Power

- There’s only a thick line between good and evil -

As the house at Number 4, Privet Drive disappeared, a new landscape came into view. A forest appeared as if by magic, and it was. And Harry found himself in a small clearing. He looked around, to find himself alone. “Is anyone here?” Harry called out. But no one answered.

“Hmmm, I guess I’d better wait. He did say he was going to be here...” Harry said aloud to himself. He took one more look around, then he sat down by a tree, facing the small opening.

As Harry started to doze off, the skies began to darken, and the slow rumble of thunder replaced the quiet serenity of birds chirping. Suddenly, a flash of lightening lit up the sky, landed right in the center of the field, and disappeared as quick as it had come, leaving a hooded figure in a deep blue cloak.

“There you are,” the man said as he pulled back his hood, and he then introduced himself. “Now that you have done your part of the bargain, I will start mine. I am Peter Randel.”

Harry studied the man, not knowing what to expect. “Why did you ‘rescue’ me from the Dursleys?” Harry inquired.

“It is a long story, but first, I must begin with mine. A long time ago, I was an auror, and I was happy. That was before the rise of Voldemort, with whom which I hear you’ve had many run-in’s with lately. In spite of this, anyway, I was working with the ministry alongside my brother, and in one of the early fights, Voldemort struck at Diagon Alley, and my brother went ahead to fight there. He was one of the eight people killed there that night.”

“After that, I couldn’t fight anymore. I went into hiding, shortly before your parents were killed.” The man paused, “Since then, I have been hiding out in Italy, keeping a low profile. While Voldemort was in power, he was after me because he knew what I could do. Many people know that color can affect people’s mood and feelings, but once, a long time ago, there existed an ancient magic called Colare Illuminatum, and still exists today, although forgotten. I have the power to control colors, not just colors, but the power they hold. For instance, by using orange, I can create a fire.”

“Why would he want you just for having the power over colors?” Harry asked somewhat suspiciously.

“Why? Colare Illuminatum allows the possessor a wide range of abilities. I can alter a person’s mood. Certain colors can heal, and others such as black, the most evil color, can even kill. But what many don’t know is that with this power, I have the ability to alter things. Not basic transfiguration, which can easily be reversed, but permanently.” He looked around, and then added, “Yet after his defeat, his death eaters were still after me. So I kept on hiding.” His tone of voice changes ever so slightly.

“I understand why you keep your identity hidden, and your past, but why did you rescue me?” Harry asked. “Of what use am I to you?”

“You have your secrets, and I have mine. You will soon find out, let me show you.” As he finished, he stood up, and almost immediately, Harry followed.

“But Colare Illuminatum isn’t the only power I hold...” With that, he waved his hand, and soon, the forest began to fade from his eyes, and once again, Harry found himself in a new place, a desert.

“Why are we here?” Harry asked, and his eyes adjusted to the brightness.

“As I said before, Colare Illuminatum is a very rare talent, in fact, it is so rare, that there are only one or two people in every generation that have this talent. But in this century, amazingly, an unusual event has occurred. There are three people. Because this is a secret art, not many know the full extent of this power, and not many know it even exists. As a Colare, I have the duty to teach the next one the art of it. And the reason you are here, is because you are a Colare. And I have tracked you down to teach it to you.”

“If I am one of them, then who is the other?” Harry asked, but then was astounded by the answer.

“Voldemort. That is the reason he wanted to find me.” The man answered.

- There’s only a thick line between good and evil -

After that, Harry was shown around the castle, which he discovered was only over a dune. Surprisingly, it was quite extravagant, in the guest room, where he was staying, he found a giant room with one large bed. Compared to the Dursley’s, this was heaven. After changing, he found his way to the lounge. There Peter was, sitting, waiting for him. “Your first lesson starts tomorrow morning.”

After hearing this, Harry asked, “What will I be learning first?”

“You’ll find out then.” he answered, then he turned to the house elf next to him, and ordered, “Would you move two of the Crups to the Dungeon for tomorrow morning.”

“Yes, master.” The elf answered, then ran off to begin his task.

“What’s a Crup?” Harry asked.

“It is a small dog-like animal that we will be using for training.” he answered. “You will want your sleep.” And with that, he left, and Harry retired as well.

- There’s only a thick line between good and evil -

As Harry woke up, he looked around at the bright room for a sign of the time. He got dressed and walked down the stairs trying to find the kitchen. The house was huge, and it was almost as hard to navigate as it was in Hogwarts.

As Harry turned the corner, he found himself in a dark hallway that led to the dungeons. He poked his head through the door, and found no one in the room. But his eyes fell upon a particular cell which was covered in red. Blood. Harry forced the image out of his head. Although it still lingered in that back of his mind as he left, to return to his search for the kitchen.

He found many other hallways, and saw many portraits of old wizards and after he had found the kitchen and ate his meal, his first lesson had begun.

“Now, think of the color red. It’s hot, fiery, angry. Now, you see that bush? I want you to concentrate and think of the bush getting absorbed by red. Think as hard as you can.” Peter instructed, and then moved back, giving Harry room to try.

