Free Will and Fate

"Where is Professor McGonagall? I'm ready to go."

Harry looked up to where Hermione was pacing back and forth in front of the Headmistress's desk, her robes swishing in the air at every turn. "Worrying about it won't make it happen sooner. She probably hasn't even had a chance to finish her breakfast yet."

"This is more important than eating," she responded.

"Clearly, as you didn't bother eating anything yourself," Harry said. "Sit down or the worrying on top of your empty stomach will make you sick."

Hermione sat next to him, still agitated. "Why are you so calm about this? We could be saving your life."

"Maybe." Harry shrugged. "Either it'll work or it won't. There's no point in worrying about it. If I die--"

"You will not die," Hermione said vehemently.

"Then stop worrying." Harry smiled before returning to the book on Transitive Potion Theory Professor McGonagall had unearthed from the dustiest recesses of the library. It was N.E.W.T. level Transfiguration, far more advanced than anything Harry had gotten a chance to study so far. It was easy enough to understand, though.

Only certain types of spells could be added to a potion, and even the effects of those would be temporary if the intended recipient hadn't ingested enough of the potion. There was a small section in the back of the book on strengthening potions through spells and another cautioning users against the types of spells used with this branch of magic. Harry took note of the list of spells wizards were cautioned against trying, acknowledging that most of them were those which would cause extreme pain or disfigurement if used, particularly if the potion had been ingested in large doses.

"I still don't see why we couldn't go last night," Hermione said. "She acts like we have all the time in the world to cure you, when really--"

"When really, a few hours isn't going to make that much difference, Hermione," Harry said, cutting her off. "It would be unusual enough for Professor McGonagall to leave school grounds at night to visit someone who no one is supposed to know is at St. Mungo's, but carrying some strange potion she thinks may be a cure and insisting she be allowed to see me after hours? It would've drawn a lot more attention than we want. Even if the potion works, it'll probably be a while before I recover completely. In the meantime, no one can know what we're doing."

"I know, but I'm anxious to see this thing done." She stood up and began pacing the office again, mumbling to herself as Harry went back to reading the spells in the book.

He poured a small amount of the potion into a glass and put it in the center of the table. Checking the book again, Harry cast a spell at the potion, smiling when the small amount of liquid erupted into bright orange flames. "Hermione, come look at this."

As the flames spread inside the glass, Hermione walked over. "What is--how did you do that?"

"This one." Harry pushed a finger at the page in Magick Most Evile. "I should probably figure out how to put it out, these flames are tricky." He picked up the book and scanned the page quickly, trying to remember where he'd seen the counter curse.

"Harry, that's not fiendfyre, is it?" The panic he could hear in her voice was emphasized by the strong grasp of her fingers on his shoulder as she pulled him away from the table, the book still balanced on his lap.

"Well, yeah. Not a lot, but--"

"But you don't know how to put it out!" Hermione pulled out her wand and began frantically casting spells, shooting water at the circle of flames which had just engulfed the glass it had been encased in. It was now eating a circle through the large wooden table they'd been working on, burning the wood so quickly, Hermione barely had time to pull Harry far enough away that his robes wouldn't catch fire.

As quickly as they'd spread, the flames went out. Seconds later, the table was replaced in it's entirety. Harry turned and spotted an angry Professor McGonagall standing in the corner, her wand now turned on him instead of the spot where fiendfyre had been about to eat through her floor.

"You must have some kind of death wish, Mr. Potter."

"I'm sorry, Professor, but I thought I could put it out."

"The problem is you don't think," she said, stepping further into the room. "What would you have done if I hadn't come in? Is there no end to the foolish things you will do before thinking of the consequences?"

Harry started to apologize again and settled for not moving under her hard glare. Her mouth had pressed into a thin line that he knew meant she was trying her best not to say something she would regret later, some words said in anger she couldn't take back. Seconds later, Professor McGonagall went over to examine the damage to her rug, vanishing it after a whispered invective when she realized the hole could not be repaired.

