Harry Potter and the Crystalline Darkness

Chapter 22

A week later, Harry was just sitting down to lunch when Professor McGonagall came over.

"The Headmaster would like to see you after classes today," she said briskly.

Harry looked up at her with surprise but relaxed when she gave him the barest of smiles.

"Relax, Mr Potter, you are not in any trouble," she said.

"Oh, good," Harry replied. "And thank you, Professor. I'll be there."

Professor McGonagall patted him on the shoulder and walked briskly up to the teachers' table.

"What do you think it's about?" Ron asked, leaning over the table and keeping his voice down.

"Who knows?" Harry replied wryly as he poured himself some pumpkin juice. "It could be about Professor Snape, Draco, Aunt Petunia and Dudley, my studies, my duties as Head Boy, my Guild training, the Ministry, Wormtail, Voldemort, the crystal magic or any combination of the above."

"Gee, Harry, have you ever thought about simplifying your life a bit?" Ron asked with a grin.

"I'd love to," Harry replied dryly. "Where do you think I should start?"

"No idea, mate," Ron replied with a laugh and they both turned back to their meals.

After his classes were done for the day, Harry headed up to the Headmaster's office. When he got there he found Remus and Sirius waiting along with Professor Dumbledore.

"Ah Harry," the Headmaster said genially. "Sit down. Tea? Sherbert lemon?"

Harry sat down in the chair next to Sirius and nodded in acceptance of the tea but refused the sherbert lemon. Once he was settled in with his tea, the Headmaster looked at him more seriously.

"Firstly, Harry, let me assure you that you are not in any trouble," he said with a twinkle in his eye. "This has to do with your Aunt and cousin."

Harry paused. "Are...they alright?"

"Yes," Dumbledore replied. "But your Aunt is reluctant to trust me on my own."

"Why?" Harry asked incredulously.

"I'm sure she has her reasons," Dumbledore said patiently. "She wishes to speak to you herself."

"Albus, that can't be a good idea," Sirius said worriedly. "I thought you wanted to keep Harry away from this in case it was a trap."

Remus indicated his agreement and the Headmaster held up his hands.

"I know, I know. The matter concerns me greatly as well. I firmly believe this may indeed be a trap," he said patiently. "However, I believe I have a solution. Remus, Sirius, how good were the illusions of James and Lily?"

"Erm, very good," Sirius stammered. "But Moony might have a better idea. My memory is still a bit spotty in some places." He shook his head, a dark expression flitting across his face. "Some memories never came back after Azkaban."

There was a small silence at that then Remus spoke up. "They were just as I remembered them at that age," he said softly.

"Good, good," Dumbledore said. "Then my plan might just work. Harry, did you have any problems seeing the illusions with Oversight?"

"Um, no," Harry replied. "In fact, I could see them normally."

"How do you mean?" Remus asked curiously.

"I mean I could see them as though I wasn't blind," Harry replied. "The rest of you were just energy colours and the overlay but they were clear as day." His lips curved in a small smile; he had enjoyed being able to see his parents when they were young. It had been a lot like looking into the Mirror of Erised again.

"Interesting," Dumbledore said, his eyes twinkling. "And potentially useful. Now, I am sure you have worked out that I intend to teach you how to create one of these illusions of yourself with a slight alteration that I have managed to develop. Lily's notes were most useful."

Harry nodded slowly; he had suspected that was where the Headmaster's questioning was leading. "You'll take the illusion with you to meet with Aunt Petunia," he said.

"Yes," Dumbledore beamed. "And because it will retain your personality, she should not suspect anything is wrong. And if it is a trap...well, I think the results could be quite interesting."

"Do you really think Draco would act this quickly?" Harry said dubiously.

"I do not think he is prepared to act this quickly," Dumbledore said calmly. "However I also do not think he will waste an opportunity if it is presented to him. We can only hope that the plan will not be very well thought out."

