Mindgames

Chapter 4 -- From Under the Dark Lord’s Nose

The room stopped still and everyone stared at Harry. "Selene Snape, I presume," Dumbledore said.

Harry stood up and his eyes caught sight of the figure standing behind the headmaster. "Severus!" Harry/Selene said in clear pleasure. She walked over to him and grabbed his arms. "My, but you've let yourself go to hell," she commented.

Snape looked as though reality had made a sharp turn and left him on another road. "Selene?" he managed.

"What took you so long?" she asked, only a little annoyed.

"I didn't know where you were or that you were still. . . alive."

"Speaking of which," Dumbledore interrupted. "Ms. Snape, what happened to Harry?"

"Harry?" she asked in confusion.

"The boy whose body you are in . . ."

She looked down at her hands again and then her figure. "Oh. Uh. He must be in the globe. I have been practicing that in my mind for years. Every time Voldemort came to taunt me I watched how he did it, how he reached into the ball with his mind. That boy did the same thing and I was just waiting for it."

"You took our Harry Potter a bit by surprise, I think," Dumbledore said, sounding concerned.

She shook her head. "He didn't resist at all. Seemed worried about me, actually."

Dumbledore looked between Harry/Selene and Professor Snape. "I do not mean to break up this reunion, but I think places should be changed back."

Selene gave Snape a pained look of longing before she stepped back over to the globe. "I think I can do this." She crouched next to the cart and put her hands on the globe. "All right . . . Harry," she said, remembering the name. "Let's try this."

A split second later, Harry threw himself backward with a yelp and scrambled away until he crashed into the legs of a nearby bed. He panted and tried to claw his way up the bed in his panic. Dumbledore and Pomfrey converged on him. "Harry, it's all right," Dumbledore said as he raised Harry up to sit on the bed. Harry continued to hyperventilate and stared across the room with a look of horror. Pomfrey was trying to spell him into a less active mode.

"Severus, get something to calm him," Dumbledore said. He and Pomfrey had a hold of Harry's arms.

"So small," Harry breathed. "Trapped."

"Harry, relax," Dumbledore said soothingly. He handed him a cup quickly filled from a potion bottle Professor Snape gave them from the supply room.

Harry drank it down with some assistance in holding it steady. He stared into the empty cup. "That's better," he breathed although his hand was still shaking.

"Can we give him a little more?" Dumbledore asked.

"Half a dose," Pomfrey said, already pouring it out.

Harry drank that too and allowed himself to be laid back. "How long was I in there?" he asked.

"Three minutes, perhaps," Dumbledore replied.

Harry stared at him. "And she's been in there seventeen years?" he asked incredulous. "Oh, Merlin!" he breathed and rubbed his hair back hard several times.

Dumbledore swallowed and looked up at Snape whose expression grew more pained as Harry went on. The headmaster said, "Harry, just relax and stay still for a little while. You had a panic attack and it will pass by the time the potion wears off."

Harry nodded and covered his eyes with one hand and held that way.

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"Hermione," Harry said as he walked up to his friend later as she sat in the Gryffindor common room. "I need you to help me figure out a spell."

"What happened earlier?" she said. "I got left with Flitwick's class."

"You mean you got left teaching it?" Harry asked, amazed.

"Yeah," she said. "But it went okay. I held a review session. Where did everyone go?"

Harry ducked closer to her. "I don't know if I can tell you. But I'll check, and if it’s okay . . ."

Hermione looked annoyed for a moment before turning to him in curiosity. "What spell?"

Harry lowered his voice. "Do you know anything about trapping someone inside something like a crystal ball?"

Hermione took a deep breath and tilted her head back to stare at the ceiling for a long time. "No. But let me go to the library."

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Harry's routine continued and except that they let him have his wand for classes. He had to turn it in at night and get it back in the morning. He was allowed to sleep in his own bed as well. Harry felt he was being rewarded for his throttling of the Dark Lord's mind even though Dumbledore seemed angry about it on the surface. Voldemort had been leaving him alone, it seemed. Harry hoped he thought him no long worth the risk.

During their afternoon break the next day, Hermione came into the DA meeting with two books which she left on a shelf while they worked on cutting spells. The room of requirement provided lots of planks and stone blocks for practice and even cleaned the debris up after they left.

The room emptied out. Ron insisted on going to the hospital wing for a deep cut on his hand, leaving Harry and Hermione alone.

"Someone cleared all of the books out of the library already on most any topic related to what you asked me. But I found these two, which have things along the same line. She pulled out a very old Grimoire and opened it to a marked page. "Is this what you are talking about?" she asked as she pointed at an old woodcut of a sphere.

