Harry Potter and The Secret of The Heirs

Chapter Twenty Three

Of Bells and Dreams

Harry began floating. The pain was excruciating. He could see Lucius holding him under the curse. It did not look like he was going to relent. Harry felt like he was loosing strength. He felt like he was going to collapse any second. It was difficult. It was too difficult. He felt like it was impossible. He had to give in. The pain was searing. It was affecting every inch of his body. He felt like he was being consumed. Everything was going black. He could faintly hear someone yelling.

'IMPEDIMENTA'

The spell hadn't worked but Harry was released from the curse. Harry saw Hagrid out of the corner of his eyes having lifted Lucius up and dropped him on the ground.

'Malfoy you scum-suckin' worm,' he yelled. 'I'm gonna make sure you pay for that.'

'I don't think so,' Lucius replied a sly smile appearing on his blood-covered face.

'AVADA KEDAVRA!'

Lucius Malfoy had his wand pointed at Hagrid. There was a flash of green light, as Hagrid screamed in pain.

Everything happened so quickly, there was no time for anyone to react. Time seemed to slow. Each second dragged on as Harry watched his beloved mentor perish in agony.

'NOOOOOO,' Harry screamed. But it was too late.

Hagrid was dead.

Malfoy's father had killed Hagrid.

Hagrid who had been like a father to him, Hagrid who had told him he was a wizard, Hagrid who had taken him away from the Dursleys. Hagrid who was always so kind and generous to him.

Hagrid was dead.

Hagrid had died protecting Harry.

Harry fell to the ground and began sobbing. His entire body began to shake. Hagrid couldn't be dead. He just couldn't. In disbelief, he ran over towards the half-giant and began shaking him. It was of no use.

Lucius raised his wand toward Harry again. Harry was mesmerised by the blood pouring out of Lucius' face as he began to yell at him.

'So what is your decision, Potter? Will you follow the Dark Lord or will you expire just like your parents and your beloved Hagrid?'

Harry didn't get a chance to answer. A cold chill entered the air, and Harry realised that Malfoy had not betrayed them. He saw Dementors emerge from the forest. As he saw them, he heard Hagrid die again; he heard Cedric die and Voldemort being reborn. He heard his mother and father screaming. Harry knew he could never possibly be happy again. He could not even summon the strength to raise his wand to create a protective shield.

The Dementors were surrounding the clearing; they were moving in on them.

The Dementors were headed for Lucius Malfoy. Harry breathed a sigh of relief. It would be impossible for Lucius to get away. He was totally encircled by these depressing dark creatures.

Harry's head hurt. He had been so caught up in what had been happening that the sound had died away. But now, while there was a distinct silence in the clearing, it was there.

The sound was growing stronger and stronger, louder and louder. It was really beginning to bother Harry. The music was not pleasant. It couldn't be connected to the Dementors, he had not heard it on his previous encounters. Glancing around he noticed that the others didn't even look like they were affected.

'Can't you hear the noise?' he yelled.

They shook their heads as Lucius tried to use the distraction to escape the Dementors.

'KISS HIM,' a scream came from the bushes.

A nearby Dementor was more than happy to oblige. It grabbed Lucius with its foul rotting hands, lowered its hood over Lucius' face and kissed him. Draco looked on in horror. Harry shuddered as he felt the surrounding air reach a new level of iciness.

'FATHER,' Draco yelled. He collapsed in sorrow. Harry had never before felt sorry for Draco, however when he looked at the distraught look on Draco's face, he couldn't feel anything else. Harry knew the pain Draco was feeling.

Lucius Malfoy was now a soulless body, collapsed on the ground next to Hagrid. Draco ran over and grabbed his father.

There were two young men holding the bodies of those who had been so influential in their lives.

Tràth-sa bhos clag seinn sàmach bidh eilie deir chugam mi: thu 's fheudar teasd. A' àille abaich a' leóghann ni sgrios a clag.

The sound was tormenting him. The words had changed. What was it? What did it mean? It had been there before the Dementors had arrived. He felt like he was being haunted.

Harry looked over and saw Chrystal standing there. She had emerged from the bushes when the Dementors had appeared.