“Ok...” Harry said. He pictured the bush on fire, and he pictured it hot, searing, angry, fuming, irate, blood. He tried as hard as he could, but nothing happened. “What am I doing wrong?” Harry started to get frustrated, and soon he threw down his wand.

“You can’t always get things the first time. Why don’t we try another color, green.” He paused, and pointed to a small tree beside him. “Green is the color of fertility, growing, life, spring, luck, and earth. Try to get the tree to grow.”

Harry put his mind to the tree. He eyed the tree, and he thought about life, how green symbolizes life and growth. He imagined the sprouts popping up, the branches growing longer, and the leaves spurting out of the buds. In his mind, the tree had grown, and on the tree in front of him, slowly, a single bud rose out from the branch, and it grew into a leaf.

“That is good for a second try. But you can’t just put your mind to it, you must put your soul to it. Remember all the experiences you’ve witnessed of life, growing, living, adapting. Then think of the tree, how it relates to those experiences. The tree grows as does every other life. Your mind grows, you imagination grows, the tree in your mind grows, and then, you will be able to get the tree to grow...” Harry thought about what he had said, and then he put the tree back into his mind.

“Grow...” He said in his mind. He remembered his friends, each year, getting taller, he thought of every memory that had to do with growth and life in his mind, and then, the image of Cedric came into his mind. Because of him, Cedric would never grow, never live. His concentration broke, and he said, “I need to take a break.”

“Sure, I am going to go for a walk, you are free to take a look around the house, or whatever.” Peter responded, then he turned and disappeared into the air. Harry turned and walked toward the dune. He looked around, and fell down heavily. His thoughts had gone back to Cedric. He had tried to push it from his mind, but it hadn’t worked. Deep down inside of him, he couldn’t forget him. Every one he had ever come close to was in never ending jeopardy... or worse. Hatred brewed inside of him. Hatred for the Dursleys, but most of all, hatred against evil. An oxymoron, but true. Evil had done this, evil had created hatred, turned Harry against evil.

A single tear shed from his eyes, and slowly fell down the side of his face. He couldn’t do this, think about the past. He had to look towards the future. He wanted to kill Voldemort. He needed to kill Voldemort. He knew he needed all the help he could get.

As he woke up after dozing off, he looked around. He got up and went back to the castle. As he got close to the door, Peter came streaming through. “There you are, ready to resume lessons?” he asked.

“Sure. What are we going to try to do now?” Harry asked.

“I think we should try some other color. Each person has a favorite color that they are best at, and it would be a great start.” Harry nodded at this and took out his wand.

“We have tried Red and Green. Why don’t you try Black. Black is a little trickier, but lets see if you can do it. Think of Black. Death. Withering away. Wasting. Now try to imagine the plant dying.”

Harry put his mind to it, seeing the plant in his mind. He closed his eyes and imagined the leaf wrinkling, changing color, and shrinking. Soon, the picture in his mind began to do the same, it was as if a black cloud overcame the plant, and when he opened his eyes, the plant was dead.

Harry couldn’t believe his eyes, and then, Peter applauded him. “Well, it seems your color is black. Quite odd for the ‘Boy who lived’.” Then under his breath, he whispered to himself, “This may be easier than I thought...”

“Now, we will save the crups for tomorrow’s lesson, but now try to bring the plant back to life by using green...”

- There’s only a thick line between good and evil -

After several days of practicing, Harry soon learned he could use any color, although Black seemed to be the easiest for him. He spent his mornings practicing, and his afternoons doing homework and such. One day during lunch, Peter brought up the subject of death. “Why do we fear death?” He asked Harry bluntly.

“It’s part of being human. Without the fear of death, we wouldn’t care about our lives, others, and we just wouldn’t be human.” Harry responded. It was an interesting argument.

“The fear of death keeps us in check, but yet when we do not fear death, we go beyond human.” Peter philosophized.

“I guess lack of fear could actually be better.” Harry stated and turned to Peter. “You could be stronger than any man, be more powerful, not have any barriers in the way of success.”

“Yep, but why does society fear evil? Most consider evil people to not care about others. The difference between good and evil is a thick line of caring, and one could even say fear.”

Harry considered what Peter said through the rest of the day. Harry looked inside himself and realized he didn’t care about dying. He wanted to do anything to kill Voldemort. Would that make him evil? Would he be inhuman? He had killed so many, hurt so many, and Harry wanted to make him stop. He didn’t care about anything else. But would his ambition drive him to evil?

- There’s only a thick line between good and evil -

Sneak Preview:“Now, by using black, imagine the Crup getting older. Imagine him slowly dying away.” Peter said to Harry, who concentrated hard. He saw the little dog-like animal in his mind slowly collapse, slowly stop breathing, and it’s eyelids dropping down, putting an end to a life. At that instant, Harry knew he had changed. He had killed an innocent creature. But then he thought, ‘it was just a little creature. What harm could I have done?’ And he shrugged off the thought right there and then.