"Yeah." Harry leveraged the book onto his own lap and tried to read the old English on the page. "This is some kind of compression spell though," Harry said.

"One doesn't entrap something really, one forms a shell around something. It is much easier that way and the result is the same."

"I don't get this spell," Harry commented.

"Okay," Hermione said and pulled out her notes, on which was a kind of translation of the text into modern English, with underlined words and phrases where she wasn't certain what they meant. "Do you remember Muggle science class at all?" she asked him.

"Boy, a little I guess."

"Do you remember science class where they talked about atoms and how the distance between the stars was very similar to the relative distances between the atoms that make up the world, the objects around us?"

Harry furrowed his brow. "I think so. Yeah."

"Okay. So what that means is that what we see is just the energy that holds the atoms together when we look at something because really it is almost all just empty space. That leaves a lot of room to squeeze something down and still have big spaces between the atoms. That is what the heart of a dark star is like because of the high gravity. A chunk the size of my little finger would weigh more than a car."

Harry gave her a look but didn't argue.

"That is what this spell does as far as I can tell, it is a way of compressing something down much smaller."

"But does it stay alive when you do that?"

Hermione pointed at the next page. There was a stylized figure of a man in silly pants who looked like he was opening a jar with a stuck lid. "It implies that you can recover what you compressed but it is really hard to read this part."

"What is this diagram?" Harry asked looking at a rectangle bisected by many lines over and over.

"I found that in here as well," she said, picking up another book, "for a completely different spell involving mining or something." The pages of the other book were really stained and smeared as though they’d been used as a table cover at the Three Broomsticks. "But look here." They read the text together as well as they could.

Harry jumped up and pulled his wand out. "Let's try it."

"What are you going to try?"

"That thing it calls hopscotching." Harry pointed his wand at the floor and moved it in triangles to draw a rectangle. "I am supposed to push everything out of the rectangle, right? I think that is what it says." Harry tried to imagine the spell with his wand as a scoop, then as a wall. Nothing happened. He sat back down with the book again.

"We have to go to class," Hermione said.

Harry closed the book and stood up with it. "I'll keep this one if you want to keep that one."

"I have both of them transcribed. This one," she indicated the Grimoire, "is full of strange spells like this one. Spells with a lot of Muggle science to them. It is odd, but I have never seen another in the library like it."

"What do you mean?" Harry asked as he reached for the lamp then remembered that the room would take care of itself. He couldn't put the other book in his bag so he hoisted it under his arm with a grunt.

They stepped out into the hallway. "Harry, have you ever thought about how magic is possible? It violates the laws of physics basically all of the time."

"It's magic, Hermione. If it didn't, it wouldn't be."

"That is one way to look at it." They walked into Transfiguration and sat down. Harry put the book under the chair with a nod at Hermione to remind him that it was there at the end of class.

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It took three sessions to figure out how to make the box empty. The first time Harry managed it, there was a rush like sand falling on a large sheet of parchment and he stopped immediately. With a whoosh! the box filled in.

"But Hermione, if the box is square, how do you get a round ball at the end?"

"Because the thing inside resists being compressed evenly on all sides."

"Oh, yeah." Harry picked up a piece of chalk. They were trying this in an empty classroom since classes were over for the day. He recreated the box and dropped the chalk in. It turned to powder and rained down onto the clean floor after jumping to the edge of the box.

"You have to close the box at the right moment to force the vacuum to compress your object," Hermione commented as she walked over and stood beside him. "Harry, it doesn't bother you that magic doesn't fit physics?"

Harry shook his head and pointed his wand at the floor and thought a little about the box spell.

"Don't you ever wonder why the latest technology wizards have is the gas lamp?"

"Mr. Weasley has some newer stuff," Harry commented.

"Yes, but he never has it working properly as a Muggle device for long, if ever. Its as though magic itself breaks things. That is why he has some many charmed Muggle devices around."

Harry started making triangles, thinking of a broom as he did so and another box began forming.

"Pure-bloods especially hate it when other wizards get interested in Muggle technology," Hermione commented in thought. "As though it's dangerous to."

Harry timed it carefully, dropping the chalk and canceling the spell. The chalk, this time, ended up as a neat little pile of white dust directly under where he'd dropped it. The box closed with a clap! that made them both jump. They exited quickly, afraid Filch would come and yell at them.

They discussed it over dinner while Ron and Ginny talked about Quidditch.

