Harry Potter and the Sword of Gryffindor

Purification

"Ennervate!" This was the first word that was spoken into Harry's eardrum. Even this felt like a knife piercing through his head. Harry neither wished to open his eyes or remain in the delusion that was the darkness of his mind. Although it wasn't a true mystery, as a searing pain was coursing through his skull stemming from his scar. Courage filled his body, 'I will not die with my eyes close, I will not die afraid and weak,' Harry thought in grim determination, 'I will die the way I want to, the way my father did.' With no more doubts about his decision he open his eyes.

When the task was finally complete it truly made no difference on his decision, for the blackness that met him was darker than before. The unnerving darkness quickly came to a halt however when walls seemed to explode in flame. They rose to the highest part of the ceiling whatever doors where once there had been consumed fully by the intense flames, but Harry doubted if they were ever there to begin with. The room that he found himself in was completely circular rising up into a dome that raised three stories into the air. The flames prevent him from seeing what the wall was made of, but Harry could see them blacken with the scorching of the flames. Then Harry could see faint colors of red and green, but he dismissed this as the flickering of the light. The flame's heat made the room feel like an oven, but the heat soon subsided to a bearable level as the flames died down so that it only flickered out of the bottom of the floor near the walls. Harry could finally get a glimpse of the place he was occupying

The walls were of a mixture of red, green, and gold which he had not seen before through the flames. They formed a pattern of scales that seemed to wrap around Harry. The pattern continued until the very top of the dome were in the very center of the lay the head of a snake. It lay directly above Harry's head and when looking at it for the first time, made him flinch at the thought of the completely gold head pouncing on him from above. The cold green eyes that were set in the snake's head made Harry uncomfortable under its gaze. The floor was completely red as if on fire itself, but as if to save him from the molten colored floor the center a gold plated circle no bigger than five feet in diameter was lifted ten feet into the air.

Harry couldn't see everything around him because he was tied to a statue that lay behind him on the platform. His arms were tied down to his side as well as his legs, feet, and just about anything Harry had ever thought about moving. Harry could hardly think about moving let alone actually do it, 'Yep it is safe to say that I won't be going anywhere until somebody unties me. When Harry looked up one more time to see what else he could see, he was startled to see that the statue that he was tied to was a snake. The enormous cobra stood about eleven feet tall with eyes that looked down on its victim, were a blood red. Harry didn't have the voice to speak, but if he did he was sure that he would be speaking parseltongue. It was of course not the two snake statue staring at him from both directions that scared him, it was the waiting. He knew someone must have wakened him up and he searched desperately for his assailant.

Then the flames sudden exploded once more consuming nearly everything except Harry and the two snakes. The inferno sudden subsided as quickly as it had arisen and noise soon followed. It was sorts of grinding noise like the sound of the wall collapsing. Harry looked up to see if his suspicions were confirmed, but proved wrong when the opposite effect was observed. The dome ceiling along with the tremendous snake began to rise up and kept on doing so until it was at last another three stories higher. While the ceiling was raising itself, the wall began to break and then rise with it. Slowly at first and then faster and faster, finally revealing what lay behind it. Death Eaters.

Hundreds of them, were sitting quietly on their seats staring directly at him, both fear and happiness filled their eyes, a sickening combination. There were, from what Harry could see about two hundred in front of him and probably another two hundred behind, though Harry couldn't see them. They stood there seated without even moving, there were about ten rows of seats surrounding. The lower seat were lavished armchairs, embroidered in delicate and beautiful carving each one having similar snakes that formed the arms of the chair. The one ones above them less so but still looking very expensive and so on higher till the last couple of rows looked like benches. Then there was the thrown. The massive figure stood directly in front of Harry. The same cobra that held Harry twisted to form a seat completely made of pure gold, but the eyes looked like large emeralds. Harry paid little attention to the people and even less attention to his surroundings, the only thing that concerned him was the monster sitting in front of him, the embodiment of evil, and the cause of so much pain and suffer not least of all his own, Voldemort.

