HARRY POTTER AND THE PROPHECY TRUE

Chapter thirteen

The next few days that passed were tense and filled with polite conversation. At first, Ron and Hermione were so wrapped up in their own thoughts and lives that they barely noticed that Harry and Ginny weren't speaking. But by the beginning of the following weekend, they began to pay closer attention to the two. Ginny smiled when she thought it was appropriate and laughed when necessary, she talked when spoken to and answered questions when asked, but other than that, she was solemn and quiet. Harry on the other hand, was just silent. He nodded a lot and grunted in response to questions, but outside of asking questions regarding homework assignments, he said nothing else.

Ron and Hermione couldn't understand what was going on. They naturally assumed the tension was because of Harry's confinement, but there was nothing that they could do to change the situation. They knew Harry and Ginny had not been able to spend any time alone because of the confinement that had been placed on them, which meant the normal teenage hormones had been transformed into frustration. So, assuming they knew the answer to the problem, the two decided to seek a result to the dilemma. It was difficult trying to arrange anything with Harry on confinement and he and Ginny barely looking at each other, but with a little planning on their part, they managed what they hoped would be the perfect evening.

Late Thursday, the day his confinement had ended, Harry returned late from his lessons with Charlie, to find Ron sitting alone in the Gryffindor common room. The room was vacant of all occupants, which wasn't too surprising since it was nearly midnight. Harry sat in the chair next to the couch Ron reclined on and waited as patiently as he could. He had not had a very productive session with Charlie and his temper was thin and lethal. Ron glanced up and tried to smile, but the look of despair was vivid on his freckled face.

"Hermione kicked me out of our common room," he said in a hushed tone.

"What did you do this time?" Harry asked with a heavy sigh, tossing his cloak to the table between them.

"It wasn't me...exactly. It was actually your fault."

"Mine? I wasn't even here."

"You didn't have to be. Hermione and I were talking about the way you and Ginny have been acting and I told her it was probably my sister's fault you were out of sorts. Hermione naturally took her side and we started arguing about it. After about an hour she told me to get out and not come back. Is this what I have to look forward to, when we get married?"

"How the hell should I know?" Harry snapped, then immediately drew a deep breath and ran his hand through his messy hair. "I'm sorry about that. Listen, Ron, I don't want you and Hermione to start fighting over Ginny and I. It's something we have to work out on our own."

"What happened?" Harry stood and walked to the fireplace, his hands reaching out and grasping the mantle, trying to contain his anger. He had spent every night for the past month kicking himself and telling himself she had a right to be upset, even scared. But he refused to believe she was afraid of him. It was the powers he had begun to develop that frightened her. He just couldn't understand, even with a month of long hours of extra lessons with the new DADA teacher, why there was so much concern about him using his powers on Snape. It wasn't his fault, after all. That day in the library, Harry wanted to leave, but of course Snape had to stick his crooked nose in the way and it made him mad. If the greasy git would just leave off being such a dog about James Potter, Harry wouldn't have a reason to feel defensive.

"Harry?" Ron asked, seeing the tension mounting in his friend's shoulders. Harry turned around and stared at Ron fully.

"That day in the library when Snape and I fought, Ginny tried to stop me. I was angry and I pushed her aside."

"Well she shouldn't have interrupted. You were brilliant by the way. I could watch Snape fly across the room every day and never get sick of it."

"It wasn't just that, Ron. Ginny's scared. I have these new powers that I don't know how to control and it frightens her."

"How is it you have these powers? I mean, you've never showed any sign of them until last year and now they've grown so much over just a few weeks. You can talk to animals and read people's minds. Why are all of these things happening now?"

"I don't know and nobody seems to have an answer for me."

"Well, I think it's great. With powers like yours, Voldemort will stand no chance against you."

"If I can control them you mean. Dumbledore thinks I'll use them for evil if I can't get full control over them. He's worried that I'll join Voldemort."

"Impossible," Ron snorted.

