Rating:
PG-13
House:
Schnoogle
Genres:
Action Drama
Era:
Multiple Eras
Spoilers:
Philosopher's Stone Chamber of Secrets Prizoner of Azkaban Goblet of Fire Order of the Phoenix Quidditch Through the Ages Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Stats:
Published: 01/08/2005
Updated: 06/29/2005
Words: 244,306
Chapters: 66
Hits: 89,703

The War of Shades

quintaped

Story Summary:
Seventh year - The scar connection becomes wide open, giving both Harry and Voldemort ever more detailed views into each other's mind. Harry works on practicing the message he gained in Egypt (Harry Potter and the Goblin Rebellion), but Voldemort launches the Second War to fill Harry with hatred and anger and to strip him of all who are loyal to him. Ever more desperately Harry trains himself and others to fight, but something is making all of his friends fight each other. Harry must find a way to stop the internal warfare or Voldemort will be able to launch an attack on Hogwarts that will destroy all who are capable of resisting him, including Harry. Through all this, Harry must learn for himself how he will finally vanquish Voldemort.

Chapter 55

Chapter Summary:
Harry goes to the Hospital Wing and Goblin Clinic to heal the gravely injured. His final visit is to Lucius Malfoy, for whom he has to overcome all the animosity Malfoy has created. When Harry does so, he explains to Hermione about the gist of his plan to defeat Voldemort.
Posted:
04/30/2005
Hits:
1,303


Chapter 55 Great Pains

Harry and Hermione hurried up to the Hospital Wing and asked Madam Pomfrey about the worst cases. She pointed Harry to the first one, and gave Hermione a list for the rest. The area was crowded with students, healers, the wounded, and families of the wounded. It was chaotic. Harry waved to Mrs. Weasley, sitting in a chair between Bill's and Charley's beds, where they were sitting up. She started toward him, a grateful, jubilant look on her face, but Harry waved her off to maintain his concentration as he approached the first patient. He was aware of her and Bill and Charley positioning themselves to see as he approached the bed and saw Professor McGonagall, near death with internal injuries from multiple stunners and cruciatus torture which Dolohov had inflicted when McGonagall was down - just for the fun of it!

Once he recognized his patient, Harry saw nothing but Professor McGonagall. He had no trouble feeling love for his head of house. She had been a surrogate grandmother to him ever since he had arrived at Hogwarts. She had protected him, chastised him, promoted him, cheered for him, disciplined him, and for all of it he was grateful and enamored. He quickly grabbed a washcloth and, rolling it up, put it between his teeth. He pulled his hood up. Almost before he sat by her bed, Hermione grabbing his shoulders to keep him up, the green light emanated from his eyes, as intensely as it had at any time all night. He was barely aware of the hush which had fallen over the cacophonous hospital wing, unconcerned whether the silence was for what he was doing or for the immense respect nearly everyone had for Minerva McGonagall. He scarcely had time to think of it, however, before the pain first of the stunners and then the cruciatus curse set in.

His entire body stiffened as if he were being electrocuted, but it was vastly more painful than that. He became very sweaty and would have screamed if he could have unclenched his jaw at all. He couldn't count the time he was like this - he could feel the pulse of every beat of his heart and each seemed to take an hour. He just kept thinking of this woman he so loved. And then he heard his name.

"Potter? Are you alright?" he heard Professor McGonagall ask.

The pain subsided and the sense of rejuvenation returned. He blinked and removed the washcloth from his mouth, wiping his eyes and then the rest of his face with it. Now that the pain was gone, the primary emotion he had was gratitude that he could help her.

"Never better, Professor, how are you?"

"I don't know why you'd ask? Why am I here anyway? I must see Poppy. I have things to do."

A cheer went up around them and Professor McGonagall looked around, mystified. Someone he hadn't noticed before from the opposite side of the bed stood up and leaned across toward him.

"Thank you, Potter," said Professor Snape stiffly.

Harry could hardly believe hearing such words from Snape.