The Dark wizard sat before him with a twisted smile, his eyes blazing deeper than the snake's. His body radiated a sense of darkness and evil that Harry had never felt before with anybody else. He looked stronger than Harry had ever seen him. The pain in his scared continued to steadily increase until it reached an almost mind numbing pain in his skull.

"Welcome Mr. Potter to the Hall of Fire," breaking through the silence after watching Harry wince in pain for a few moments, "it is good to see you again. With you leaving so soon last time we hardly got to talk." Harry was feeling more terrified than he had ever been, he could barely breath and even that needed some effort on his part. Death seemed a certainty in this situation. There would be no portkey this time, no dueling match to save his life, and no phoenix song.

"As you can see you will not escape this time. It is impossible." Harry knew it was true. "I said hello, Harry. Well, if you do not wish to talk then I shall. Crucio!"

Pain. Total all consuming pain. It was all that Harry could think about or feel. Every part of his body felt like it was on fire and burning away every part of his flesh, but it just stayed on as if boiling from underneath. His scar felt like it was sinking into his skull. An eternity of pain passed through ever nerve and then it was over leaving every muscle aching and his brain pounding against his skull.

Voldemort looked look coolly down at him from his throne. "The great Harry Potter can be hurt. He is not immortal. The sooner you learn that boy the better, but I will have to ask you why didn't you welcome your superior when I was so courteous by bringing you here. Surely that Muggle lover taught you something of respect, but I digress. I have brought you here to ask you one simple question in an attempt to be enlightened by you. What is evil? Surely you know that answer. What is the difference between good and evil? The light and the darkness?"

Harry couldn't believe his ears. Was this some kind of sick joke, 'No' Harry thought, 'this is going somewhere,' but what Harry had no clue where to. "We are waiting for your answer. What is the difference between me and you?" Voldemort snarled.

"I don't know," Harry said not truly knowing what to say or whether he really wanted to say anything.

"That is too bad, Crucio!" When Voldemort finally lifted his wand Harry found he could no longer support his body and relied completely on his restraints, not even able to keep his head up to stare at his enemy. "I once said to you that there is neither good, nor evil, only power and those to weak to seek. Now is your chance to seek it," he said returning his voice to barely over a whisper. "I now offer you the thing that all in this room desire most besides their own personal greed, the chance to join me, to be my heir and apprentice of the dark art to reign besides me in the new world that I will create. I do not expect you to say yes, but time will change you ..."

"Never!" Harry interrupted. "I would rather die a thousands death than be your servant!" Harry had no idea how he had been able to speak, but what he did know was that not two second after he was finished, he wished he hadn't. The pain came again to his already broken body. Harry twitched so much from the pain he was sure that he had broken a rib against the statue behind him.

"It can be arranged! And if you ever interrupt me again I will make sure that it shall be yours," Voldemort hissed with a deadly tongue that knew no exaggeration or bluff. "You would be dead right now if it wasn't for your captor. I believe you know him as Wormtail," turning to his chair to the right side of him, "He has been so instrumental in both part of this plan. First, the show in your house or former house as it will was a wonderful demonstration of how to use people. You see Dumbledore's protective magic prevents anyone from hurting any member of your direct family either directly or indirectly; both physically and magically, but it only has a limited affect on other people that are not part of you family, isn't it genius. Of course, I didn't even think it would take just that one incident to do it, but that only shows just how disgusting Muggles really are. In fact, it was Wormtail who was the one who suggested your knew role as my servant and I am inclined to agree. What better servant then your enemy? You must have already been wondering why you aren't already dead. So I see you have made your decision anyway, but it really doesn't matter what you say. You are now mine and you will call me master. My reign has begun and soon I will be unstoppable, it is my destiny," then looking up at his servants, "And it is our destiny to rule the world and destroy all that oppose!" The room busted up into applause and in praise for their master.

