Harry Potter and the Crystalline Darkness

Chapter 5

The guests for Harry's birthday party arrived promptly just before lunch. Arthur and Percy were the first to arrive, flooing home from work, along with Penelope Clearwater who was now Percy's fiancée. They were closely followed by Charlie, who flooed in from the dragon preserve in Romania. Bill arrived next accompanied by Fleur Delacour much to the surprise of everyone there and the amusement of Fred, George, Ron and Harry. Hermione arrived next, followed by Neville and Luna.

The teachers from Hogwarts arrived together. Professors Dumbledore, McGonagall and Snape made up that group. The members of the DA flooed or apparated in during all of this, adding to the cheerful chaos. Harry was in the middle of greeting Millicent Bulstrode and Blaise Zabini when Hermione delighted shout of "Master Nhean!" caught his attention. Harry whirled around and saw the energy colours of his diminutive Master next to the fireplace. He quickly excused himself from Millicent and Blaise and ran into the kitchen.

"Master Nhean!" he said happily. "I didn't know you were coming today!"

Nhean chuckled. "A Master cannot miss his Apprentice's birthday, Harry. It's very bad form."

Harry laughed and then, with sudden realization, bowed formally to his Master. Nhean returned the bow and then his cane flickered out towards his student. Those people in the kitchen gasped at the sudden move from the Night Master but Harry didn't budge and the tip of the cane came to a stop a hairs breadth from his chest. Nhean's eyes twinkled as he lowered his cane to the floor.

"Very good, Harry. Very good indeed."

Harry laughed and drew his Master out into the main room where the rest of Harry's Battle Guard greeted their instructor with delight.

The party soon moved outside where several tables had been set up and the entire group sat down for lunch. As soon as the food had been demolished, Harry was dragged back into the house and made to sit down. Presents were then handed to him to be opened. Once he finished that duty, Fred and George pounced on him and announced that for the rest of the afternoon he was an honorary Weasley and as such now had to join in the Weasley Quidditch game. This announcement was greeted with interest and delight from the other party-goers and everyone quickly adjourned to the backyard.

Harry and the Weasleys disappeared to various corners of the house to grab their brooms and then gathered around the kitchen table to decide on teams. Bill claimed the right of seniority to make a few decisions.

"Well, obviously we can't have full teams," Bill said. "We don't have the numbers so we'll split it like this. Charlie and Harry are the Seekers. Fred and George will split up and each team will have one Beater. Ron and I will play as Keepers and Ginny and Percy will be Chasers. In the interests of fairness, which ever team gets Ron as Keeper gets Percy as Chaser while the other team gets Ginny and me."

Everyone nodded; that was a fair division. Ron was the better Keeper out of the two and Ginny was the better Chaser; it would be decidedly unfair to have them both on the same team.

"Okay," Bill continued. "Does anyone have any objection if we mix up the ages here a little and spilt it up as Charlie, Fred, Ron and Percy on one team and Harry, George, myself and Ginny on the other team."

Everyone agreed to the team division and the eight players left the kitchen. Bill announced the teams to the rest of the party-goers while Arthur, Sirius and Remus set up the temporary goal hoops. They would only be playing with one hoop at each end to make it easier for the reduced teams. Arthur had already brought out the box containing the balls and as soon as everyone was ready he hurried over and released one of the bludgers. As they only had one Beater per team, only one bludger would be used. He released the snitch, threw the quaffle in the air to start the game and then rushed over to stand next to his wife and watch the game.

The game was quick and fierce. It was obvious to all watching that Bill and Percy were not anywhere near the standard of the others but they did work hard. Harry watched with pride as Ginny darted past Percy and threw the quaffle through the goal. Molly was keeping score for the game and had set up a large score board that everyone, including the players, could see. Ginny's score had put their team up by ten points. Harry scanned the air again for the snitch and kept an eye on Charlie. It seems the second oldest of the Weasleys knew exactly how to play the game as Seeker; not surprising considering what Harry had heard about him. The best way to win as a Seeker was to concentrate on the snitch; shadowing the other Seeker was just a recipe to lose.

There was a great deal of interest in the game from the spectators and more than one subtle bet going on about the result. Minerva McGonagall was standing with the other Hogwarts teachers, looking visibly torn. Remus and Sirius sidled up beside her.