"I wouldn't be so sure, Ron." Harry turned back to the fireplace and stared at the dying embers softly glowing in the hearth. "When I saw what Snape was thinking, when I knew he didn't know I could read his mind, it was...well, I don't know how to describe it exactly. It was a feeling more powerful then anything I'd ever felt. I loved the feeling; I loved the rush it gave me. The power is intoxicating. I just can't see why I should try and hide it. Ron," he said turning back to the stern look on his friend's face. "I have to fight every night not to repeat the act. I want more, I want to feel like that again."

"But if Dumbledore thinks it's dangerous, then you have no other choice but to control it."

"Don't I? He doesn't know how if felt, nobody does." Harry sat back in the chair and leaned his elbows on his knees, edging closer to the red head across from him. "There is no feeling in the world greater than what I felt that day."

"You mean it's better than Quidditch?"

"Definitely."

"Surely it's not better than..."

"Sex?" Harry asked, seeing the word form in his friend's mind. Ron blushed silently, nodding his head. "It's a million times better." Ron gasped, his eyes wide and filled with wonder. "It's all I can think about, Ron. And that scares Ginny. I love her, but I don't know if I can give up this feeling, even for her."

"What are you going to do?" Harry sighed again, running his hands through his hair to try and ease the thoughts raging through his veins.

"I don't know. I'll do as Dumbledore says, I'll try and control it, but I can't promise anything. It's too consuming."

"What about Ginny?" Harry sighed again.

"I understand her concerns, I truly do, but I just can't see any harm in learning more about these powers rather than hiding from them."

"Once you prove to her that you're not trying to take Voldemort's place in the world, she'll come around."

"I hope so," he said quietly.

"Um, Harry..." Ron began in a hesitant tone. "You haven't read our minds have you?" Harry chuckled at the thought. He really didn't want to know what his best friend was thinking. He was certain the images he'd see would be filled with Hermione, food or Quidditch, none of which really interested Harry at this point in his life.

"I've picked up a couple of thoughts," he said honestly. "But I try not to intrude."

"You know, these powers of yours could come in handy during the N.E.W.T.S. I mean, if you knew the answers, you could pass with higher marks then Hermione."

"I don't really think I want to cheat, Ron. I just can't imagine I have been given these powers just so I can pass a few tests."

"Why do you think you've got these powers?" Harry thought for a moment, but only one explanation came to mind.

"To defeat Voldemort," he answered, causing his friend to become silent again.

Harry was feeling the fatigue from lack of sleep and extra lessons with Charlie. He was growing increasingly tired and wanted to figure out some way to escape his friend without seeming too rude.

"Listen, Harry," Ron began after a few moments. "I was wondering if would you do me a favor?"

"You want me to go talk to Hermione and try to get her to allow you back into your room?"

"Would you?" Harry narrowed his eyes briefly.

"I really don't want to get in the middle of another one of your arguments. I still have my own love life to straighten out, remember?"

"Please? She won't talk to me and I don't want to spend the rest of the year on her bad side. You know how she can be, once she has her nose bent, she never relinquishes." Harry chuckled remembering the many times Ron and Hermione had been at each other's throats over something trivial.

"All right, I'll talk to her, but I can't make any promises. Once Hermione has her mind set she never changes it. I've never been able to get her to bend."

"Thanks mate," Ron said with a wide smile as Harry stood up and walked to the portrait hiding the Head Dormitory from the main common room. Ron stepped up behind his friend and uttered the password, then stepped aside for Harry to pass through.

"You coming?" Harry asked, noticing that Ron was remaining behind.

"No, I think it's best if I stay here. I don't want to give her any more reason to yell at me." Harry shook his head, chuckling at the sight of his best friend shyly standing outside. He just couldn't understand why love had to be so bloody complicated.

Harry stepped through the small passage that divided the two rooms, noticing the dimly lit common room. There was nobody around and the sound of the fire still burning in the hearth was the only sound that welcomed him. He stopped in the middle of the room and looked at the two closed doors on the back wall. It just occurred to him, he had never really paid much attention to this place before. Which room was Ron's and which one was Hermione's? He stood there for a moment listening, hoping to hear something that would lead him in the right direction. The last thing he wanted to do was walk in on his best friend changing or worse, completely starkers! Until now, he had never considered how she might dress for bed, but he wasn't all that eager to discover it either.