"There is something we're missing," Hermione mulled as she ate her pumpkin soup.

"There are probably lots of things we're missing," Harry pointed out.

"The Grimoire implies that you can do this with very large things. I worked out how much force a vacuum of that size has and it isn't really that much."

"You are getting magic and science confused again," Harry commented.

"Yeah, but this spell is half and half. I've never seen anything like it. It is like when I first found out I was a witch and that their was really such a thing. I took my books home and combed through them from cover to cover trying to figure out how the magic could possibly work. Take levitation. The force involved in lifting my bed was enormous, but it was just a flick of a wand. Where did the energy come from? I wondered. It drove me nuts. Then I got to school and it all just worked so I stopped wondering. But this spell reminds me that it isn't that separate."

"I never learned much in Muggle school. I hated it. I was always on the run from Dudley."

Hermione gave him a look of sympathy. "There must be energy there as well as the vacuum. Maybe it isn't the vacuum but an environment where this other energy can survive."

"You are hurting my brain, Hermione," Harry complained. "If you think it's the energy then maybe we need an living thing to try it on."

"I'll get a couple of mice from McGonagall," Hermione said.

"You aren't supposed to abuse them like that," Harry pointed out.

"You are trying to rescue a person, right Harry? I haven't pried much, but I assume so." When Harry nodded, she said, "We'll try two and only two."

They didn't get a chance until late that evening after Quidditch practice. Harry was a little tired but Hermione's eagerness was infectious.

"Hold the mouse," Harry said. He created the empty box with practiced skill now. He had started using little Muggle rhymes as incantations since he didn't have one from the books. "London Bridges" was his current theme. Hermione rolled her eyes and handed him the mouse when he asked for it. Harry concentrated hard on the timing. He wanted to release the box just as the mouse was falling through the middle of it. It clung to his hand a moment and he heard the rushing sound changing so he made a few more passes of the wand and opened it up again. This time it fell cleanly and Harry closed the box around its struggling form.

A perfect glass sphere rolled away along the floor after the clap! sounded.

"Harry!" Hermione yelped. "You did it!" She scooped up the globe and looked at it. "Harry?" she asked in an odd voice. "Why is the globe larger and heavier than the mouse if you just executed a compression spell?"

She put the globe in his outstretched hand. Harry held it up. It swirled ever so slightly. It was almost the same size as the other one. "I think we should figure that out before we try to open it," he commented.

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Over the next week, Harry dwelled on the questions raised by the new globe and watched all kinds of things around them, certain the answer was right in front of him. He almost thought he had it when Ginny broke an egg into their table's soup at lunch one day. Harry watched the egg hold its perfect shape as it fell into the liquid, for just an instant, before spreading outward. The strands cooked quickly as Ron helped her stir it, apparently hungry as usual.

It resists compression on all sides evenly, he remembered. That meant that the thing inside was a perfect smaller copy of itself. But you can't see it. But it is thinking. Harry knew that, having experienced it first hand. It was also folded up in a horribly claustrophobic position. He hoped the mouse in the bottom of his trunk wasn't going too crazy in there. Mice liked small hovels though, it was probably enjoying itself.

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Snape seemed like he was trapped inside one of those globes as well. Harry was starting to feel almost sorry for the git as he paced madly around the classroom during Potions like a zoo animal caged too closely, too long.

Hermione waited for Harry at the classroom door at the end of session. Harry waved her off and she gave him a look as though he were nutters but she shook her head and let the door close between them.

"Professor?" Harry prompted. Snape was putting things away in the worrisome house-elf way he had now. He looked up. Harry hesitated, then dove in, partially because he needed another look himself. "I am willing to switch with Selene again if you want."

Snape's eyes glazed for a moment. "Potter, do you not remember how terrorized you were when you came out the last time?" he said to Harry in his usual nasty tone.

Harry ignored it. "I know what is coming this time," he said with false confidence. Snape didn't move, just stared at him. "I just thought you might want to talk to her again," Harry added and started to turn away.

"How about right now?" Snape suggested sharply.

It was lunch time, but that at least meant Harry didn't have class. He had offered, time to rise up to the challenge. "Okay." He had to remind himself that he really wanted to see the inside of the globe again to keep from retracting the offer.

They walked together to the headmaster's office. Dumbledore was just preparing to go down to the Great Hall. He looked up at them in question. Snape gestured for Harry to speak. Harry gathered his wits and said, "Headmaster. Uh, I offered to Professor Snape to switch with Selene again if you would allow it."

Dumbledore didn't respond immediately. "Since you like direct questions, Harry. I'll simply ask you if this was your idea."

