to his dad's flying Ford Anglia. The only place he didn't check were the pockets of his robes and the last place he'd dare consider was below the surface of the water. "She couldn't be far. An hour? Antreas, how'd you get here anyway?"

"Drahmir bore me," he said with the majesty of a young prince. Ron's eyes furled.

"I don't know any Dr--"

"His dragon," explained Hermione.

"Drahmir is not my dragon! The dragons belong to no wizard!" he snapped. He still had not let go of Ron's robes and Ron, though the larger of the two, felt his feet leaving the earth as Antreas lifted him bodily from the ground. "Now, Ron, tell me where my sister is!"

"We... we were fighting..."

"Fighting!"

"Fighting Voldemort."

"The Phantom!" Antreas exclaimed, his blood pressure elevating even as he lowered Ron to the ground. "Tell me all you know!" The two crouched to get out of the line of fire. The others followed in kind and waited in eager anticipation for what he had to say. Ron touched Hermione's face.

"You were frozen in time and the... the white robes. They were reaching for you," he said. Hermione looked back to the lake to the spot where the robes had been floating. They were gone. Ron took her by the arm and examined her up and down to see if she'd been harmed. "He attacked James and then you and I... I couldn't let him, so I punched him in the head. Knocked 'em back pretty good."

"You punched the robes? In the head?" asked Hermione, trying to understand. "Ron, that doesn't--"

"Well, it's not like they were just robes, were they? And then... I don't remember. I was here."

"But I'm not injured."

"Well... he had his wand out and--"

"My sister... where's Gabriella?"

"She was--"

"Mama!"

Cho suddenly lost her breath.

"Mama!"

At the water's edge was little Jamie. He was smiling and stepping unsteadily toward her. She ran and quickly swept him into her arms.

"That's three," whispered Hermione and, looking toward Antreas, her eyes held out hope that more would magically appear. "Gabriella will come too. You'll see. I think time is returning to each one in the order they were touched by the white robes." There was another blast of red and she watched it arch over their heads.

"The battle's moving north," said Ron. "We must be winning."

"No," said Antreas. "The Phantom is playing games. This thing..." He pointed at the burning sphere. "If it captured the great Singehorn, it is some sort of evil trickery! See how it pulls in the spectres that come near it!" Ghosts continued to swirl about the orb and disappear. In fact, the forest was thinning of its spectres. "Even as our defences are being pulled north this... this evil remains. We should destroy it!" He pulled his wand.

"NO!"

A flash of green robes had Antreas about the arm. It was Blaise Zabini. He'd been standing by the lake, looking up at the orb and, every so often calling Draco's name. Antreas was about to level his wand and Blaise, when Ron stepped between them.

"There's enough to be getting on about without the few of us fighting amongst ourselves. If Blaise says no, then there's a reason and you'd better listen to what it is." Antreas clenched his jaw, nodded, and slipped his wand away. He offered Blaise a hand and Blaise took it.

"You mustn't destroy it," said Blaise. "It's a door, a gateway and they're in there. I know it. Maybe your sister too. Don't... don't close it before they've had a chance to get out, to come home." He walked back over to the shoreline and called Draco's name.

"He's a bit touched," said Hermione. "When the dragon swallowed Draco and Dakhil in a fury of flame and they vaporized, he... sort of lost it."

"No. He's right," said Ron. "That's what Gabriella thought too... that a gate had been opened allowing ghosts to finally pass to the other plane."

"Gates open both ways," said Antreas, pulling his wand and twirling it in his fingers as he eyed the orb.

"That's what I said."

"Were you in this gateway? Was my sister?"

Ron shook his head just as the ground began to quake. A group of Centaurs galloped out of the forest on the far edge of the lake, warning everyone to step back from the falls and to stay away from the water.

Bubbles began to churn on the lake's surface, frothing it white. Cho was the first to notice.

"There!" she cried out. "The water - something's happening!"