"Is there a reason you were playing with fiendfyre in my office?"

"I just wanted to see if the potion could hold a dark magic spell. That...was the only one I could see the effects of without having someone drink it," Harry said, his eyes now on the singed spot beneath the new table.

"Well, now you know, Potter. If your stepfather had really wanted to kill you immediately, he could've had you burst into cursed flames much as you did my table. Satisfied?"

Harry nodded. "I won't try anything like that ever again."

The Headmistress's eyes narrowed on his face, but she didn't respond to his comment. She motioned for Hermione to take a seat at the table and then joined them. "It seems the situation is as complex as you had guessed. Professor Hagrid found a dead unicorn very early this morning," she continued. "Apparently, it had been struck with several snake bites, quite unusual for such a fast animal."

"So he's in the forest," Hermione said.

"Hiding in the bodies of snakes again," Harry added.

"It appears so," Professor McGonagall confirmed. "Obviously, we have no way to identify him as of yet, but I've asked Professor Hagrid to alert me if any snakes are seen near the school by students, particularly during class times."

"You're worried that Voldemort might try to possess a student," Harry guessed.

She nodded. "I doubt it may happen as he would prefer the body of someone strong if he were to attempt an attack through them, but if he is willing to accept living inside a snake, there is no telling what he might wish to do before Professor Snape and his cohorts are ready to restore him to his own body."

Harry and Hermione looked at each other, each letting that information sink in. If Voldemort was willing to possess someone else to get inside the protections of the school, there would be no telling who would be safe to be around once he made his move. If he made one at all. Harry was convinced Snape wouldn't take the chance of Voldemort coming inside the school before he could get him a body, he had already gone out of his way to make sure no one could find out about his plan before it could be completed. Then again, Voldemort wasn't one to wait on anyone else when he was ready to make a move.

"I don't think Harry should go back to the dorms."

Harry looked at Hermione with wide eyes. "What do you mean? There's no reason I shouldn't."

"Of course there is," she said. "He could easily possess one of your roommates to get to you."

"He's not after me," Harry countered.

"Or worse, he could possess you or Neville," she said, ignoring his interruption. She turned to Professor McGonagall. "Don't you agree that whatever connection they have with him could be dangerous if he were to use it? If Harry sleeps here--"

"I am not moving into this office," he said. "Hermione, nothing has happened where we have to take steps like that."

"I agree with Mr. Potter. The time has not come for us to panic."

Harry nodded at her words. "If it really comes down to it, I'd rather leave altogether or hide in the Room of Requirement at night. I'm sure Professor McGonagall would prefer a few hours without us around."

"Well, I didn't mean you'd sleep in her bedroom, just that you'd be safer here than anywhere else," Hermione said. "You and Neville. We'd have to hide both of you."

"What happened to letting the Ministry take care of everything?" Harry asked. "I'm not supposed to worry about anything but not dying, remember?"

"Speaking of that," Professor McGonagall said. "I suppose it's a good thing I prepared more of that potion last night or you'd have to wait until this afternoon to find out if our cure works." She motioned to the collection of glass vials on her desk. "I think I've brewed enough that the Healers should be able to deal with all of your various ailments in a reasonable amount of time."

"Can we go now?" Hermione asked.

The Headmistress nodded. She spoke instructions to the portrait on the other side of her desk and motioned her wand towards her fireplace, allowing their escort to step through a couple of minutes later.

"Summoning me so quickly?" Dumbledore asked. "I had thought I would get through all of Harry's memories before being told who my culprit is."

"We wished to see you for another reason," McGonagall said. "We think we may have discovered a cure." As he seemed poised to speak, she stopped him. "Or, at best, a temporary way to stop the curses from spreading if it should work."

"Curses?"

"We believe so, sir," Hermione said. "There's nothing left to do but go to the hospital and test it. That is, if you're available to take us with you right now."