"Yes."

"Fair enough. You do remember how distressed you were the last time?"

Harry nodded. "I think I have a better sense this time."

"I do not object, but I don't want it to last too long. Five minutes is my limit." He looked at Snape who nodded when he realized it was expected of him.

Dumbledore took out the globe and set it on the desk. Snape cleared his throat. "Do you mind leaving us, headmaster?"

Dumbledore's brow went up. "If Harry doesn't mind. I think that would be all right."

Harry, who was studying the globe with practiced eyes, just shrugged. "I won't be here," he commented distractedly.

"Your body will, Harry," Dumbledore pointed out.

Harry twisted his neck to look over at the headmaster oddly. He shrugged again, very curious now about the globe.

"Five minutes then. I will return." Dumbledore entered the escalator.

Harry glanced at Snape, then put his hands on the globe. He felt a fleeting question from the woman, then in a flicker he was curled tight to himself and pressed inside a hard dome. The first thing he realized was that he was not breathing, and that it didn't matter somehow. He cleared his mind of emotion and felt the inside of the hard dome around him with his back. He couldn't move. That was what had sent him into a panic the last time. This time he just went with it. The swirling of the globe was more pronounced from the inside. He wondered if that meant anything.

Harry/Selene stood straight and stepped over to Snape. She hugged him fiercely a moment just long enough for Snape to pat her once on the back.

"You're very standoffish," she commented.

"It is that body you are in," Snape said dryly.

"Don't like this kid much?"

Snape shook his head. "He is the Dark Lord's non-evil twin. That is why he can reach you inside that globe when no one else can."

"He's what?" she laughed.

"As an infant, he killed the Dark Lord."

"But I saw Voldemort over the last year," she said. "He started to come regularly but he was gone a long long long time."

"The Dark Lord is too evil to die, even with his own Avada Kedavra curse. This happened a year after you were trapped in there," he said as he pointed at the globe. "You are probably the only witch who does not know Harry's name as the Dark Lord's vanquisher."

She took his hand. "You hate him for killing Voldemort?" she suggested, confused.

He shook his head. "He is James Potter's sixteen-year-old son."

"Ah," she said. "So he was indoctrinated into Snape hating at a young age then. Showed up at the school and immediately gave you hell?"

Snape didn't reply to that.

She willingly changed the subject. "I can't believe you are teaching. That is so completely bizarre." She stretched her arms out and walked around the room. "This body is a little strange, that's for sure. Way too skinny. Are you sure he's sixteen?" At Snape's nod, she added, "Scrawny little devil." She walked back over to him. "You smell like you must be teaching Potions. I always hated that class."

"It is not by choice."

"Of course, Dark Arts was always your favorite. But Dumbledore wouldn't go for that I bet. I can't believe he trusts you with students at all. He knows you have the mark, right?"

"Yes. We have less than a minute."

"I missed you," she said, touching his chin a moment. "I missed everyone, but mostly you."

Snape looked down at the floor and closed his eyes. "We really must get you out of there, this is much too distressing."

She laughed. "Your nemesis as your sister," she said ominously to tease him, and paced around the room again.

"Correct."

The door slid open and Dumbledore stepped in. "Time," he said.

Selene gave Snape a smile and grabbed the globe. Suddenly, Harry jerked back from it. He let out a hard breath and looked between his Professor and headmaster.

"You seem much better this time, Harry," Dumbledore said, very pleased.

"It is actually a very quiet chance to think," he said with a twinkle in his eye.

"Very good. I am sure that if our efforts to remove Ms. Snape are delayed that you may be asked to repeat this. If you are willing, Harry. There is no pressure for you to do so."

Harry shrugged. He looked at Snape who locked his gaze on the desk and didn't look up at him. "I'll just go to lunch now, Headmaster."

"Go on, Harry. And thank you," the old wizard intoned.

Harry smiled at him and jumped on the escalator. When the door clicked closed, Dumbledore shook his head. "That boy is positively strange," he said. He took the calming potion out of his pocket and set it near Snape on the desk. "You can take that back to the stocks. How he managed to go from utterly terrorized to blissfully happy in one experience is beyond me."

"I am glad I am not the only one disturbed by Mr. Potter, Albus." Snape snatched up the potion bottle and headed for the door as well.

Harry nearly danced into the Great Hall. As he sat down across from Hermione, he said, "I have it." Her head came up with a surprised look. "The globe is sized to contain life, not matter."

She stared at him. "Of course," she breathed in a victorious tone.