The Headmaster paused and smiled. "Now, Harry, creating the illusions is a complex process but I think you should be able to manage it. In fact you must if this is to work. While anyone can dispel these illusions, you can only create an illusion of yourself. Creating them requires a number of steps. The first step is to create the basic illusion of yourself. You must picture yourself quite clearly in your mind and then the incantation is 'egosimilitudo'." Harry nodded and Dumbledore continued. "Then you must place your personality into the illusion. This is done in a similar manner to using a pensieve. You must place your wand to your temple and remove what is effectively a copy of your personality using the incantation 'creoanimus'. You then transfer that to the illusion."

Harry nodded again then looked a little intimidated as the Headmaster continued once more.

"You must then implant the knowledge into the illusion that it is just an illusion," he said. "This is done by the incantation 'sciosimulatus'. Now this part is new. I have developed a means of allowing the caster to see and hear what is going on where their illusion is. They cannot directly influence anything their illusion does though." He paused and gave the others a conspiratorial smile. "I'm working on that part. The incantation for this is 'contemplorlocus'. Finally you activate the illusion by using 'Vivo'."

Harry swallowed. "My parents used a different method to activate theirs, didn't they?" he said, trying to avoid thinking about what he was going to have to do.

"Yes and no," the Headmaster replied. "They would have used 'Vivo' to initially activate them but then they tied the activation into the crystal along with that rather interesting little phrase which I am sure has so many uses."

His eyes twinkled as both Sirius and Remus blushed and looked sheepish. Harry gave a small laugh at their expressions then looked at the Headmaster.

"When do you want to do this?" he asked nervously.

"I have arranged to meet with Petunia on Saturday morning," Dumbledore replied. "That way if anything does go wrong, you will not have to miss classes in order to keep track of what happens to your double."

Harry nodded and Dumbledore clapped his hands and smiled.

Now," he said enthusiastically as he stood and beckoned to Harry. "I would like you to try creating your illusion tonight."

Harry took a deep breath and joined the Headmaster in the middle of the room. Dumbledore then moved to stand slightly behind him.

"Alright, Harry," he said calmly. "I want you to concentrate on yourself. You don't have to do it too hard, just be aware of yourself. Then raise your wand and speak the incantation. There are no wand movements involved with this; it is strength of will that matters."

Harry nodded and took a deep breath. He did his best to concentrate on himself then he raised his wand, pointed it towards the middle of the room and said, "Egosimilitudo."

The air in the middle of the room shimmered for a moment then slowly began to coalesce. As those in the room watched, the shimmering increased in speed and then, with a small flash of light, a figure appeared in the middle of the room. Harry's jaw dropped open as he looked at a carbon copy of himself. He whipped around to face Sirius and Remus.

"I look like that?" he stammered.

His godfather and guardian looked at him like he'd grown an extra head.

"Er, yes?" Sirius said with confusion.

Harry turned back to look at the illusion of himself a little wild-eyed. This was the first time he had really seen himself since he had been blinded and due to the fact that this was the same kind of illusion as the ones of his parents, he could see himself clearly. It was odd the things that had changed about him and the things that hadn't. His hair was still the same, black and messy, and his eyes were still the same green. But he had grown slightly and his face had changed a bit. It was perhaps a bit less like his father's and maybe now had more hints of his mother in it. His shoulders were a bit broader and he looked less like a boy now and much more like a man. Part of his mind was telling him it was silly to be shocked like this; after all, he had been using the shaving charm for a year now. But it was one thing to know something intellectually and quite another to be suddenly confronted with the evidence.

He winced a little as he looked at his face. Madam Pomfrey had healed most of the scars on his face from the impact of the shattered glass but there were still small pale scars around his eyes. It also seemed odd to see himself without glasses. He stared at himself for a bit longer then shook his head suddenly.

"We...we'll need to get another cane," he said in an odd voice. "Wouldn't look right without that."

"I've already organized that," Dumbledore said calmly. "Do you feel up to trying the next part?"

Harry stared at the illusion for a moment then nodded slowly.