"Now," holding his hand up and creating absolute silence as if by using a spell, "I will ask all of you to welcome our newest member to our ranks." The members of dark order began to step to their feet forming a tight circle around the edge of the very bottom row with another ring above that. Harry knew exactly what was happening so he braced himself the best he could and mustered as much determination as possible. "Crucio" the first curse came from the left of him. Then in a few second it was lifted and another came from his right. This went on, and on, and on, from all different location; each one only lasting a few seconds and then stopping for a while before continuing again from some other direction. The pain varied from each person who placed it on him, but all were unbelievably painful and Harry's complete exhaustion didn't help in the matter. Harry could only suspect that he was not completely out of his mind yet because of intervals that he was allowed to rest for a minute or two. When it was all done Harry withered on the ground leaving his broken restraint, Harry felt like every bone in his body had been broken in the struggle to remain sane. He couldn't move except for the occasional involuntary shaking that sent pain throughout his body with every slight movement.

"The pain will continue until you break and you will break. Do not cling to some ideal hope of rescue. It is impossible, escape will not occur and death will not come. You are weak and I am strong. The weak will be ruled by the strong. You will become strong, but you must first be purified by pain. Good bye." Harry was taken down from his post by someone's hovering charm. He used a hidden door as the bottom of the room. As he waited for his two guards to open the door, Harry could here the familiar popping sound that indicated that the meeting was over and the Death Eaters were apparating away.

When Harry crossed through the threshold of the door, it was like passing from night to day. It was cold, so cold that Harry began to shiver painfully once again. The corridor that they had moved into was made of dark granite and covered in a thick, wet moss. It was very dark and he could see little pass 10 feet in front of him. Of course, he could barely see anyway because his eyes were barely able to keep themselves open, but Harry knew what it was, the place reeked of death, its bitterness could be tasted in the air, and screams could be heard in some adjacent rooms that they passed. It was obvious that this was a place of evil. And then it started

Screaming. Loud agonizing screams could be heard ringing his mind, but it wasn't from the outside; they were coming from somewhere deeper and more terrifying, his mind. Harry stopped breathing he was so frightened by what this meant. His silence only intensified the noise as it became louder and more painful to listen to. The guards dropped him on the hard ground and left him unsecured, but it would not last long. From the darkness came the thing he feared above any other, a dementor moved toward his direction. Harry could see his breathe in the air around him and he could feel is heartbeat slow.

Harry could here another come behind it and just before the first creature could grab him Harry slipped into a tormenting version of unconsciousness, where he was forced to relive every fear, pain, mistake, and every sad experience of his life; he looked upon his mother as she die, Cedric as his life passed away, and then Voldemort's reincarnation. Every pain of guilt multiplied, every feeling of sadness increased, and every thought of hopelessness manifested, but then it stopped. Blackness was everywhere and he consider what was happening for a few fleeting moments then it started once more, only this time his visions were not familiar. They consisted of every thought of dread and of terror. Most of these dreams (A/N: Harry can not see into the future only visions of the present through Voldemort) where of his friends, teacher, enemies, anyone that he had seen before where suffering, tortured, massacred in the streets like animals, magically or otherwise, they were expendable. The pain subsided in his mind and anger set into Harry's heart. He would not break he told himself. 'My life may be pitiful and worthless, but I will turn. God help me I will not betray.' He didn't know how he would survive. He thought that hope inconceivable, but he would go on as long as he had to, his pain was acceptable, but would not subject others to the same at his hand.

When Harry woke up the next day, or what Harry could only guess was the next day, he found himself in a dark room with wall not unlike the walls in the hallway. The coldness and dread had subsided a little, but Harry could tell that the dementors where not far away. "Perhaps right outside the doors," he mumbled to himself because his mind was too cluttered with noise to here his own thought. His body ached terribly; his bones and bruises were still not able to heal in such a sort amount of time that he must have been out. Not too long after he had first woken up, the door that sounded like it would be right in front of him, opened with an eerie creaking noise that almost sounded like a scream in itself. The person that had just entered his cell walked a few steps out of the darkness that laid in front of him until Harry could see who he was. Peter Pettigrew stood before with nothing short of a smile on his face.