Just as he was about to turn around and go ask Ron, the door to his right opened and a dim light shined on the carpet of the darkened room. For a moment Harry just stared, waiting for someone to exit, but nobody appeared. Hesitatingly, he stepped forward; slowly reaching out and pushing the door open very carefully. He drew a deep breath and peeked his head around the corner. He saw the image of a woman inside, the slender frame of her back silhouetted by the moon from the window behind her. She had her back to him and didn't seem to notice that he was there. A sudden jerk on his libido made his mind stop and his heart begin to pound viciously inside his chest. What the hell was he doing? This was Hermione, his best friend, the soon-to-be wife of his other best friend. She was like a sister to him. He had no right to feel any form of attraction to her. Maybe it was the aroma of soft lilacs filtering around the room or the soft crinkle of satin against flesh, but whatever it was, he had to fight the urge to walk up behind her and wrap his arms around her waist.

Softly, Harry cleared his throat, taking a step further into the room. He stood there in silence, he knew she was aware of him by the way she shifted her stance and the gentle change in her breathing. What was he doing here, Harry scolded himself? He should be up in bed, fighting off the urge to repeat the episode with Snape. He should be pacing his own dormitory, not standing in the room of the Head Girl, begging her to forgive the Head Boy for being a clumsy, thick skulled oaf.

"Um, 'Mione," he began, hearing his words bounce off the walls. "Ron told me what happened between you and him. He asked me to speak with you." Nothing, no answer, just the soft silhouette with her back to him, the sound of breathing, the crackle of the fire in the next room.

"He really is sorry," Harry began again after a moment's silence. "He loves you, you know? He's just...thick, sometimes." Still nothing. "Look, 'Mione, I don't want you and Ron to fight because of me and Ginny. We are having some problems, but it shouldn't concern you two."

"Do you love her?" a quiet voice asked from the other side of the room. Harry sighed. Why did that always seem to be in question?

"Yes," he answered honestly. "But I don't know if she feels the same way."

"Why?"

"She's worried about me and these new powers of mine. I suppose she has a right to be upset, but I just wish people would stop thinking I can't control them. It's just that they are so powerful, so...deep."

"Do you want to control them?" she asked, causing Harry to narrow his eyes. There was something odd about the way she asked that question that made him take another step further into the room.

"I don't know." The room fell back into silence as Harry tried to bring some sense to the thoughts raging in his mind. For a moment, he thought he could see what the woman was thinking, images began to filter into his own mind and he could see a small child playing in the yard of countryside farm. She was happily laughing; tossing a ball around the yard and watching gnomes scurry away when it came near. Then he heard a loud explosion and saw the door to the house behind the girl swing open.

"Virginia Weasley, get back into this house right this minute," Mrs. Weasley snapped, her stout figure filling the doorway. "I will not tell you again to get this kneazle out of my kitchen. It's stolen all the knobs from my stove and all the silver from the drawers."

"But mum, it's not my fault it's in there," the young girl screeched back. "Yell at Fred and George, it belongs to them. I want to play."

"Right now young lady, or there will be no going to Kings Cross to meet your brothers this afternoon." Mrs. Weasley disappeared back into the house, leaving the small girl in the garden. Harry could feel the anger building inside her, he could feel the emotions burning to life and his hands clenched into fists as he felt the girl do the same thing inside his mind. His breathing began to come in short; heated pants and he continued to watch the pictures filtering in his mind like a Muggle movie.

The young girl turned away from the house, her own breathing matching that of Harry's. She glanced to the chicken coop, her eyes filling with anger and before he knew what was happening, the door to the coop flew open and chickens came flying from the door. They lay about the yard dead, their heads distorted, their mangled bodies twitching in the dirt. Harry gasped audibly. Ginny had just used the lapis gelu, but how?

"Do you think you're the only one who has this power?" the young woman asked, stepping closer to Harry so he could see the honey brown of her eyes.

"Ginny, you? But how? Dumbledore never said you could do this too."

"He doesn't know," she told him softly. "Charlie discovered I had the power and trained me to control it. I wasn't in Hogwart's at the time, Harry. Dumbledore had no way of knowing and I have never used it here for him to detect."