"Good," Dumbledore said in a soothingly tone as he placed a hand on Harry's shoulder. "Now place the tip of your wand against your temple and speak the incantation. Then slowly remove your wand. The copy of your personality should appear as a rather amorphous silver blob attached to the end. You will then need to take that over to the illusion, place it at the temple of the illusion and speak the incantation again."

He patted Harry on the shoulder reassuringly and stepped back slightly. Harry took a deep breath and carefully followed the Headmaster's instructions. He staggered a fraction as he stepped back from the illusion and Sirius leapt forward and grabbed at him. Harry took a deep breath and leaned against his godfather.

"This...isn't easy," he murmured.

Sirius rubbed his back. "You're doing well," he said softly then he smiled. "Hadn't you realized that you'd grown up physically as well?"

Harry gave a small laugh. "No, not really. I guess I just still saw myself as being the same as when I was...blinded. Bit silly, I suppose."

"Just a bit," Sirius said cheerfully, drawing another laugh from his godson.

Harry took a deep breath and stood up. Sirius let him go and ruffled his hair before stepping back to stand beside Remus again. Harry looked over and the Headmaster.

"Sorry about that, sir," he said shyly. "What do I do now?"

Dumbledore waved away the apology. "It is quite difficult to do this the first time. One never really knows what they look like until they see for themselves. Mirrors can only tell us so much," he said wisely. "Now you need to add to the illusion the knowledge that it is an illusion. This is much easier. The incantation to use is 'sciosimulatus' and the wand action you need to use is as follows."

The Headmaster waved his wand in a curiously sinuous manner.

"Could you repeat that for me, sir?" Harry said with a frown.

Dumbledore smiled and repeated that odd wand action until Harry nodded.

"Thank you, sir."

"Are you ready to try it?" the Headmaster said encouragingly.

Harry nodded and levelled his wand at his double. "Sciosimulatus," he said as he copied the Headmaster's wand movement.

The illusion glowed for a moment then went back to normal. Harry looked over at Dumbledore, a question on his face.

"Well done, Harry," the Headmaster said. "We won't do the part that allows you to see what your illusion is seeing. As your double won't be leaving the room, it seems rather extraneous. You can activate it now."

Harry took a deep breath before pointing his wand at his illusion and saying, "Vivo."

The illusion suddenly moved and then stiffened, looking around blindly. As Harry watched his double, frowned for a fraction of a second and then relaxed. Harry realized that must be what he looked like when he was activating his Oversight. It looked over at him and grinned. Harry stared for a moment then slowly grinned back.

"What do you say to going up to Gryffindor Tower and scaring the hell out of people?" his double said to him mischievously.

Harry laughed at that mental image then got himself back under control. "Um, maybe not."

"Darn," said his double good-naturedly. "Would have been fun."

"I'm sure it would have," Dumbledore said with amusement. He looked over to Harry. "Do you remember how to dispel the illusion?"

Harry thought back to the day that the Headmaster had dispelled the illusions of his parents.

"Um, it's 'abeoumbra' and my name, isn't it?" he asked as his double turned and grinned at Remus and Sirius.

"Correct," Dumbledore replied.

Harry pointed his wand at his double. "Abeoumbra Harry Potter."

His double looked back at him and laughed as he slowly faded out of sight. Harry was silent for a while as he stared at where his double had been.

"That was very strange," he said quietly.

"Yes," Sirius agreed. "And offered endless opportunities for mischief."

Harry gave a small laugh. "Yes, I suppose it did."

"Padfoot, please do not encourage him," Remus said with weary amusement. "Harry gets into enough trouble on his own. I'd hate to think what two Harrys could do."

"Hey! I don't get into trouble," Harry said indignantly though with a trace of a smile. "Trouble usually comes and drags me into the middle of it."

"Uhuh," Remus said with amused disbelief.

Harry shook his head in mock-disgust. "What's the world coming to? My own guardian doesn't believe me."

"Your own guardian is well aware of what you are like," Remus chuckled.

"Now, Moony," Sirius said walking over and throwing an arm around his godson's shoulders. "It's a boy's job to get into trouble. As I recall you got into a certain amount of trouble when you were Harry's age."