A head covered in long black hair appeared rising just above the foam. It was Gabriella. She gasped desperately for air and swam toward the water's edge. Antreas pulled off his boots to dive in after her, but Ron held his arm.

"Didn't you hear the Centaurs? The waters, they're like acid. If they don't like you, they could kill you."

"That's my sister!" Antreas yelled, marching toward the water's edge. He was about to jump in, when Gabriella yelled at him to stay put, water gurgling in her throat.

"Let her come to us," said Ron, wondering if Gabriella could make it and considering if he should jump in after her. He had, after all, survived his last encounter. She wasn't that far from the shore, but the current was swift and she already looked like a drowned rat. If the current caught her, it would only take a few seconds to go over the edge, crashing to the rocks below.

She continued to swim against the current and, slowly, made her way to the lake's sandy shore. Finally, she crawled out of the water and collapsed. She was naked, but completely dry and Antreas quickly summoned a dark blue cloak with which to give her cover.

"Gabriella," he whispered. "What's happened to you?"

She was shaking, but when she lifted her head, she smiled. Her teeth chattering, she said, "I've been c-cleansed." She hugged her brother. The darkness of murder and death had been lifted and her face glowed.

"Cleansed? Cleansed of what?" Gabriella's smile dimmed.

"Where's Harry?" she asked. A group had gathered about her. Behind them she could still hear the sound of wandfire. The battle had shifted and was now moving nearer. She turned and found Ron, grasped his robes and pulled him close. "You're okay," she said with half a question in her voice. "He said... but I wasn't sure... I c-couldn't see. Where's Harry?"

"Why am I the one that's supposed to know where everybody is?" Ron asked. "I'm not a blinking owl you know. You know as well as I do that he was on the beach when--"

"DRACO!"

It was Blaise. He was yelling again at the burning orb that still hung suspended above the waters of the lake. His voice was more panicked than ever.

"Something's wrong. The gate... the gate. It's closing. DRACO!"

"The orb," whispered Gabriella. "It's still there. How is that possible?" She ran to her fellow Slytherin's side. "Blaise, tell me, what do you see?"

"They're in there!" he pointed at the burning sphere. "But there's fire... fire everywhere!"

They all looked toward the orb. The flames surrounding it were growing more intense as one last white wisp of ghost entered it. Gabriella, unable to move her eyes from the brightening orb, said, "How can you be so--"

"I just know, alright?" he yelled. "Feel, Gabriella! Just feel!"

It was then that she too began to sense Harry's presence and the more she reached out, the more she was certain that he was--"

The sphere of fire suddenly imploded, sending out a flash of light and a shockwave so powerful it knocked everyone near the lake to the ground. The Centaurs were thrown back into the trees. When Gabriella looked up, it had vanished.

"He's gone," breathed Blaise suddenly unable to take in enough air. "It... it can't be."

"It isn't," said Gabriella with confidence. The firestones set on her ring were glowing as brightly as they ever had. "Harry," she whispered to herself, "where are you?"

"But the gate, it's gone. I can't sense him, Gabriella," said Blaise holding on to her sleeve. His voice was pitched and his eyes fearful. "Even when he was below Fengsle Isle I knew he was alive. Now I can't--" Blaise suddenly stopped and his gaze shot out over the lake. "Did you see that? Out there?" He pointed over the empty waters. Rings were spreading in ever larger circles as if a large stone had fallen into the lake at a singular point directly below where the orb had hovered only moments before.

"Oh, no," Gabriella said softly. "Yet those who ill chose found the fall, remain adrift, alone. Draco, what have you done?" She slowly shook her head. If Draco had been torn, if they had not just returned, but fell instead into the waters, then they would be facing the same questions, the same challenges as she had just gone through. Harry had survived that fall before and her ring was telling her that he'd survived again, but Draco... Draco was an entirely different story. The darkness inside him was deep and if Blaise was no longer sensing his presence--

"I'm going in after them." Blaise tore off his shirt and started for the waters, but Gabriella grabbed his arm. "You can't. The lake... it might kill you."