"Harry, poor Harry" Wormtail began in an almost friendly voice, "It is so nice to see you. I hope you have been enjoying your stay." Harry wanted nothing more than to get up and rip his heart out with his bare hands, but he had neither the strength nor the freedom to do it, so the coward continued, "I have come on the orders of my master to talk to you. He is most generous in keeping you alive, you must realize. In fact you should be thanking both him and me on your position and life." Harry felt inwardly sick, "Yes Wormtail I am in your debt forever how about you let me go, then I kill you and we will call it even," Harry wanted to say, but all that came out was a deep growl from his throat. "Oh aren't we ungrateful. You would not be alive if it wasn't for me, but in due time you will learn gratitude. Look at me. I was once weak and insignificant; the lowest form of a wizard much like yourself, but my master has given me powers that before I could only dream of. Would you like to see? Okay then, cultellus." A knife appeared in his hand. I was easily nine inches long in length, the blade, pure silver, bent back on a slit curve and looked impossibly sharp; the handle, also silver, appeared to be jewel encrusted with emeralds and rubies. "I was never much for transfiguration in my youth. Oh the way old Professor McGonagall used to yell at me for screwing up so many times. You know one time we were making a pincushion and I made a mistake sending all the pins straight at Professor, my so called friends used to get a real kick out of it. Well I think we owe it to her to give it a test don't you think?" Wormtail looked menacing as he took the knife in his left hand and slow moved it towards Harry. Harry could only stare at the knife as it moved closer to his body

Harry sat there silently, unable to move (that that he could if he tried), all he could do was sit and inspect the blade that would soon be in him. Wormtail took the knife and ever so lightly and slowly pressed it against Harry's bare chest. It immediately sunk into Harry's body without seemingly any resistance. All the while talking occasionally over Harry's groans of pain, "Do you feel that its power. The ability to cause pain is true power. It is true. How powerful would you say I am?" Harry could occasionally feel the blood drip down his stomach. The pain was excruciating, it passed skin and muscle touching the bone as he went back and forth not faltering in his consistency push ever so deeper into his chest with every passing swipe. Then he moved his knife into Harry's upper arm where scar still remained from their last encounter. He continued his movement across both arm, only a centimeter in his flesh, but Harry could feel blood pour out of each wound. "Harry join us and you shall be more powerful than you can possible imagine."

"No," Harry said through clenched teeth sucking in a pain full breath every few seconds. He could feel the blood draining from its body as it drained of his wounds.

"Fine, you must enjoy pain. So I will give it to you, Crucio!" This was more pain than Harry had ever thought possible. It was more pain than Harry had every felt. He screamed, screamed, till his vocal cords felt like they had been pierce by a nail through it. Each cut amplified the pain five fold. When it finally ended, Harry could barely feel his body. "Medicinus," Wormtail mumbled reluctantly. His wounds were instantly healed, leaving only their scars behind. "Can't have my masters apprentice dying on us now can I because that is what you are and pain is your first lesson so learn it well."

"Die," he said under his breathe. "Just die."

"No, Potter. I will remain because I am strong and the strong survive," Wormtail recited. He then swept out of the cell, leaving Harry to himself and his thought.

His thought consisted mainly of the life that he left behind; the people he wouldn't see, the places that he would never be, and the things that he would never do. This depressed him horribly, but Harry knew this was just another side effect of his dementor guards.