"Yes and whose fault was that?" Remus replied dryly.

"Well, mine and James mostly," Sirius conceded. "But you went along with us."

"Under protest," Remus said.

"Not that much protest if I recall correctly," Sirius said with a laugh. Then his face darkened slightly. "I think I remember that correctly."

"Er, well, yes, you may be right there," Remus said hastily. Sirius still had problems with his memory after his years in Azkaban and neither Harry nor Remus liked him to get agitated about it.

The three of them jumped when the Headmaster cleared his throat and they looked around to see the older man watching them with some amusement.

"Before this degenerates into a series of recollections I should probably not know about," Dumbledore said with a smile, his eyes twinkling, "Harry, I would like you to come here at nine o'clock on Saturday morning. I have arranged to meet Petunia at nine-thirty."

Harry nodded and was about to answer when a small device on the Headmaster's desk started to ring. The Headmaster gave a start and immediately headed for the fireplace where he made a floo-call. Harry, Remus and Severus were able to hear the Headmaster's end of it.

"Poppy, go immediately to Severus' rooms," Albus barked. "He has collapsed and will need to go to the Hospital Wing. Be sure to give him some privacy."

He then pulled his head out of the fire and looked over at Harry and the others.

"It has happened," he said with concern. "The pain caused by the poison has overwhelmed even Severus' formidable defences. He will have to remain in the Hospital Wing from now on." He chuckled sadly. "I suspect he will try to defy me but this collapse signals the next stage of the poison's progress."

"It's still another week before the antidote will be finished," Harry protested.

"Yes, I know, dear boy," Dumbledore replied. "He will survive long enough to take it. It would take at least another three to four weeks for the poison to finish its task."

Harry shuddered at the thought of suffering that kind of pain the poison induced for that length of time. "Wouldn't that...drive someone insane?" he asked softly.

"Yes," the Headmaster replied. "That was, I believe, part of the point of using that particular poison." He took a deep breath. "Well, gentlemen, that is all for tonight, I think. I must go and see to Severus. Don't forget to be here on Saturday, Harry."

With that the Headmaster flooed out of his office. Remus placed a hand on Harry's shoulder.

"Come on, Harry," he said quietly. "Maybe you should stay with us tonight?"

"Do you mind?" Harry asked quietly.

"Of course not," Sirius said as the three of them headed towards the door.

Harry sighed and rubbed his forehead. "I just want this all to be over," he said wearily.

"I know you do," Sirius said. "So do we." He paused and decided to change the subject. "So have you made a decision yet about what you want to do after graduation?"

Harry blinked as his mind caught up with the sudden change then he nodded. "Yeah, I have. I'm going to do the Tyro. Professor Snape has agreed to act as my mentor so that's sorted out and Master Nhean said that the Guild would be agreeable to being part of it."

"Ginny doesn't mind?" Sirius asked slyly.

Harry blushed as Sirius chuckled; he liked teasing his godson about his girlfriend. "Erm, she's planning on going into mediwitch training so there'll only be a year where at the end where we're both not studying."

"So you are planning on marrying the girl?" Sirius said with a laugh.

"Er, well...I...um," Harry sputtered.

"Padfoot, leave him alone," Remus said with amusement. "You'd think that after James hexed you when you did this to him you'd learn not to tease the Potter men about this sort of thing."

Harry looked at Remus. "What did Dad do?" he asked with a smile.

"He never did tell me what hex he used but he left Sirius with a face like a horse for about three hours," Remus said mischievously. "Pity for Sirius that James used it right before the start of classes for the day." He paused. "Oh, and that's literally a face like a horse. Mind you, it got a bit annoying listening to Padfoot neigh and whinny all that time."

Sirius reached around Harry and whacked Remus on the back of the head, struggling not to smile. "Oh, thank you for telling that, Moony, my oldest friend. See if I don't go around telling stories about you."

"What stories?" Remus countered. "Unlike you two reprobates, I was as pure..."