"She is my friend and mentor, too," Snape continued as he extended his hand.

Harry shook his hand, and Snape's grip was firm but not overly so - it seemed sincere. Harry was amazed. Then Snape suddenly turned and glided away as if he was afraid he would be injured by showing warmth or gratitude. As he watched, Harry was certain that in the torchlight he saw the reflection of dried tracks of tears down Snape's cheeks.

He moved through several more, there and in the goblin clinic, and finally Hermione led him to the room where the injured Death Eaters and their allies were being ministered to and guarded. Against the far wall, he saw a too familiar silhouette standing over a bed. Draco Malfoy! Hermione was leading him in that direction, to the bedside of Lucius Malfoy.

Hermione quickly told Harry that the elder Malfoy had been backed into the area of the Whomping Willow, which whipped him badly with smaller branches before crushing his skull. He was barely alive. Hermione could see the reluctant look in Harry's eyes and understood.

"I know what you're thinking: after all the evil he's done; nearly getting you killed who knows how many times; laughing as you were tortured by Voldemort; kicking poor Dobby in a way that we wouldn't tolerate for pets; slipping the Riddle diary into Ginny's textbook. But if you are going to heal, you have to be ready to heal everyone. And remember the message in the Egyptian shrine last year, 'To achieve peace, practice forgiveness and goodwill.' What does it mean if you don't practice it with everyone? Haven't you been working with Reverend MacBoon all year just to be able to do something like this? Somewhere behind that evil façade is a person who might have been, and might still become, a very worthy soul."

Harry was half-turned away, and looked past his shoulder at Lucius Malfoy. He could not afford to loathe. He would soon be facing more intense evil than Malfoy. But Malfoy had for so long been the human face of evil in their midst. And yet - how was Lucius Malfoy really that much different from Sirius? Both had been brought up being told that they were superior solely because they were 'pure blood,' that they were a breed apart from the rest of the wizards and far beyond any common muggle, that they were the natural lords of the earth and should cleanse it of all the vermin not like them. Harry had seen Sirius acting quite callously as a youth, and somehow he had turned away. Certainly Sirius's mother would have preferred the attitude Malfoy exhibited to what her own son came to stand for. "Right, then," Harry thought, "there's a person in there little different from Sirius. I'll do it for Sirius." Sirius had just told him not to fight the dark with dark, but with light - that is what he would do.

As Harry approached the bedside, Draco Malfoy said, with a bitter sneer, "What are you doing here, Potter - come to gloat? Finally got 'im, did you? Or do you think you'll have the chance to administer the coup de gras?"

Harry couldn't explain what he was about to do and Draco would not have accepted any words he could say. He just looked into Draco's eyes with gravity and sorrow, seeing not the angry, petulant, self-absorbed boy that his upbringing had made him, who had so often goaded and hurt Harry over the years, but the frightened child who loves his father, despite everything, and was terribly scared about losing him. Though he lifted his hood as before, Draco could still see Harry's face. Harry put Hermione's hands on his shoulders and concentrated.

The glow was feeble at first, but then it deepened. He squeezed the arms of the chair as first the pain of the whipping of the branches came to him, and he felt deep welts appearing all over his body, and then the sudden crushing to his head. He heard Draco's brief scream as Harry's head suddenly deformed, just as Lucius Malfoy's was. Harry felt something deeper than that - he was filled with the sense of revulsion and fear - he felt all the cruelty and disdain, all the hatred and isolation which had been the sole basis of the elder Malfoy's existence. He felt all this, but it did not become part of him as the injuries had. No, these feelings washed over, like ocean waves against a basalt outcrop. Harry could remove these and handle them, but did not take them within.

Then Lucius Malfoy's skull returned to its proper shape. Harry was panting, and then his head too regained its proper shape. The green glow subsided, and he turned to look into Lucius Malfoy's pale grey eyes.

Lucius Malfoy looked at him and spoke. "Potter? You - saved me? After all I've done to you!?"