The pain continued. There was no peace in the days following Wormtail's visit, which he consider each times he had fallen unconscious from exhaustion, pain, or if the dementor would decide to come in his cell to get a better "taste". He counted fifty times that he had wakened up, but Harry was sure that it couldn't have been that short. 'I have probably lost count somewhere along the way,' Harry thought to himself. Death eaters would come in constantly, Pettigrew was only the first, to come and try to break him (Pettigrew would come every few days). They would try every method of pain that they could think of and place it on Harry. 'I could just imagine it now. Come one; come all to the Harry Potter torture game. See if you can make him scream,' he thought grimly. Though he might have been trying to be sarcastic Harry knew deep down inside that this was not as far from the truth as he would have liked it to be. He knew that they had a motive in torturing him. Harry learned from Wormtail that Death Eaters never do anything if it's not in their self interest. Of course, usually the reason was so that they wouldn't be kissed by a dementor, but it still gave him reason to believe that the prize was power both magical and over others.

They came up with creative ways to cause pain. Some of them were magical while other combined that with Muggle methods such as scolding with boiling water which left third degree burns across his entire body followed by a dark curse that partially melted away the skin so that there was nothing, but tissue there, then followed by a cructius curse (a favorite for almost all of the Death Eaters), this was done by none other than Lucius Malfoy, who took great pride in his work and was thorough disappointed when he was unable to get Harry to commit to the dark arts. Each person varied from this extremely painful experience to a tremendous beating from Crabbe and Goyle, who barely used their wands at all. That experience was relatively minor; it was as if his nerves were becoming readjusted to his constant pain that he felt almost immune to such insignificant blows and curses. It was a defensive mechanism that his mind created that made everything a little less painful with ever try and Harry was getting a lot of practice

It was after all this that Harry encountered someone who was one of the people he had not thought he would ever see again and whether he wanted to or not was still up for debate. Severus Snape, Potions Master at Hogwarts, hater of all things Harry Potter stood before him with a grim look on his face. He stood in the doorway for only a few second before quickly running in and punching Harry in the gut. Harry felt the blow, but it had not hurt as much as to he was suspecting. Harry could see the reason for the blow was a person who stood behind him. Harry recognized him as Avery Nott who had already been in Harry's cell.

As he made contact with Harry he whispered something into his ear, "Headmaster has asked me to give this to you," said his Potions professor while slipping in two vials of potion into Harry's, then he said in a yell, "You will not hold out forever, you will bow down to my master!" Then Snape once again hit him in the head, "Don't lose hope." Harry was surprised by this statement 'What hope' he thought 'no way could he brake out of here, look they don't even trust Dumbledore's only spy." There had been others that had been accompanied by another Death Eater in Voldemort's inner circle Harry had noticed, but he doubted that they were spies. Snape put on a few curses, which were more superficial than painful. Harry didn't scream, but he hadn't in a while so that was to be expected. Nott looked approvingly on at Snape, and was nothing short of pleased when he was finally over. They were in the progress of leaving when Nott turned back, his eyes mixed with determination and thoughtfulness, then he finally stopped.

"No, wait I want another crack at this one. He can't last forever. You never know today might be my lucky day," Harry braced himself, knowing that what was coming was going to be very painful and very terrifying. "Now I have an idea," Nott said suddenly "Crucio!" not the most original idea, but effective. His eyes grew wet from tear that he refused to let go. Then the curse was lifted. "No, that won't do," he said thoughtfully, "Come on Snape have a go on this one and you shall share in our reward if it works." This was the moment Harry had been dreading since he had seen Snape through the darkness. When he was able to lift his head again, he had been unable to for a few seconds, he saw a terrified Snape and completely confused. Harry knew what he had to do even though both of them didn't want it to do it. Harry gave him a quick nod and Snape gave a slight nod back. "Crucio!" screamed Nott then "Crucio," Snape said almost half-heartedly. It didn't matter how he said it, both curses hit Harry causing intolerable pain. Harry could not fight back the yell that was forming in his mind so he let out a loud grown. The pain engulfed his body. Then it stopped and left him with his face to the ground unable to move. "Who is your master!" yelled Nott into Harry's ear. Harry couldn't talk if he wanted to, he was just too exhausted. "Oh forget it doesn't really matter now does it eventually he'll crack." Both men left the cell after that allowing another Death Eater to come in.