"As what they shovel out of a stable," Sirius broke in with. "I was friends with you back then, Mr Moony. I know what you were like. We didn't drag you into those pranks kicking and screaming, you were a willing participant."

"Well, if you say so, Mr Padfoot," Remus replied mildly.

"I do say so, Mr Moony," Sirius said firmly, much to Harry's amusement.

That amusement quickly faded as the knowledge of what was happening to Professor Snape trickled back into his mind.

"I want to go down and see Professor Snape," he said quietly.

"Harry, he's unconscious. There's nothing you can do," Remus said kindly as Sirius looked slightly discomforted. The two men might have declared a truce but even now neither particularly liked each other.

"I know," Harry said with frustration. "I...I don't know. I just want to make sure he's alright. Well, as alright as he's going to get for now."

"Wait until the morning," Remus said reasonably. "I doubt Poppy would let you in to see him right now anyway. He may be awake in the morning and she might let you in then."

Harry opened his mouth to protest then closed it again. "I guess you're right," he said reluctantly.

"I don't know why you'd want to see him anyway," Sirius grumbled.

"Sirius!" Remus chided and Harry shot a hurt look at his godfather.

"Siri, I know you don't like him that much," Harry said patiently. "But I do and he is going to be my mentor for the next five years. I'd get used to it if I were you."

Sirius grumbled to himself, looking rather uncomfortable, and Harry shot him a sly look.

"I told Professor Snape that the two of you had a remarkable ability to bring out each other's inner five-year-old," he said blandly.

Sirius spluttered and Harry laughed. "That was pretty much his reaction too."

Remus laughed quietly. "Harry's right, Padfoot. You two do act like children around each other. You've got to grow up at some point."

"I will if he does," Sirius replied sullenly.

Harry and Remus rolled their eyes. "This is what I was talking about," Harry said to his guardian in a long-suffering tone.

Remus chuckled and eyed his friend mischievously. "Come on, Padfoot. You're not going to let Severus get one up on you, are you?"

Sirius eyed the other two with deep suspicion. "You're ganging up on me!" he said indignantly. "That's not fair!"

"Well, yes," Remus admitted. "But we're doing it for the forces of good."

Sirius snorted. "Since when has Snape been part of the forces of good," he muttered.

"Sirius!" came the admonition from both Harry and Remus.

Sirius threw his hands in the air. "Alright! Snape is a part of the forces of good." He sighed. "Just don't expect me to like him."

"Wouldn't dream of it," Harry said dryly. "I'll settle for the two of you being polite."

"Yeah, okay, I guess I can manage that," Sirius muttered.

"Thank you," Harry said firmly.

They walked along the corridor towards the suite with Sirius mumbling under his breath and Harry and Remus struggling not to laugh. As they reached the portrait that guarded the door, Sirius stiffened and gave Remus an alarmed glance.

"Did you tell him?" he said urgently.

Remus looked blank for a moment then he swore quietly. "No, I thought you were going to."

"Tell me what?" Harry demanded.

"Dammit!" Sirius groused. "This probably isn't the time or the place but you deserve to know. Peter," his lips curled into a snarl and a growl resonated from him, "is to receive the Kiss tomorrow."

Harry was still for a long time. "Good," he said finally.

"He's asked to see us," Sirius said reluctantly.

"Why?" Harry yelped.

Sirius snorted with disgust. "No idea."

"Do we have to go?" Harry asked with alarm.

"No," Sirius growled. "I'm not going."

Harry looked over at Remus.

"I'm not going either," Remus said flatly.

"Good," Harry said with relief. "I don't want to see him or speak to him."

The two men nodded and Harry leaned into his godfather. "He deserves it," he muttered.

"Not going to get any argument out of me," Sirius replied firmly.

"Nor me," Remus added.

They stood there quietly for a moment.

"Dumbledore's going to be disappointed in us, isn't he?" Harry observed quietly.

"Quite likely," Remus replied. "But I think he'll understand."

Harry nodded then the three of them headed inside.