Harry nodded. He didn't know what he could say.

"I could feel you within my mind. My injuries are gone and ... I'm seeing things differently, a whole new perspective," he said warmly and sincerely. "Thank you."

Harry smiled and nodded again.

Then Lucius Malfoy shuddered. "Ahh, now there's a whole new kind of pain. I feel ... such shame: unh, the things I've done. And I am sorry; I'm sorry for it all." He shook his head regretfully. "There are some changes to be made, aren't there?"

"Yes, sir, Mr. Malfoy."

"What's going on here?" shouted Draco. "What have you done to my father?"

"Let me take it from here - Mr. Potter," said Lucius. "I'll talk to him, see if I can't get him to understand."

Lucius Malfoy reached over and took his son's hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze that only seemed to discomfort the younger Malfoy all the more. Harry stood up and he and Hermione walked away.

She whispered to him. "Harry, what just happened? You were healing his injuries and he seems to have changed his entire attitude. He was ... decent!"

Harry explained quietly and quickly. "Hermione, I've been suspecting this over half the night. Remember how Ron could hold that spider? Can you imagine him doing that before? Madame Pomfrey heals the particular condition, but I heal the whole person. Not just their body, but all the wounds of their mind and soul. Remember what happened to my Dad - quite a jerk, not in Malfoy's class, but bad enough. Then my mother helped to sustain his body and his attitude transformed as well. And it was in that year that followed, when she started spending time with my father and his friends, that Sirius changed as well - the next summer he didn't even go home. And you've seen what happened to Neville. He was hopeless for over four years. He even said he was nearly a squib. I've always been fond of him and often thought how I'd like to take away whatever was holding him back, and he's been spectacular since I've been coaching the DA. Now there aren't ten students in the school who could score on him in a duel. And Malfoy - a more diseased and malignant soul you can barely imagine. He became pleasant and ... nice, and ... aware of the evil he's done."

"Harry, are you ...? Is that your plan?"

"That's right, Hermione. The prophecy said that I would have the power to defeat the Dark Lord. He is called the Dark Lord because of the hatred that fills his mind. That darkness is a malignancy of his soul. I can defeat that hatred! That is what I have to vanquish! So what if he wants immortality - so did Nicolas Flamel. But Flamel was not filled with hatred, so he was no dark lord and went on living his happy life with Perenelle, until Voldemort set his sights on having the Philosopher's Stone. I have been practicing all night allowing myself no other emotions but love and sympathy and kindness. I asked Tonks to try to make me mad so I could test my ability to focus on love rather than hate. A month ago, if she had said those things I probably would have drawn my wand on her, might have even hexed her. Instead, tonight I just laughed it off.

"It never has been a solution to just kill Voldemort's body. He has too many protections wrought of Dark Magic. His spirit would return to what it was before three years ago, and someone seduced by his power and beguilements would help him recover a body again and it would all begin anew. Hatred is a sickness. My mother gave me the ability to heal, and within me was always a great capacity to love. All the times that I've rushed into danger and pain to help others, I've exercised that capacity to love and it has grown. All this healing has been tremendous for me. I don't know if I'm truly braver than the next wizard or witch, but I've always felt that there was something greater than myself to fight for. Now my ability to heal can be used as a great weapon - a weapon which will not destroy a person, but will vanquish the darkness within.

"This is the culmination of my Occlumency training. Snape tried to teach me to close off all emotion, but that diminished me. It was wrong. That's how he has approached life, but I couldn't do that. Instead I am filled with light. And just like in the Parable of the Cave, the Dark Lord, who has known only darkness for over fifty years, cannot look into the bright light that fills me. It burns him. For over an hour now, I have felt it. He can't look within me, but I can look within him. He has been puzzling over this change and all he knows is that he cannot bear to focus on my thoughts. He has tried to find a path into my mind, but he can't. Now he has grown very tired. He has a body now and he has worked it and his mind very hard today. I can see even now that he's preparing a potion to restore Bellatrix, and then they will both sleep. But he's very worried, because he can no longer see into my mind."