After what can only be considered hell on earth, the last of the Death Eaters finished their "rounds" as Harry liked to call them. Each day the load of pain increased and left him just short of where Harry believed that he would not be able to go on with it anymore. Harry knew this was Voldemort's plan; to hurt him as much as possible without permanently damaging him. Twice, in fact he had believed he had crossed that line, and it took all the strength that he had left in his body to pull himself back.

Harry fell unconscious soon after the Death Eater had left and then woke up after a night of watching his friends die or be tortured. He felt something on his leg. Quickly remembering the two vials that Snape had given him he reached into his pocket taking them out. He gave a quick look to make sure no one was there to see him and after a few fleeting thoughts of it being poison he drank the first one. It felt cool going down his throat and then numbness. Harry couldn't feel anything on his body. It was nearly bliss not to feel the broken bones, the fractures, and the bruise anymore. Harry thanked Dumbledore in his mind and put the other vial in his pocket again. That day was filled with new as well as old means of pain, but Harry could barely feel anything short of the cructius curse on him, but it was short lived because by the end it started to wear off leaving Harry to more conventional means of blocking the pain.

The next day he took the other vial once he woke up and the familiar sensation filled his body once again. He then waited. Suddenly his scar started to twitch a little, "Well at least I took it on a good day" Harry thought to himself. The door creaked open and Dark Lord moved in his face looking satisfied as if saying 'Your going to love this'. "Hello Potter. I have come to ask you again if you have accepted my most generous proposal," Voldemort hissed

"No. You might as well just kill me." Harry had long since forgotten what hope felt like, but this was something that resembled it. He really didn't know if he could go on with this type of life at least death was some sort of escape he rationalized

"Yes, you would like that wouldn't you, but sadly no. I can't have my apprentice dying on me. You know it's been three weeks since you came here. Doesn't time fly?" Harry was shocked. 'No it can't be true. It's felt like a few months at least.' "I assure you that it has been that long," almost reading his mind, "Just think we have forever to get it right. No I have found that you have been somewhat resilient to our previous attempt so I have decided to try something new." He put his abnormally long fingers into his robe and pulled out a small vial. It contained a clear liquid that looked like water, but Harry looked upon it terrified, more so than he had been thus far. "I see by the look on your face that you know what this. It is Veritaserum; a truth serum that I believe will give me the information that I am in need of to make you see things my way. Pertrificus totalus" he yelled. Harry's body went completely rigid with his mouth left open. The dark wizard then proceeded to take greet amusement in watching Harry's eyes move in struggle and then poured the potion down his throat. Finite Incantatum." Harry tried desperately to spit the substance out, but it was no use. In fact he couldn't move he just sat there his mind not fully in contact with his body although he was aware of what was going on with his body.

"What is your name?" Voldemort said with an amuse look on his face.

"Harry Potter," he responded immediately. The voice sounded like it was coming from someone else because he had no control over his body. It was all very distant and soft, barely audible.

"Good. Now for the information that I need, who do you care for?'

Harry like he was listening into someone else's conversation when he heard his response, "Hermione Granger, Ronald Weasley, the rest of the Weasley family, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin...." Harry's voice became too low to hear after that, but he could tell that he went on for a long time after that.

"That is all I need from you. Enjoy yourself. We shall see each other soon." With that Voldemort left Harry to curse himself for his weakness and his response. 'They are all in danger now because of me' Harry thought. As time went on the physical abuse continued, but Harry was finding it more and easier to block out the minor pain and think over the major attacks and curses, but his mental state was beginning to deteriorate. The dementors were let in a few times and Harry was forced to keep conscious by a few terrified wizards. He was left to brew on his fear on behalf of his friends and the hopelessness of the situation.