"Having a problem there, Minerva?" Sirius asked with a smile.

Minerva jumped then looked at her two former students. "Oh yes," she said with a weak smile. "I can't pick sides here. Particularly between Charlie and Harry."

Remus chuckled. "Then I think you need to take a leaf out of Molly and Arthur's book; just cheer them all on."

Minerva glared half-heartedly at him. "I'm trying. Believe me, I'm trying," she responded tartly then turned her attention back to the game.

Harry slowly circled above the game; it was very even. One team would get an advantage then the other team would wrest that advantage back. It was clear to everyone that this was going to come down to a battle between the Seekers. He and Charlie continued to circle above the game, searching for the snitch and keeping an eye on each other. Finally they both caught a flash, gold for Charlie and purple for Harry, and they dashed off in pursuit.

The noise from the watchers below picked up as they realised that Harry and Charlie had seen the snitch. The two Seekers chased after the tiny gold ball side by side. Harry had the better broom but Charlie was the more experienced. They kept pace with each other as they got closer and closer to the snitch then, just as they were close enough to reach it, Charlie suddenly bumped Harry and put of a spurt of speed. He reached out and grabbed the snitch out of the air as Harry tried to recover from the unexpected bump. He got his broom under control and looked over to see a grinning Charlie holding onto the snitch. He shook his head ruefully as Molly Weasley called them all down.

The eight players landed and Harry walked over to shake Charlie's hand.

"Good catch, Charlie," he said with a grin.

"Thanks, Harry!" Charlie said. "It's an old move, that bump and snatch, but a good one."

Harry shook his head. "I'll have to remember that one," he said wryly.

Ron walked over and slapped Harry on the back. "Bad luck, mate. I think Charlie got you on experience there."

Harry laughed. "Yeah, definitely."

He then got distracted as the rest of the guests began to gather around the eight players and comment on the game.

*************************************************

Draco leaned back in his chair and perused the marriage contract in his hand. The study was full of sunlight, light that sparkled oddly off the large black crystal sitting on the open box on the desk. Draco reread a section of the contract and frowned then he nodded to himself and continued reading. When he was finished he pulled a piece of parchment towards him and scrawled a few sentences. He folded the piece of parchment and set it aside.

He glanced down at the black crystal and was once again caught by its swirling blackness. He leaned forward and stared into its depths. What was it? What purpose had the Dark Lord used it for? Why was it black where the others were clear?

Draco stretched out his fingers towards the crystal. Just before they touched it, he hesitated. Thoughts ran around in circles in his mind. He had had the crystal for weeks now and nothing had happened. He stretched out his fingers and lightly brushed the surface of the crystal...

************************************************

Harry was sitting with the rest of the 'children' under some trees in the Weasleys' backyard. The party had calmed down somewhat by now, though no one had yet left. The adults were all sitting at a table near the house while the kids sprawled on the grass in the yard. Neville and Luna got up from where they had been sitting and picked their way through the crowd until they got to their fellow Battle Guard members. There was a bit of shuffling then they sat down and Neville leaned over to speak to Harry.

"Ginny told us about the vision you had and what Dumbledore said," he said quietly so as to not draw attention. "Do you think it's true? That he's not dead?"

"I don't know, Nev," Harry replied. "But I think he may be right. It felt familiar."

Neville grunted and was silent for a moment. Harry watched him then made a decision.

"Come on, Neville, we're not going to think about that right now," he said with a grin. "It's my birthday and I say we're going to forget about it and just enjoy ourselves. And by the way, happy birthday."

Neville burst out laughing. "Okay, whatever the birthday boy wants, the birthday boy gets. And thanks, Harry."

The others had heard Neville's last comments and Ron seized on them.

"Hey, Neville's right! Harry's the birthday boy," he leaned over to Harry and waggled his eyebrows at him. "So what exactly does the birthday boy want?"

"And does it involve our sister?" Bill asked with a lazy grin.

Both Harry and Ginny blushed and Harry stammered for a moment. He looked over at Ginny and grinned suddenly. He got to his knees and made his way over to her.

"Does the birthday boy get a birthday kiss from his girlfriend?" he asked with a wicked grin.

Before Ginny could reply, Fred and George draped their arms around the two.

"Come now, Ginevra," Fred said in a wickedly accurate impression of Percy that had everyone, including Percy, laughing. "The birthday boy has asked for something."