"But why didn't you tell me?" he asked her suspiciously.

"This power is dangerous, Harry. It scared me the day I discovered it and every day since then. I don't want it, but I can't get rid of it either. It's very dark and evil. I killed our chickens, but it could just as easily have been my mum or one of my brothers. I was only seven, Harry. If Ron hadn't been with dad that day, we would have been playing together. I could have killed him instead of the chickens."

"But you've been able to control it. How?"

"It hasn't been easy. At first, after the initial fear was over, I realized how much I truly enjoyed the passion, the heat of the power was delicious. It was like warm chocolate on a cold winter day. I loved the feeling and I wanted to feel like that again, but I kept remembering the chickens. I would never have been able to live with myself if I had harmed any of my brothers or my mum, and I could have. I was so angry that she wanted me to stop playing just to get rid of Fred and George's kneazle. It wasn't my fault it was in the house, but I was the only one home so I had to take care of it. I didn't think it was fair and it made me so angry, I just wanted to scream. Instead, I attacked...and killed."

"They were just chickens," Harry said somewhat less convincing then he had wanted it to sound. He was beginning to understand what it was about this power that made so many people cringe in fear.

"It doesn't matter, I killed them. Death is death, no matter who or what it is."

"Ginny, I'm sorry," Harry whispered, remembering the bruise on her arm, thinking of the young girl who attacked the chicken coop. The people in the library could just as easily have been the chickens in the coop. If Harry hadn't have stopped when he did...

"You could have killed everyone around you," Ginny finished his thought aloud. Harry's eyes were the size of saucers as he stared at the young woman through the darkness of the room. "I have the power, Harry. I can see what you're thinking, just as you could see what Snape was thinking. I can sense your emotions and I know your fears. Right now, it's my fears that frighten you. You hurt me Harry, what's to stop you from killing me next time? What's to stop you from killing Snape if the situation arose?" Harry looked down at the carpet as he shuffled his feet.

"I won't do that. I will never use this power against you."

"I didn't intend to kill those chickens either, Harry, but I did. I didn't think about it, I didn't plan it, I didn't even know I could do it. It just happened."

"Help me, Ginny," he asked in a child like voice. He looked up as two slender arms reached out and encircled his neck, wrapping his own arms around the warm waist of the woman he loved. They stood there together for several long moments, before Harry reached down and scooped her into his embrace, carrying her to the bed. It didn't matter any more where they were, or what had happened a few weeks ago or a few days ago. He had her in his arms again and this time, they shared more then just their love. They shared a secret that could destroy or unite them eternally.

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The sound of laughter filled his dreams and he smiled as he watched himself playing with Ginny in the large orchard he had walked through to meet his parents. They dodged and ducked the large trunks of fruit trees, playing as children would, laughing until their sides felt as if they would split. Harry felt the warmth of her body against him as he finally reached her, pulling her in his arms. All he wanted was to love her, to hold her and never let her go. Then, just as he felt his lips brush her neck, he sensed something very odd. He didn't feel a part of the dream anymore and blinking he saw himself standing alone among the trees. He heard her scream and turned to see Ginny struggling in the arms of...himself. He was standing in front of her, kissing her and holding her tightly, but then the image began to change in the waves of time and he saw his own face changing as Ginny continued to scream and struggle for her freedom. Harry saw his own handsome face turn to the pale, cold image of Voldemort. He held Ginny's arm tightly, pointing his wand to her chest and smiling wickedly. Harry tried to move, but he couldn't seem to find the strength to reach her. It was as if the ground had grown up around him and he was rooted to the very spot he stood. Ginny continued to scream and struggle in the grasp of the evil Dark Lord. The laughter that echoed through his mind was one Harry had heard himself for many long years. Evil etched every line of his face as he whispered the words that drove a knife into Harry's heart, "Avada Kedavra".

Ginny screamed herself awake, bringing Harry to sit straight up in the bed next to her. They were both panting furiously, cold sweat running down their foreheads and necks. Their hands shook and their hearts pounded within their chest. Harry turned to the fear streaked face of the girl next to him. He didn't know how, but somehow he had just shared the nightmare of the girl next to him. He saw the horror on her face and felt the fear raking at his gutt as she stared at him, trying to focus on the room's surroundings. Harry reached out and quickly pulled her against his bare chest, listening to the wild beating of her heart against his. With a rush of relief she gave into the tears, falling into the warm embrace circling her.