It seemed like another month, although it was probably just a week due to the miscalculation of his last prediction, four dementors moved into his cell. Harry thought nothing of it since it happened so many times and he slipped into unconsciousness when he felt their hands touch his skin. When he had awakened he was shocked to see where he was. Harry found himself tied to the same gold snake in the same room of fire as he had when he had first arrived, the Hall of Fire. The wall was already up showing the rows of seats behind them. No one was there but there looked to be one more row than when he had arrived. His solitude was short lived when he heard a pop from in front of him. Voldemort stood by his thrown, grinning, and then exposing the dark mark on his forearm and placed his wand on it turning it a deep black creating a light smoke. Moments after he had moved his wand off of his arm, hundreds of little pops where registered in Harry's ear coming every possible direction.

When all were settled in their seats Voldemort began, "Welcome my loyal Death Eaters. You have come to witness the ordaining of my apprentice either that or an execution of a surprise guess that I have invited." The crowd clapped their hands loudly and shouted out praises, "but first I have to ask you one question again. What is evil? What is the difference between me and you?" Voldemort said confidently. Harry had pondered this question every moment that he was in pain. He now truly knew and it was the only thing along with his love ones that kept him from faltering and he knew this answer with his soul and he said it without out fear or doubt. Torture would come, but he would not live in fear of a man.

"I am nothing like you and I never will be! You want to know what the difference between us is, it is the that things we do and the way we think. You kill and scheme for your own personal amusement and power. You want to know what evil is, it is destruction, pain, and suffering; good is peace, happiness and love. Evil is my enemy and you are my enemy!" Harry voice echoed off the walls and sounded even more defiant the second time he heard it.

"Crucio!" Voldemort yelled, "You are wrong again! Your delusions will destroy you! You see I am happy and at peace for no one can destroy me, not you, not Dumbledore, no one! And I do love myself so you see they are entwined and the same. It makes no difference what you call yourself because in the end it doesn't matter!" the Dark Lords voice so high pitched that it sounded like a scream than a voice. "Now I will bring in our guess, subvecto!" Harry looked on as a hooded figure dropped at the foot of Voldemort's thrown. It wasn't moving and Harry couldn't even guess who it was because he/she was completely enveloped in black rags.

"Here is our sacrifice that we shall lay upon the alter of power. We shall make it in the name of ourselves and in the name of Harry Potter, our newest recruit." Harry was terrified of who it was. A thousands names ran through his mind and all of them he would gladly die for so that they might live. Voldemort called two men down to his thrown to lift up the figure. He took off the hood that it was wearing, long dark hair slipped out from underneath, but Harry could not see the persons face because the men had her facing Voldemort. "Enervate!" Voldemort yelled. The person shook into life and raised its head coming face to face with the Dark Lord's blood red eyes and screamed with pure fear in her vocal cords, while Voldemort cackled menacingly "Mutus!" He yelled once he had enough and the room was silent once again. "I see that you know who I am," he hissed while touching her on the face with one his long fingers, "Now I want you to turn around." She did as he commanded and looked straight at Harry with nothing less than utter shock and confusion. It was Cho Chang. Her faced dripped with tears from here terrified eyes. She looked so helpless that Harry's heart sank and never before had he wanted to die so bad. 'It is because of me that she is here. I most have said her name while I was under the truth potion.'

"You are here right now Miss Chang because our Harry here thinks a great deal of you," he spoke into her ear making her shake uncontrollable, "and I believe that you will be able to help us make Harry see our way in a little argument that we have been having. Can you do that? Just nod, I said nod!" She did as she was told with expressions of pain on her beautiful face. "Do you know what today Harry is? It is September 1, the first day of school, and I have taken the liberty of giving you a present. She is very beautiful isn't she Harry. Yes I can see why you like her, you wouldn't want anything to happen to her, now would you," he said stroking another finger against her cheek.

"Get off of her, now!" Harry growled not able to keep his silence any longer.

"Do you wish to join me," supposed Voldemort, believing that victory was near.