"It didn't kill you!" Blaise snapped back.

"Yes it did," she replied. "Part of me anyway. And the Death Eaters pulled in by Jamie's command have been utterly destroyed. Blaise, believe me; I know you well enough to say that you might survive, but I'm not certain. If you dive in, you may never come back. All that is you will simply dissolve away and flow over the falls and out to the sea."

Blaise sat down on the rocks and began to weigh his chances.

"It is over," said one of the Centaurs across the water. Gabriella saw Macleta, a rare smile upon her face. "The dark menace has been defeated!" she cried out

All fell silent. Only the sound of crickets and chattering clabberts filled the air. The wandfire had stopped. In the night sky, Ebyrth had disappeared and in its place was a swirling glow of magical flame that resembled an enormous, swirling galaxy, blazing as brightly as any aurora.

Centaurs readying their arrows to strike their sworn enemies stayed their hands as the Dementors in kind drew back their attackers. With the comet gone, their reason to battle had gone with it. The dark creatures slipped away into the forest heading toward the mountains.

Death Eaters, cursed to follow the will of the dark lord had been set free. The dark marks set upon their arms had vanished. Some ran, some dropped their wands, others simply stood frozen unsure what to do given their own free will. An enormous cheer erupted around the lake. Word quickly spread down to the wizards and witches below the falls their shouts of joy were deafening.

Some of the Aurors and wizards from Hogwarts began to give chase to those trying to escape, but Sirius stopped them. It was time to tend to the injured and he sent word for any healers to join them. Make shift tents were suddenly popping up all over the lake. Some were for the injured, others for the dead. Sirius stepped over to them and carried Tonks away in his arms. A few hours passed and he returned.

"Any sign?" he asked as Gabriella, Blaise and the others sat, keeping watch over the waters.

"No, sir," said Gabriella. Sirius looked out across the waters and nodded his head. He waved his hand and a set of green Slytherin robes appeared in midair; they floated over to Gabriella.

"These should fit a bit better than that cloak of yours," he said softly. "Cho, you and the baby should be tended to." Cho nodded. "In fact, you should all--"

"I'm not going anywhere!" snapped Blaise. "Not until... not until..." He began to shake and Gabriella took his hand.

"We'll just wait here, professor," she said, rubbing the ring on her finger and trying to conceive what might be happening. Sirius nodded and walked away to help the others.

"He'll come out," said Blaise. "You'll see Gabriella. Just like you! Any minute now."

Minutes turned to hours and hours to days. The tents about the waters disappeared and the wizards in the forest began to make their way back home. Blaise and Gabriella refused to leave the water's edge. Hermione, Ron and Antreas tended to them as best they could. Eventually, only one tent was standing. Cho, Jamie and occasionally the others would use it, or the stronghold in the rocks to sleep and prepare meals. On the third day, Sirius suggested, once again, that it was time to leave. Gabriella, sitting on the large stones near the water's edge, was asleep, her head tilted over against her brother's shoulder. Blaise, his eyes blinking with exhaustion, continued to look out over the stillness.

"We'll stay a while longer, sir," said Antreas. "As long as the stones burn bright, I suspect we'll stay." He held up his sleeping sister's hand, showing off her wedding band. "Mama was a bit upset when we did not have a proper ceremony."

"Ceremony?" asked Hermione.

"A connubial ring sits upon Harry's hand," said Antreas. "Extraordinarily rare. Leave it to my sister to land the wizard that could conjure that. They wanted it secret," said Antreas. "I'm not sure why."

Hermione looked at Gabriella as she slept, knowing the love it would have taken to create such a bond and wondering how she could have been so blind as not to have seen it. Perhaps Gabriella had enchanted them somehow. She smiled knowing that her two friends cared so much about her and Ron that they wanted them to have their own moment first. Since Dumbledore's death, it didn't appear that that would ever happen. Tonight, Ron and Hermione had found each other once again and when the bushy haired brunette looked at her fiancé, her eyes began to tear. He took her hand and held her in his arms, giving her a hug. They began to walk, arm in arm, about the lake, talking. As they moved away, you could hear their gentle laughter just above the roar of the falls. They had, at last, wholly reconnected.