'It's about time,' Ron said somewhat angrily.

He and Hermione were still tied to the tree. Draco moved to untie them and give them back their wands. He looked distraught.

'You must leave now,' she said to the Dementors.

Reluctantly they left the clearing. The chill left the air, but Harry was still overwhelmed by the sadness that he felt and the sound that was haunting him.

Tràth-sa bhos clag seinn sàmach bidh eilie deir chugam mi: thu 's fheudar teasd. A' àille abaich a' leóghann ni sgrios a clag.

Chrys had ignored Ron's comment. She was looking at Harry.

'Can you hear them too Harry?' she asked.

He nodded.

'What is it?' he asked.

Tràth-sa bhos clag seinn sàmach bidh eilie deir chugam mi: thu 's fheudar teasd. A' àille abaich a' leóghann ni sgrios a clag. Àille uile Leóman.

It wasn't singing he was sure of that. It sounded more like bells.

The bells!

The bells he had been hearing, it had to be them. Every time he saw Voldemort he heard the bells. Since Wormtail's capture. Why were the bells so important to Voldemort?

'We have to find it,' she said. 'You three stay here and if we're not back in an hour go and get help. Take Hagrid with you. And I mean it; stay here until then or until Snape turns up.'

They ran into the forest. Chrystal looked at him.

'Harry do you think you could carry me in your lion form?' she asked.

Harry was taken aback. No one had mentioned his form before, and he hadn't shown anyone except Sirius what he looked like in his form. Nor had he ever tried to carry someone.

'I don't know,' he replied. 'We can give it a try.'

Harry closed his eyes and transformed into his lion form. He concentrated hard. Chrystal jumped on his back. The pain was extreme; she was heavier than he thought. Then he began to run. Slowly but surely he built up speed. It was easier to run in this terrain in his lion form, but he was still haunted by the bells.

Tràth-sa bhos clag seinn sàmach bidh eilie deir chugam mi: thu 's fheudar teasd. A' àille abaich a' leóghann ni sgrios a clag. Àille uile Leóman.

What did it mean? Why did they have to find it? He couldn't explain why, but somehow he felt that it was of vital importance that they find the source. Not just because Chrystal had said so, but simply because there was a feeling inside him. The world depended on it.

Tràth-sa bhos clag seinn sàmach bidh eilie deir chugam mi: thu 's fheudar teasd. A' àille abaich a' leóghann ni sgrios a clag. Àille uile Leóman.

The forest became thicker and thicker as they continued on. Clouds began to cloud the sky; it looked like it was about to storm. The air became colder. Harry had lost all sense of time. He didn't know where they were or how long they had been running.

Rain began to sleet down. He could feel the cool on his coat. The ground was becoming muddy and sludgy. It was getting harder for Harry to keep running especially with the weight of Chrystal on his back.

The bells kept getting louder. How much further could it be? They had to be close. He rounded a corner and they entered another clearing. There stood a crumbling church tower, with bells ringing, just like Sirius had said. He ran over towards it and then transformed back.

He looked at the bell tower. It was old. It looked like it had been destroyed and rebuilt several times before they finally gave up on it. Stones were falling down and it looked as though if anyone tried to climb in to ring the bell that the whole tower would collapse. Dark green vines had grown up the walls and were completely covering parts of the tower. He looked were Chrystal was staring. There was an inscription on it.

Tràth-sa bhos clag seinn sàmach bidh eilie deir chugam mi: thu 's fheudar teasd. A' àille abaich a' leóghann ni sgrios a clag.

Troimh bhos mallaich:

'Alius leo tintinnabulatus oblittero.'

'What does it mean?' Harry asked.

'It's Gaelic, Scottish Gaelic,' she replied. 'It's my native tongue. Hang on I'm translating. It's recent though. But it looks so old.'

Her concentration was totally directed at the inscription. He stared at the letters. They were indisputably magic.

'Sirius was wrong,' she finally said. She looked like she had been carefully considering the meaning of the words. 'Of course, I should have worked it out before; the bells were silent for ten years. It's got nothing to do with Azkaban.'