"And you know the rules," George continued. "What the birthday boy wants, the birthday boy gets!"

Ginny raised an eyebrow and affected a prim expression. "Oh well, I suppose so, if it's a rule."

She leaned forward and gently pressed her lips to Harry's. They stayed like that for a moment then Harry deepened the kiss and brought one hand up to bury in Ginny's hair. It was the laughter and wolf-whistling of the others that brought them back to themselves and they both blushed as they broke the kiss. Harry crawled over and settled in next to Ginny, grinning sheepishly.

Charlie slapped Harry on the back. "Good on you, Harry. Nice to know you actually do have an exhibitionist streak in you."

"Thanks, Charlie," Harry said dryly. He was just about to continue when his scar exploded with pain and then all he could do was scream...

**********************************************

"Well, I daresay this is an improvement on most of Harry's previous birthdays," Molly said in satisfaction. While she and Arthur were no longer Harry's legal guardians, having given that up in favour of Sirius, nothing would change the fact that he was one of theirs.

"Yes," Remus said emphatically, remembering some of the things that Harry had told him.

Sorrow flickered across Sirius' face then he grinned. "I think a Weasley birthday party is what Harry should have every year. What do you say, Molly? Arthur?"

"Of course!" Molly said immediately. Arthur smiled and nodded. "We'd love to do that," he said.

"Besides," Sirius said with a sly smile, "he's got to have at least one chance every year to try and beat Charlie."

There were chuckles from around the table.

"I would be worried about next year if I were Charlie," Minerva said with pride. "Harry learns new Quidditch moves very quickly. Charlie won't get him next year with that bump and snatch maneuver."

Sirius was just about to answer when they were interrupted by the sound of screaming. Every head at the table whipped around to see Harry lying on the grass, writhing and screaming in absolute agony. They stared for an instant, frozen in shock, then Sirius and Remus were up and sprinting over to Harry with the others in close pursuit. When they got there, Molly and Arthur immediately began to round up the other children and usher them inside with the slow, reluctant help of their eldest sons.

Sirius and Remus fell to their knees beside Harry and tried to stop his thrashing. Snape quickly joined them though he knelt next to Harry's head. He placed his hands on Harry's temples and closed his eyes in concentration. Albus, Minerva and Nhean stood a small distance back, staying out of the way and watching with concern.

Severus reached out with his mind, trying to find Harry's. He wasn't sure what he could do but he hoped to at least help shore up the young man's shielding. He wasn't surprised to find himself joined in the whirling maelstrom of pain in Harry's mind by Orinda. He quickly found himself caught and anchored by the Runespoor's mental presence.

*Our Harry is lost within the pain.* Orinda hissed in his mind. *We cannot reach him. We cannot find him. All is blackness.*

Severus looked out into the maelstrom and was forced to agree. He could not even see Harry's presence; all he could see was the black swirling of pain and agony.

*Can you anchor me if I go within?* he demanded.

*Yes, Black Snape* Orinda said simply.

Severus nodded and he dived into the blackness. He quickly found that Orinda was right. It was impossible to see anything, the blackness was absolute. He could hear the thin sound of Harry's mental screams but the sound was diffused and Severus could not get a fix on it. A sharp stab of pain brought his attention to the fact that his own shields were also eroding and he mentally reared back in surprise. He reached for Orinda's presence and allowed the Runespoor to pull him out.

*The blackness has him.* Orinda observed. *And lingering within will only lose us and you as well.*

Severus grimaced; Orinda was right. There was nothing they could do.

*Watch over him* he said as he began to draw himself out of Harry's mind.

*We will.* he heard the Runespoor say.

Snape drew his hands back from Harry's head and would have fallen of not for the supporting hands of the Headmaster. He shook his head and reinforced his eroded shields.

"I cannot reach him," he said thinly. "He is lost in the pain and blackness and spending any amount of time within searching for him erodes your own shields. I was in there for mere seconds and my shields were eroded considerably. To stay would be to join Harry."

"Were you able to find him in there?" Albus asked.

"No," Severus replied with a shake of his head. "He is there but his screams were so diffused it was impossible to locate him."

"What can we do then?" Sirius asked desperately, tears standing in his eyes.

"We can do nothing more than wait...and hope," Albus said with concern and worry in his eyes.