By now they were out of the Hospital Wing and in a quiet corridor. Hermione gazed up into his eyes. She saw a kindness and comfort beyond anything she could ever remember. The closest she could recall is when her parents had tucked her into bed as a little girl.

"Didn't you just fight him while looking into his mind?" objected Hermione weakly.

"Yes, but he saw into my mind as well. And this time I won't be trying to defeat the man, but to vanquish the darkness in him."

"It will be very dangerous."

"You don't have to go."

"You know the answer to that, Harry. But don't we all need sleep as well?" This was the last objection she could think of to his plan. If anybody else had proposed doing such a thing, she would have thought of a million problems - but this was Harry and Harry would make it happen.

"Not me," said Harry. "You know that feeling of vitality you get when you get over a sickness or a wound. I must have gone through that recuperation over sixty times tonight. I think I can cure your tiredness as well. Look into my eyes. If this works for you, we'll do it for all the others who need it also."

Hermione faced him and looked up into Harry's eyes. The green glow began and she closed her eyes. He thought of how much he loved her, how many times they had relied on each other, how she had been patient and understanding with him when he understood very little, when he raged against his fate. Soon it ended and she opened her eyes again and smiled. Harry bent his head down toward hers and gently kissed her. He held it and soon her body shivered and then shook and he felt her face get flush. She quickly began breathing deeply. She pulled away and gasped.

"Harry! We're not like that with each other. What was that about?"

"Like what?" laughed Harry, jumping and thrusting his arms in the air in exultation. "I'm just so full of feeling good I just had to kiss someone, and it was between you and Hagrid. I like Hagrid, you know, but you're a far better snog."

She hit him in the arm, then laughed and laid her head on his chest for a second. "I'm so glad we're excellent friends and nothing more. I don't know if I could stand to be even more involved with someone who finds danger so readily."

Then she cried out suddenly, "Ooh! Ow!"

"What's the matter, Hermione?"

"It's just, erm, womanly pains. Hey, I thought you were healing me - why do I still have cramps?"

"What's broken?"

"Nothing I guess, but I thought you made things better?"

"I heal what's sick. You aren't sick. Your cramps are painful, but they aren't a symptom of something going wrong, but of a system working correctly. Like sore muscles after a vigorous workout, some pains are not the result of things going wrong, but of things going right. I suppose I can't tell you to enjoy your cramps, but at least they tell you that things are doing what they ought to be doing."

"And here I thought I was going to be able to get you to keep me from having pain when I have a baby."

"Eww, don't invite me! I'd be too squeamish!" said Harry, laughing. "C'mon, I'm famished. I don't know about you, but I haven't eaten since breakfast. Let's go see what we can scare up before heading down to meet the others."

Before they could even go to the kitchens, however, they were interrupted by the clomping of heavy goblin shoes on the stone and Melony's raspy voice. "Harry Potter! Please, come quick! Dobby needs you."

"What's the matter, Melony?"

"He's been in bed for nearly a month now and I'm afraid he might not make it. He couldn't take the stress of lying to you and yelling at me. Trying to manage it has been tearing him apart. It goes against everything in his being. At first he punished himself for it, but now it's simply the inner turmoil that keeps him ill. Come help."

The three of them rushed to Dobby and Melony's home in the castle, where Harry quickly set to healing Dobby. When Dobby woke up, he blinked his enormous eyes.

"Thank you, Dobby," said Harry.

"Does Harry Potter then know what we was doing?"

"Yes, Dobby. It must have been harder on you even than it was on me. We have defeated all of Voldemort's forces but one and some dementors. We could not have done it without you and everyone else tricking that old trickster."

"Dobby hates to lie, or to say bad things about those he loves."

"I know, Dobby. It's one of the things I like best about you. The lying is all over now. I'll come talk to you later. I have an errand with some friends."

"Thank you, Harry Potter," said both Dobby and Melony, as they reached out to each other and held hands.