She looked at Harry with desperation in her eyes.

'You have to help me Harry,' she said. 'We have to destroy this tower, trust me. I'll explain later. The inscription says that àille, that's me and leóghann, that's you, have the power to destroy the bells. We have to say the following; 'Alius abaich Leo tintinnabulatus oblittero', and point our wands together at the tower okay.'

Harry nodded.

'Right. Are you ready?'

'Okay,' he replied. He knew he could trust her. If he could trust Malfoy, then he could most certainly trust Chrystal.

He held his wand to hers and pointed it at the inscription.

'On three, one, two, three'

'Alius abaich leo tintinnabulatus oblittero.'

His wand was pointing at the tower. Joined with hers. A beam of light was streaming from their wands.

A huge crack of lightening hit the tower. The blast pushed Harry backwards. The total force was enormous. Harry felt as if a truck had hit him. His robe was destroyed; his shirt and pants were barely hanging on his body. At least he was covered. He looked for any sign of Chrystal. He saw her lying flat on the ground.

'Chrystal,' he called out. 'Are you okay?'

He ran over toward her, her robe having been completely destroyed by the blast, her clothes as tattered as Harry's. She looked as though she was in pain. Harry tried to help her sit up.

Something caught his eye.

'Harry, the ground's caving in,' she screamed.

Harry looked towards the ruin. The ground surrounding where the tower had been had begun to cave in. The edges were falling in, the circle getting larger.

'We have to get out of here Harry,' she shrieked. 'You'll have to jump on my back. I think I'll be able to carry you far enough away. I shouldn't do it, but it's our only chance.'

He gave her a quizzical look.

Harry watched his teacher as she transformed into a beautiful creature. He stood in awe. The Aethonan winged horse was waiting for him impatiently. He jumped on her back and she soared into the sky as the ground they had been lying on collapsed.

'Look out for the others,' she said.

Harry kept his eyes on the ground below for a sign of the clearing. The ground around where the tower once stood was caving in. Harry's scar began to hurt. A vision took hold of him.

Voldemort let out an ear-piercing screech. He was in sheer agony. Part of him was dying. He was crying out.

'NOOOOOOOOOOOO'

An integral part of his strength had died.

The howling continued.

The pain ceased.

Harry resumed his search for the clearing, where they had left the others. They were finally away from the caving in earth.

The search was hard, on top of the dense rain; there was now thunder and lightening to deal with as well. So far they had managed to avoid the electric bolts that were slicing through the sky. Finally he saw the clearing. The horse went to swoop down.

A large bolt of lightening appeared in the sky.

Suddenly Harry felt himself plummet through the air.

He was falling; there was nothing to hold on to. They must have been struck by lightening. He could hear the thunder and hoped that another bolt didn't decide to strike them. He tried to reach for his wand, but the ground was approaching quickly, he put out his hand to break his fall.

Crack!

His arm snapped. He was plagued with pain again, but this time he could cope with it. He could push it out of his mind.

Then, he saw it again.

Hermione ran over and hugged him.

'Are you okay Harry?' she asked.

'I'm fine what about Chrystal?' he said.

He was looking over to where she was lying on the ground. Sitting next to her was Professor Snape.

'She's alive, but scarcely,' he said. 'I think we need to get you both back to Hogwarts before she gets any worse.'

'When did he arrive?' Harry asked.

'I arrived a couple of minutes ago Mr Potter,' Snape replied. 'It was a precaution. I won't ask what you were doing now, because it's important that we get out of here, but I do have a few questions for you. Now Malfoy, where's the Portkey?'

Malfoy pointed towards the Portkey.

'Hold onto everyone's hand,' Snape commanded.

'Accio,'

Harry was whirling again. He didn't like the sensation of falling. The pain in his arm was starting to get to him. They landed back in the Forbidden Forest.

'Malfoy, you help me carry Professor Àille to the hospital wing. Weasley, you help Potter. And Miss Granger can you fetch Dumbledore and Professor Black please.'

It was not a request, Snape was in charge, he had commanded and they would obey.

No one noticed that they had left Hagrid's body lying there in the Forbidden Forest.