"I am so sorry," he whispered, feeling the sickening sobering sensation of the addiction he so desperately thought he needed. "I never meant to hurt you. I never meant for you to suffer like this."

"I'm so scared," she whispered through sobs of tears.

"I know and I'm sorry."

"Harry please, please don't let this take you from me," Ginny pleaded, pulling out of his arms. The tears streaking down her face tore at Harry's heart. How could he have ever thought anything would mean more to him then her?

"I promise Ginny," he whispered, smoothing her hair from her damp face. "Nothing will ever come between us again." Ginny pressed tightly against his body, wrapping him in the trembling, vulnerable grip of her own.

They lay together for a long time, just listening to each other's heart as it slowly returned to normal. Neither of them wanted to sleep, they didn't want a repeat of the dream they shared; yet they couldn't find words to express their raging emotions. Ginny's fear was real and he couldn't help but feel it inside himself. It wasn't just the power she feared; it was the side effects of it. If he couldn't control it, he would be no better off then Voldemort. He would sacrifice the people he loved, just as Tom Riddle had killed his father and grandparents. Nothing would stop him, if he couldn't stop the power and they both knew it now, more then they had a few short hours before.

"Harry, you have to concentrate harder," Charlie scolded the next night, as they worked long into the night. "You can control the mind, you can imprison the urges, but now you have to fight the hunger to dwells within the soul. Don't let it consume you."

"I'm trying, dammit," Harry snapped, kicking the chair he had sat on the past two hours across the room. He was angry and frustrated and the longer he tried, the harder it became to control. "It isn't easy. I thought the power was this wonderful feeling, but now it's..."

"Evil," Charlie finished, standing from the chair he had sat in across from Harry for so long. "The lapis gelu can be your best friend or your worse enemy. It is filled with passion and consumed with glutenous lust, but denied it becomes vengeful, hateful."

"You talk about it as if it's alive," Harry growled.

"In a way it is, Harry. It's pulling on every one of your emotions, forcing you to confront it and deal with it. Once you allow it into your mind, the lapis gelu takes over a part of you that you never knew existed, a part most wizards have never touched."

"Tell me how you helped Ginny control her power," Harry asked, watching Charlie as he folded his arms across his chest.

"I'm not surprised she told you," he answered. "I'm just amazed she didn't tell you sooner."

"How did she develop the power so early in life?"

"Ginny is a very powerful and very strong witch, she showed remarkable talent from the day she was born. When she was six months old, she summonsed her own bottle because mum was busy with Ron and couldn't get it fast enough to appease her. When she was two, she used the jelly legs jinx on Fred after he took her toy dragon away."

"Is that normal, to show magical talent that young?"

"To a point, but not to the extent she did. I found her the day she blew up the chicken coop, sitting under a tree in the garden crying. She was so scared she couldn't stop shaking. She said she wanted me to take her to St. Mungo's before she caused anyone any harm. She didn't understand the extent of her powers and they frightened her."

"How was she able to control it?"

"It wasn't easy. It took us over three years of working during the summers and holidays. If I had been able to spend the time with her that I am with you, it wouldn't have taken more then a few weeks. But she was left alone to practice her restraints. I was very proud of her. I honestly think the solitude mad her a much stronger person."

"She's been having nightmares," Harry said quietly. "She is not only afraid of my not being able to control this power, but that I will join Voldemort. She dreams that I turn into him."

"I know," Charlie said gently, smiling at the confused expression on Harry's face. "I have this power too, remember? I sense the fear and hear the nightmares in my own mind."

"How can I stop them?"