"I can't," looking helplessly on the frightened face of innocents, "I am sorry, I am so sorry," he sobbed

"What a pity. Well then she is of no use to me except to play with," he said thoughtfully. "Well, all is not lost. I will bring other perhaps they can persuade you as she could not. Pity really, Crucio!" Her screams broke through the charm and filled the stadium. Tear poured down her face and Harry his face become wet with tears of pain and sorrow. Then anger; rage beyond anything that Harry had ever felt before

"Stop it!" Harry screamed, "Stop it now!" Harry's commands were not heeded however, but were instead laughed at by the Dark Lord.

"Do not blame me. This is your own doing. She would have been safe if you would not have been so selfish. No the great Harry Potter is to strong well what about her. What about her life you would just throw it away like it meant nothing. That is what I am looking for in a servant. Thank you for your loyal service and thank you for this fun that I am having!" Voldemort screamed as his followers stood behind him laughing hysterically.

"No, I will not let you hurt her!" The rage grew and grew until he couldn't control himself. He couldn't even see through his eyes but he didn't have. Light, pure white light surrounded Harry's body, cover ever part of him. Then bam it was let out like a shockwave that moved in every direction. The power, a surge moved through the room knocking everyone off of their chairs including Voldemort who was forced back in his thrown and shielding his eyes from the awesome light that had been released. Harry stopped thinking and jumped across to where Cho was laying unconscious. He took and pressed her head upon his chest and moved her as close he could to himself and imagined Hogsmeade. Beautiful Hogsmeade, outside of the three broomsticks to his right and Zonkos down the road, he could picture it perfectly. So many times when he was in his cell did he see it. Then he heard the sound that he prayed for "pop" The last thing he heard was the Dark Lord say, "I have chosen wisely."

When Harry finally dared to open his eyes again, he was greeted by Hosgmeade's main road. It was the most beautiful thing Harry had ever seen. Autumn look just about ready to begin and Harry could see some of the tree near the road changing. The stores looked closed for that day and all the light were out. He was tempted to kiss the ground that he lay upon, but was instead greeted by Cho who lay underneath. Harry had been so happy to leave that place that he had forgotten about her. She looked beaten up, but she was breathing. Nevertheless, Harry knew that she had had the cructius placed on her for a long time and he didn't how she was reacting to it. He was tempted to just wake up one of the resident, but he didn't know if the Death Eater would go out looking for him and Cho might need medical attention so Harry's only choice was to take her up to Hogwarts as soon as possible.

Harry never felt more exhausted. His strength was faltering and on several occasions he found himself just standing still while his brain told him that he was moving. 'If I fall over I won't be able to get up again,' Harry pondered. This thought combined with Cho's well-being was all that kept him going at all. The road to Hogwarts felt like climbing Mount Everest. Holding Cho did not make the job easier. Even though she was very light, she still made his arms shake with pain, in fact by the time that he was at the stairs of Hogwarts he entire body was shaking in pain. 'Those stairs never looked so long before,' Harry mused to himself. Harry opened the door to the entrance hall and then proceeded to his final obstacle, the door to the Great Hall which he opened promptly with all of his remaining strength.

Silence met his ears. Sudden, absolute, deafening silence filled the Great Hall. The hall itself had its usual floating candles and bountiful feast sitting upon the four tables, but no one was eating. They simply just stared at this person that had just moved into the Great Hall. Each of their faces, from Harry's view, looked more shocked then the other. All four houses had the exact same confused and speechless face that Harry would have found hilarious if he wasn't in so much pain.

Then Harry's legs finally gave out causing him to kneel with Cho still in his arms. "Please help her," he managed to gasp. Laying Cho's body down in front of him and laid his own body down next to hers with no energy left to keep him up. Just before he fell asleep he heard the rustling of feet on the ground and a few screams echoing in the hall.

A/N: So what do you think? I thought most of it was pretty good I hope you like it and continue to read the rest of it. Just remember to review. If you don't like anything or you want something to happen just email me at [email protected] and I will write back to you as soon as I can. And please try not to get too pissed off at me because of grammar or spelling