Sirius sat down next to Blaise and put his arm around him. Gabriella roused and sat upright, rubbing her eyes and yawning.

"Mr. Zabini," he said softly, "I would love to give you a lifetime to wait here by the waters. I can't."

"But--"

"I can give you a day more, but then you'll all have to return. The forest is reverting to its natural state and there is a reason it's forbidden. I've set enchantments about the waters as best I can, and they will hold against the most vicious of beasts. But there are no such enchantments for anxious parents. I've already received five owls from the Minister himself. Fortunately, he too is a bit busy. The Ministry did not fare well - treachery from within."

"When Harry disappeared," said Gabriella, "he was gone for three days. That's not how it happened to me today; it's not how it happened to Ron, but maybe..." She shrugged.

"I hope you're right, Mrs. Potter. For now, I have some other anxious parents to meet."

Gabriella's eyes widened as she slipped her hand behind her back. Sirius stood and began to dust the bottoms of his robes with his hands, then stopped. Looking down, he laughed.

"I never used to care about how my robes looked before." His eyes looked to the stars and twinkled. "Damn you, Albus!"

He waived his hand and vanished.

An hour passed and they were all sitting about a small fire that Antreas had conjured. Cho had to keep scolding Jamie for throwing rocks in the lake.

"They'll get mad at you," she warned, shaking her finger.

"Pio!" answered Jamie, pointing to the dark depths. "Pio!" Cho groaned.

"Then come with me," she said with a sigh. "We'll go potty up here." She began to walk him away just as Hermione and Ron returned. They were smiling and holding each other tight. Jamie pulled his hand away from his mother's and ran back to the water.

"What did he say?" muttered Gabriella.

"He needs to go potty," said Cho, waving her hand dismissively. Gabriella shook her head.

"No... he said something... a word. What was it?

"Peee? Peeeo?"

"Pio? Are you sure?"

"It would make sense," said Antreas a tinge of excitement in his voice. "Yes... if he said Pio!"

"It is an ancient rite of purification."

"But how would the child know?" asked Antreas.

"Pio?" Cho laughed and shook her head. "That's just--"

"He won't survive," said Blaise taking to his feet. "If they're doing to him what they did to you, Gabriella, he doesn't have a chance. Three days... four days..." He shook his head. "You heard Sirius. We're running out of time. I won't leave him down there to die." He again made to jump into the water.

"Blaise, please," Gabriella pleaded. "The waters... what you've done with the Death Eaters this last year... I know where your heart is, but they're not the forgiving type. They could vaporize you."

"You don't get it, do you, Gabriella? If Draco's gone, truly gone, it doesn't matter. I don't care. For five years I thought he was nothing but a prig, but then I began to see, began to understand. It's not just black and white." He chuckled as thoughts of Draco brought the first smile his face had seen in days. "He's been risking his life for something greater, something bigger than himself. Now it's time for me to do the same."

He moved to jump into the waters when a large ball of pale flesh breached the lake's surface. It shot upward as if coming from a canon and screamed toward them. Actually, it was more like hysterical yelling mixed with laughter. Draco Malfoy had been spit out from the lake and landed unceremoniously in his birthday suit with a thud just behind where Blaise and Gabriella stood. The sand cushioned the blow, but the air was knocked from his lungs. Blaise was at his side in an instant.

"Draco!" he called, pushing the hair from his face. "Draco, are you okay?"

"Blaise?" Draco coughed water and spit sand. "Blaise, you stupid... you could have ... you could've died ... don't ever go near those damn waters. So help me, if--"

"Merlin's beard! Can you stop spouting orders for five minutes? Just... just shut the fuck up!" Blaise placed his hand over Draco's mouth and looked him in the eyes, narrowing his own. "I knew you'd come back, I knew you would." He smiled and held him close.