****************************************************

Draco arched in his chair, his eyes wide and pain-filled and his fingers seemingly glued onto the crystal. The swirling blackness within the crystal was slowly fading, almost appearing to be drawn out of the crystal by Draco's fingers. Within Draco's mind, a battle was raging.

*Ahhhh, a body!*

Draco snarled as he heard the voice within his mind. He knew that voice and now, far too late, he knew what the crystal held.

*No* he growled to himself and to the Dark Lord. *This is my mind, my body. You shall not have it!*

The malevolent voice of Voldemort chuckled. *I shall have whatever I wish. Don't you know that by now, boy?*

Draco snarled a few filthy words and fought with the Dark Lord's presence. The longer they battled the weaker Draco became and he slowly began to panic. He was becoming aware that he was going to lose this fight and the idea scared him more than anything else. He drew back for a second and then threw himself at the Dark Lord's presence in one last desperate attempt to rid himself of the monster.

When he hit the ugly presence within his mind, he realized that once again he had miscalculated. Instead of being able to grasp the presence and expel it, they seemed to start merging into each other. Both of them reacted with surprise and fear.

*NO!* the Dark Lord yelled. *What have you done, foolish boy?*

Draco ignored the Dark Lord and desperately tried to pull himself free. Distantly he could hear someone screaming in agony but he ignored it in favour of his own desperate predicament. No matter how much he struggled, he could not free himself and slowly, slowly the two of them were drawn into one entity.

For a long time the Draco/Voldemort entity pulsed and throbbed until finally it went still. It stayed like that for a heartbeat then it started swirling and contracting. It drew itself into a small pinpoint and then seemed to explode in slow motion until there was nothing left but a single presence.

What had once been solely Draco Malfoy floated in his mind for a long time then he slowly settled back into himself. He opened his eyes and saw his father's study around himself, nothing out of place. He looked over at the grandfather clock standing in the corner and saw that an hour had passed while he had been trapped within his own mind.

What happened? He thought to himself. Am I me? He drew in a deep breath and slowly stood. He walked out from behind the desk and began pacing. His limping strides were broken when he looked over at the desk. The large crystal was clear. The darkness it had held within it was gone. Draco scowled at the crystal and rubbed his forehead. Had he beaten the Dark Lord? Had he driven the bastard out of his mind? Draco couldn't tell. He stared down at the empty crystal and worried.

*************************************************

Sirius and Remus knelt beside Harry's still body. He had finally stopped screaming and convulsing and now lay silent and still, only his deep, gasping breaths giving any indication that he was alive. Sirius was the first one to move; he gently gathered his godson in his arms and stood. He swayed for a moment as he stood and Remus leapt to his feet to steady his friend. Sirius smiled tightly at Remus and began walking towards the house. When he got to the door, it was thrown open by Molly who quickly and efficiently cleared a path for the animagus. Sirius took Harry straight up to his and Ron's room and laid the young man on his bed. He drew the blankets over his godson and knelt down next to the bed. He ran a soft hand through Harry's hair and watched him with an expression of worry and fear.

Remus walked softly into the room and sat down on the edge of the bed. He seemed to be intent on keeping an eye on both Harry and Sirius. Molly stood in the doorway for a moment, a kind and worried look on her face as she watched the three. She quietly backed out and shut the door before going back downstairs. All of Harry's friends had gathered around the Headmaster and were politely but fiercely demanding answers.

"Children, children," the Headmaster said calmly. "Let me speak."

The Battle Guard and the members of the DA settled down.

"We aren't entirely sure what has happened," Dumbledore began. "But in light of what has happened already this summer, I must assume that this had something to do with Voldemort."

There were groans and curses from the students.

"Damn," Blaise said quietly to Millicent. "I was really hoping Harry had got rid of him for good."

"So was Harry probably," Millicent replied dryly.

"Now, Harry will need some peace and quiet," the Headmaster was saying. "So I think it would be best if you all head off to your homes now. And I would ask you not to discuss what has happened."

Everyone nodded seriously and they slowly began to trickle out of the house either through the floo or via apparition until only the adults and the Battle Guard remained. Dumbledore looked around the room.

"Minerva, will you please head back to Hogwarts and alert the Order. I think we will need to start looking into this. Tell them to concentrate on Draco Malfoy and try and find a way to find out what he is doing."