"By working a hell of lot harder. You have to focus, Harry. Not just your mind, you have to focus your entire being. This power isn't just in your head; it is in your soul. Fighting it isn't enough. It is pure power, Harry. It is magic in the truest form. Voldemort spent many years trying to develop it, but he never could. He did come close once, long ago when he was just a boy, but he could never master it. It is the reason he desires such power. Your powers are much more developed than his is and because of that you have the advantage. But if you do not learn to control it, it will take you over and drive you to depths you have never imagined. That is why Dumbledore is so concerned, Harry. That's why Ginny cries for you at night. You have powers no one has ever imaged you could. You are not just a great wizard, you are a great defender."

"Is that why Voldemort was able to get into my head? Is that how he tricked me the night Sirius was killed?"

"No Harry. Voldemort discovered your link with him purely by accident. Once he realized you had a connection to him, he used it, but it was not the lapis gelu. It was just an act of mind control and you were too young to defend yourself against it. That made it easy for him to get inside you."

"So why do I have these powers? Where did they come from?" Charlie paced the floor slowly, feeling Harry's eyes on him. "It's a part of the prophecy Dumbledore doesn't want me to know, isn't it?"

"In a way," Charlie answered, turning and leaning against the table at the edge of the DA room. "The prophecy stated that the blood of the mother flowed through the veins of the son. Your mother was a great witch Harry. She had these powers but she never developed them the way you have. Because she was Muggle born, she couldn't understand the full power of the lapis gelu. If she had, the outcome of the war sixteen years ago would have had a much different ending."

"You mean all of these things I can do, is because of my mum?"

"And James. They were both very powerful, which is one reason Voldemort was determined to kill them. With the powers of both parents flowing through your veins, there is very little you can't do, but you have to be taught to deal with them and control them. Make your powers work for you Harry, don't be a slave to them."

"I'm trying Charlie, but it isn't easy."

"If it were easy Harry, Snape would have been able to teach you two years ago when Dumbledore told him to help you master your Occlumency."

"I can't imagine him teaching me anything," Harry grumbled softly. Charlie chuckled deep from his chest.

"I wish I would have seen him flying across the room," he said. "I know it was a very dangerous thing you did, attacking a professor I mean, but it's not like he didn't deserve it. He has always loved making himself appear more superior than he is. I suppose it's because of the kind of childhood he had."

"What do you mean?"

"Snape came from a very abusive family, Harry. His father was demanding and very stern, much like Lucius Malfoy was with Draco. Snape was beaten if he didn't get a spell right. When his first O.W.L.S. came, he didn't get the marks his father expected him to get. The old man beat him so badly, he nearly died. He spent the entire summer holiday in St. Mungo's recovering. Snape never had many friends in school and after his association with Voldemort, it seemed nobody wanted to know him, except Dumbledore."

"What happened with Snape to make Dumbledore trust him so much?" Harry asked, watching the confusion pass across Charlie's freckled face.

"Snape was a spy for the Order during the early days. When Voldemort found out he ordered his death. Dumbledore learned of the plans to kill him and went after him."

"Is that why Snape has offered his loyalty to Dumbledore? Because he went after him?"

"It was Dumbledore that saved Snape from the Dark Lord. He put his own life on the line to protect him. Once a wizard saves another wizard's life, that life is indebted until repaid."

"So that's why Snape is here? Because he owes Dumbledore a wizard's debt?"

"At first that was why he was here, but as time passed he has developed a very deep appreciation for the Headmaster. He is truly a friend."

"Do you trust him?" Harry asked, watching the confusion and suspicion pass through Charlie's eyes.

"I trust Dumbledore. If he trusts Snape, then I will too."

"I won't and I don't."

"That's because of the feelings he has against your father."

"I guess," Harry said distractedly.

"I don't really think anything will ever bring you two to terms with your anger," Charlie said with a heavy sigh.

"Not so long as he's a pompous jack-arse."

"What do you say we knock off for the night?" Charlie asked with a chuckle. "It's getting late and you have a game tomorrow. I don't want anything to stand in the way of Gryffindor winning the House Cup again this year."

"We may not have a choice," Harry grumbled. "I haven't been allowed to practice since being put on confinement."

"I'm not worried about you Harry. I have faith in you."

"I wish I had your confidence. Right now I think I'll just ask not to have my head knocked off with a stray bludger. And to think, all I wanted was one year at Hogwart's that wasn't filled with danger, conflict or fighting."