Gabriella summoned black robes and handed them to Blaise and he in turn slipped them over Draco's shoulders.

"Draco, where's Harry?" she asked nervously. "Was he with you?" Draco looked up at Gabriella, Blaise still at his side. He was tired and looked as if he hadn't slept in weeks, but his eyes held a joy that she had never seen there before. He smiled silently. Looking at Blaise and then back to Gabriella, he let out a soft chuckle.

"Was he with me? He's been with me for days, Gabriella. Down there." His head nodded toward the waters. "They threatened him. They cursed him, but he wouldn't leave. I thought turning to a vampire was painful, being eaten alive by rats, having your flesh flogged by Voldemort's wand... but those waters..." He swallowed as the smile wavered on his face. "Harry helped me through it, helped convince them, but they still weren't going to let me go until..." He looked at Blaise and put his pale white hand against his dark cheek. "It was you, Blaise. You were going to sacrifice yourself... for me." Tears began to form at the corner of his eyes and he shoved Blaise backward. "Barking mad, son of a bitch." Blaise just smiled.

"Then where is he?" asked Gabriella. "If they let you go, where's Harry?"

"He's fine," said Draco, stepping close and taking her by the hand. "You'll see; it won't be much longer. He had to gather Patrick. Well, what Patrick was... or will be. The thing is--"

"Over there!" yelled Ron. "The water's boiling again."

They all looked to find steam starting to rise out of the water. It was churning like a cauldron, frothing white foam that travelled with the flowing water out over the falls. Gabriella's heart was pounding in her chest. Slowly, a shock of black hair emerged straight up out of the bubbling water. Harry was naked and in the crook of his left arm was an infant child, crying loudly as they approached. He raised his right hand and the waters in front of him began to boil and bubble as well. He began to step toward them across the surface of the lake. It wasn't until he was a few yards away that Gabriella realized he was calling the fish to the surface of the water that they might lift him and the tiny newborn out of the water. A few feet from the water's edge he let the fish go and sunk down so that he was less than knee deep at the lake's shore. He began to step forward when Gabriella rushed him and held him in her arms.

The crying stopped. She looked down at the child and realized that she had been mistaken. It wasn't an infant after all, but a toddler about the size of little Jamie, but with beautifully brown skin. It couldn't be Patrick. Flashes of her vision crossed her mind... the water, the robes, death, the crying child. She looked back up to Harry.

"You're brilliant, did I ever tell you?"

"Maybe once," he smiled and kissed her.

"Harry!" called Ron. "Get the bloody hell out of the water!"

Gabriella looked at Ron for only a moment and then back at the child. The boy in Harry's arms was no longer a toddler, but perhaps six years old and was now standing at their side. He had dark black hair and brilliant green eyes.

"Eyes like... your mother's. Harry, who is this?"

As they stood in a few inches of water, she watched the boy's hair grow longer, his stature taller, and his eyes darker and keener. He was aging before them; each few seconds was another year.

"It's the water!" cried Hermione. "Get out of the water!"

"I said that already!" yelled Ron. "Did I not already say that?"

They all stepped out onto the sand and this time it was Hermione handing out robes, one for Harry and one for the young man about twelve years old at Harry's side.

"We made it, Pat," said Harry gently squeezing the boy's neck with a smile. "I told you we would."

Gabriella had heard Draco speak of Patrick, but this wasn't Patrick. He didn't look anything like him. If anything, the boy looked Armenian.

"What's your name?" she asked. The boy furled his eyebrows, as if trying to remember where he'd left his shoes. Finally, a look of satisfied recognition filled his eyes.

"Me name's Patrick... Patrick O'Riley," he answered with a perfectly Irish accent.

Harry, a broad smile across his face, slapped Pat on the back with a look of complete satisfaction. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a wand, ten inches of solid oak, and handed it to the young man.

"We orphans..." he said looking to the heavens, "...we've got to stick together."