Madam Pomfrey put Harry to bed straight away. She mended his broken arm immediately, and then gave him a pain potion.

'Try to sleep now,' she said. 'There's nothing you can do.'

She shooed Ron and Malfoy out of the room, asking them to wait at the door until Dumbledore arrived.

Harry fell asleep. He was exhausted from the day's events. When he woke up he saw Sirius sitting next to Chrystal's bed. He was holding her hand, as she seemed to be talking.

'Sirius, I don't believe you,' she said. 'You're finally asking me out to dinner, why? Oh that's funny.'

'Of course I'll go out with you Sirius. You'd better not pull any of those pranks on me though. I'm not quite the same girl you think I am.'

'Sirius I've been searching for you all day. I have to tell you something important. I know you won't agree with me, but I've decided to become an Auror.'

'Look Sirius it's my decision. This is what I want to do.'

'Quidditch? Of course I'm not going to give up my spot on the team. I worked bloody hard to get it. Crouch says I should keep playing. It will keep my level of fitness up.'

The room fell quiet. Sirius saw Harry looking at them. He walked over towards Harry.

'She seems to be reliving the past Harry,' he said. 'She's quite disturbed; I don't want to leave her alone. Are you felling stronger?'

'I'm feeling fine,' he replied. 'All that was wrong was a broken arm that needed mending.'

'Can you come over and hold her hand while I go and get some dinner? I won't be too long.'

Harry nodded, he walked over and sat by the bed and held her hand.

She opened her eyes and seemed to recognise him.

'James, what are you doing here? Where's Sirius?'

Harry began to protest, to tell her that he wasn't James, but she didn't seem to hear him. It was if he wasn't even there.

'Oh that's okay then, as long as he's not charming other women.'

Sirius, charming other women. Harry almost laughed at the thought. She seemed to be oblivious to anything Harry was saying, so he just sat there and held her hand.

'Has the project gone as planned? Okay, so what's the next step?'

'I was speaking to Lily yesterday, she looks so happy. I guess I have to offer my congratulations then! It will be so wonderful for Harry to have a little brother or sister. It's so much better than being an only child.'

Little brother or sister? She's talking about me. When is she remembering? Could that possibly be true, why hadn't anyone ever told him? Voldemort had destroyed his family, but not just his parents, but his sibling as well.

Harry was filled with a newfound hatred of Voldemort. He had had no right to do that to Harry.

'By the way, I found a book on counter curses; I gave it to Lily yesterday. It's about Hiding Charms. I know Dumbledore recommends the Fidelius Charm, but at least there are others ways you can protect yourselves as well. I'll miss you both; hopefully this will all be over soon. There's one that I think would be especially appropriate, under you know which curse.'

What was she talking about now? A book. What book was she talking about? Were they protected by more than just the charm Dumbledore had suggested? Is that why he hadn't died?

'We'll have a big party, celebrate things like in the old days. Take care of Lily, Harry and the baby James.'

Harry's head was spinning. He was having trouble taking in what she was saying. Had Sirius left him here on purpose? He looked toward the door as Sirius entered.

Chrystal began yelling.

'James, no, you can't be.'

'Lily, no. No, it can't be true. Why? Where's Harry?'

Harry was missing. Hagrid had taken him. Sirius had known where he was, but he guessed that didn't mean Chrystal did.

She opened her eyes and saw Sirius. She began to yell at him.

'Sirius, was it you?'

'How could you do that, to James and Lily?'

'What do you mean it wasn't you? Who else would it be? It's not like they would trust Remus at the moment and Peter can't even stand up for himself.'

'Peter? Why do you want to find him? Leave him alone; I'm sure he doesn't want to see you after what you did today. I can't believe you.'

'Don't do it Sirius, it's not worth it. If you do that they'll take you to Azkaban for sure.'

'I've got to go, I love you Sirius. Promise me you won't do anything stupid. Please Sirius.'

She was quiet for a little while. Sirius sent Harry back to bed. Harry shook his head.

'I want to know what else she has to say,' Harry said. 'Please understand, I need to hear this. I'll explain later.'