Dumbledore looked around at them in surprise. "I hadn't expected you to find anything at all, let alone this soon. Although, I don't feel it wise to bring all of you to the hospital, particularly you, Miss Granger. I understand you and Harry are very close. It will most likely upset you to see him in his current condition."

"We're all going, Albus," McGonagall said. "She has read his file and is adequately prepared for what we will see. Hermione has earned the right to visit with him for a few minutes, especially to see if the cure she helped discover will eventually save his life."

"What did you discover? I'm sure the Healers will be elated to hear of it."

"We'll be happy to explain all of it to them," Harry said. He went over to his bag and pulled out the overwritten copy of Advanced Potion Making. "Or, at least, Professor McGonagall will. Hermione and I have agreed to not be seen." He held up the edge of his Invisibility Cloak before sliding it into his pocket on top of his wand.

"I have to say, I do not believe this is a wise decision," Dumbledore said. "Of course I'd like to see Harry cured as much as all of you, but taking you to the hospital would be a bit excessive. You still haven't told me who you suspect. I think we should have a discussion about that before we go any further."

McGonagall crossed her arms and stared at the Minister over the top of her spectacles. "You would rather sit around talking than take a few minutes to save a young man's life? The other situation can wait for at least another week, though I don't expect it to take that long. Harry, on the other hand, needs every second of recovery we can give him."

"Minerva, you know how deeply I am concerned about Harry's recovery. I am just as worried about a brewing situation which could prove deadly to a great deal of the Wizarding World," he said. He turned to Harry and Hermione, who stood holding hands behind the Headmistress. "Why wait any longer? Don't you understand that the quicker we arrest this person and whoever else is involved, the sooner you can all rest easy?"

McGonagall moved to block his view of both students. "Do not put this on the children, it is my decision. We are close to the incontrovertible evidence we need for the convictions I'm sure you'll seek instead of a more personal punishment," she said, raising both brows for emphasis.

"I understand that as Minister, you may demand any information you like and expect compliance from all who do not wish to be in violation of the law, particularly when the information involves dangerous persons. However, as a former Headmaster of Hogwarts, you are bound to serve the current Headmistress. Fond as you are of ancient magic, I thought you would have remembered that, Albus. I don't have to explain myself to you to obtain your assistance." She motioned to the fireplace he had stepped from minutes before. "Shall we go to your office, then?"

Without waiting for a reaction from either of the adults, Hermione picked up two of the corked vials on the Headmistress's desk and slipped them into her robe pocket, stepping into the fireplace with Harry. The Headmistress and Minister followed.

Minutes later, they found themselves tiptoeing into the hospital room where Harry had been hidden, the sound of his labored breathing the only noise in the small, stark room.

"Oh my god!" Hermione slipped from under the cloak and rushed to the bedside, tears quickly forming in her eyes as she took in the pale form on the bed.

Professor McGonagall sealed the door quickly and joined Hermione, putting a hand on the girl's shoulder as she took in Harry's condition with her own eyes. They stared at the young man in the bed, his girlfriend trying to control the sudden rush of tears, the Headmistress wondering if she'd been too hasty denying Harry permission to kill the person responsible. Though it may not have been Severus Snape who enacted the curse, he was as much responsible as the person who had done the deed, she was sure of it.

Harry felt a strange hint of jealousy at watching Hermione cry over a version of himself several months in his own past, a person he had never been, but still was by some twisted mangling of fate and time. He turned away from the scene, staring at a blank space of the wall until Dumbledore approached him.

"Harry, I'm impressed by your progress in learning to extract your memories. Perhaps you'd like to try it again," he said.

"I'm sorry?"

"There's something you can try, assuming this healing potion takes immediate affect," Dumbledore said. "It is currently difficult to read your thoughts, partly because of your physical condition, but if it were to improve--"

"You could see what happened the day I was attacked," Harry said.