Minerva nodded and apparated away. Snape stepped forward at this point.

"I must go to Hogwarts for some supplies then I will return here," he said shortly.

Albus nodded. "Thank you, Severus. Harry will undoubtedly need your assistance when he wakes."

Snape nodded and then he too apparated out of the house.

"I must return to the Guild," Nhean said, wrapping his cloak around himself. "This is something they will need to know about. It may just affect a few decisions that have to be made."

The little man nodded to Albus and gave a calm, compassionate look to the Guard and he too disappeared. The five students and the Weasley sons looked at each other and then settled themselves in various chairs around the living room or on the floor on cushions. Dumbledore watched them for a moment then slowly walked out of the room and up the stairs with Molly and Arthur. Those left in the room were silent and they stared at the floor or the walls, trying not to make eye contact with anyone else. No one wanted to see their own fears reflected in the eyes of someone else. After about twenty minutes, they were startled by the sudden reappearance of Snape who had a large bag slung over one shoulder. The tall Potions Master didn't even spare a glance for them; he simply strode swiftly out of the room and up the stairs.

"Why is it always Harry?" Ginny said in a small voice.

Bill wrapped his arms around his sister. "I don't know, Gin," he said quietly.

Hermione was sitting quietly beside Ron, clutching his hand. "I hate this," she whispered.

"What?" Ron said with a frown.

"I hate waiting like this," she said. "I hate not knowing what to do!"

"If only we could find out what Malfoy is doing with that damn crystal!" Ron burst out.

Neville's eyes narrowed. "M...maybe we can," he said slowly.

Everyone turned and stared at him in surprise and the shy Gryffindor blushed.

"Neville? What do you mean?" Hermione asked.

Neville turned and looked at Luna then turned back to the others in the room. "Look, Luna managed to get her animagus transformation over the summer," he said in a low voice. He looked over at the blond girl. "Show them, Luna."

The enigmatic Ravenclaw raised an eyebrow then nodded. She frowned slightly for a moment then where she had been sitting was a small furry animal.

"Oh," Hermione said with surprise. "A mink! Luna, that's wonderful."

Luna changed back and smiled proudly.

"You see? Draco doesn't know about Luna's animagus form," Neville continued with an intense look on his face. "And she's small enough to hide easily. I know where Malfoy Manor is because Gran knows Mrs Malfoy."

The others began to nod; they could definitely see the possibilities in the idea. Ron stared into space as he turned the idea over in his head.

"Is Malfoy Manor warded?" he asked.

"Probably," Neville conceded. "Most large wizarding homes are. But it is probably only warded against people, not animals."

"Hmmm," Ron said as he tried a few ideas on for size. The others watched and waited for him. They had gained a genuine respect for Ron's ability to plan a strategy.

"You lot aren't going anywhere," came a firm voice from the stairs.

Everyone in the room jumped and looked around to see Remus standing on the stairs, clearly torn between amusement and worry.

"What would you do when you got there?" he asked as he walked into the room. "Do you know anything about the crystal magic Voldemort was using? What would happen if something went wrong? How do you think Harry would feel when he wakes up if you got hurt?"

Neville and Ron blanched and the others all looked shame-faced. Remus relented a little.

"I'm not saying what you were planning was wrong. Just a little bit premature. Harry's alright. He's sleeping at the moment and we really don't know what happened to him." Remus eyed them all sternly. "What if what Harry felt was Voldemort being destroyed? What Draco decided to just chuck out all of Voldemort's things and destroyed the crystal?"

Ron sighed. "Yeah, okay, Remus. You've made your point."

Remus smiled slightly. "Sorry, Ron. I didn't mean to belabor the point. Just...we're not going to forbid you to do things if you've got solid information behind you. I thought you'd all realized that after the foray we made to Malfoy Manor and the Battle at Hogwarts. You're of age and you are all very well trained. We will listen to you."

The students in the room looked up at their teacher with surprise as Bill and Charlie started to smile. Remus grinned at the looks he was getting and winked at the two eldest Weasleys. Then he walked into the kitchen. When he emerged with a jug of water and a glass, he was amused to find that the stunned silence still reigned and he chuckled.

"Bill, maybe you should introduce them to the concept of being considered an adult?" he said with a laugh as he disappeared up the stairs again.