Sirius seemed to figure that she must have said something about James and Lily that Harry hadn't known before.

'I've already told you I believe you Sirius, isn't that enough? I've decided, I'm going to give up being an Auror just like you wanted.'

She was gazing at Sirius. Her eyes were open, but she didn't appear to be awake. Harry was guessing at what she was talking about. Sirius had told him about her visit to Azkaban to convince him that she believed him.

'Don't worry about money, I'll keep playing Quidditch and Dad said he'll help me. I'm going to search for a way to free you, and then we can go and find Harry and we can have our own children and live together in a big house in the forest away from prying eyes. I love you.'

Her train of thought changed quickly. Her eyes were closed and she was talking heatedly.

'What do you mean Mr Crouch? Surely that's unethical. I'm not exactly sure that people will approve of it.'

'I guess you're right. They just want all trace of Voldemort gone. Okay, if that's what you've authorised. I'll start tomorrow. Reluctantly.'

She was yelling again.

'What do you mean their bodies are gone? How many? And they've just disappeared?'

Harry looked over at Sirius and saw the concerned look on his face. This was obviously part of the story that Sirius hadn't heard before.

Whose bodies were missing?

'What are you doing here? I told you I didn't need sympathy.'

Her voice was softer now. Sirius looked both confused and concerned. He called Madam Pomfrey over.

'Can you go and fetch Dumbledore?' he asked.

She nodded and headed towards the door.

'Oh I'm sorry. What's that say? It's upset you, show me.'

'That's Lucius Malfoy's seal. Mother, what is Lucius doing writing to you? He's a Death Eater. I've been assigned to catch him out. Let me see it.'

Mother? What did her mother have to do with Malfoy? Harry had a bad feeling about what she was going to say. Sirius was sitting by the bed holding her hand tightly.

'Àil, Master is defeated. Will he have an Heir? Is our cause over? Mal'

Harry saw that Sirius was breaking out into a sweat.

'What is he talking about? Don't tell me, your involved in this. They were my best friends Mother. Can you even understand this? I have nothing because of him. I have spent the day in Azkaban consoling my boyfriend who has been wrongfully accused of betraying the Potter's because of him. Why?'

'Fine, don't answer me then. I'll shove this down your throat instead. Is that what you want?'

She was an Auror. Harry knew she carried Veritaserum in her robe. He had seen the bottle of it smash earlier in the day. He could understand the drive she had to know. It was the same drive that kept him sitting there.

'If that's the way it's got to be.'

'Were you involved with the Death Eaters?'

'Why was Malfoy asking you about an Heir?'

'How could you do that? After everything that our family stands for how could you? How could you betray Dad and me for that piece of scum? Was he worth it?'

'They were my life; they were my friends and family. They're all gone now, there's no one else. I have nothing anymore. I don't even know where Remus is. Can you comprehend what I've lost?'

Sirius looked like everything had finally clicked. Despite the concern, he looked like the confusion had lifted.

'I'm sorry, but I've got to take you in. I'm an Auror, I can't stand for this. I won't let you shame our family you dirty Celt.'

'Put your wand down Mother. Don't make me do this.'

'AVADA KEDAVRA!'

She had killed her mother. Her own mother. She had killed her because she had betrayed them. Sirius had tears in his eye.

Dumbledore entered the room.

'What's this? Mother's ring. She never took it off. It's enchanting. I've always wanted it. I'll just slip it on for a moment.'

'Dad, Mother's dead. I'm sorry.'

'No, no, it was me, I killed her.'

'I'm sorry, she was a Death Eater. I made her tell me the truth. I forced Veritaserum down her throat. She helped kill my best friends; she helped them take Sirius away from me. She betrayed us. Don't you see? I'm so sorry.'

'Dad, the ring won't come off. It' stuck.'

'Call Dumbledore, quickly.'

'Professor Dumbledore, I'm sorry, it's all messed up. Help me. Help me please I don't know what to do. It's all turned out wrong.'

'Go to bed Harry,' he said. 'Everything will be fine now.'

He obeyed looking at the wreck of a man sitting by his fiancée's side.