The older wizard nodded. "Also, you could use Legilimency to see your own memories. It would be strange, I'm sure, but you could then extract your memories from that day, enabling us to see the attack exactly as it happened."

Harry frowned at the suggestion. "Professor McGonagall told me it was dangerous to extract memories from another person, particularly someone my age."

Dumbledore sighed. "Yes, Harry, normally it would be. Though, these are unusual circumstances, aren't they? You would be taking them from yourself. While your memories are not the same as the young man in the bed, your personality and way of thinking are similar enough that there should not be any lasting damage."

"Lasting damage as opposed to temporary brain damage?" Harry asked. "That's not particularly reassuring."

"An alternative would be if you viewed the memories and then extracted them back at Hogwarts. Having the original would be better, but you could turn them in with the rest of your evidence, if you insist on waiting."

"I do," Harry said. "That does sound like a better plan, sir." He glanced over to the bed where Professor McGonagall and Hermione stood watching the two of them. "I think it's time to start."

"Indeed, Mr. Potter," Professor McGonagall said. "Now, while I don't know what to expect, I do think if we've got it wrong, one or both of you may have a reaction. Don't you wish to come closer?"

Harry shook his head. "I'll watch from here."

"Very well," she said.

Hermione took his hand on the bed and then flashed Harry a small smile across the room. She pulled one of the glass vials from her pocket and handed it to Professor McGonagall on the other side of the bed.

Quickly performing the needed spell on it, McGonagall tipped the vial towards Harry's lips and poured a small amount of the potion into his mouth. With a quick flick of her wand, she eased it down his throat, watching closely for any signs of a change. For a few long moments, there was nothing. Then, a soft bloom of color appeared in both of Harry's cheeks. The boy in the bed began to moan and his eyelids fluttered briefly before he settled into a still silence. His breathing had lost the erratic, noisy air immediately noticeable upon entering the room. Encouraged, McGonagall lifted the vial again and brought it to Harry's lips.

Across the room, Harry began to cough. He waved Hermione away when she turned to him. His waving hand became a claw as his throat started to close up completely, leaving him struggling to take in air. "Stop!" he gasped and Hermione turned to him again. Harry went down on both knees, still coughing, now scratching at his throat with both hands.

"Harry!" Hermione ran over to him and caught him when he fell forward, dry coughs forcing air through his tight throat. She gasped in alarm as Harry seemed to flicker in and out of the space where he kneeled, his body disappearing and reappearing in short bursts as he coughed and clawed at his throat.

"Stop!" His voice came out in a high wheeze. Dumbledore came over and kneeled next to Harry, concern making his eyes unreadable. He felt a kind of gentle heat on his back where Dumbledore touched him, but it did nothing to ease the pain in his throat. Harry coughed hard again. Blood burst from his mouth in small drops, dotting the floor as he dropped onto his side on the floor. He pointed to where Professor McGonagall stood over the bed, frozen in place with the vial in her hand. "Killing. Me," he said between coughs. "Potion. Wrong."

As his words reached her, McGonagall withdrew her hand from the boy on the bed and placed the vial on the table. After a painstaking few minutes of suffering, Harry's coughs finally subsided. He sat on the floor with Hermione's arms around him, watching as Professor McGonagall picked up the vial and made adjustments to the spell she'd attempted before.

"Harry, if you don't want me to continue, I can stop now," she said. "We would all understand if you would rather not attempt any more cures today." She paused. "Or at all."

Hermione squeezed him as the Headmistress stopped speaking, trembling as she willed him to make the choice that might save his life or kill him instantly.

"Minerva, is there no other alternative?" Dumbledore asked. "Another type of potion you could try?"

"This is what we've discovered," she said. "Either it will be the solution we seek or we'll have to force the information from Harry's attacker. It's your decision, Harry," she said, nodding to him.

"Do it," he said. Harry coughed lightly and cleared his throat. "If I'm going to live through this, we can't wait too much longer," he said.

McGonagall nodded. "I've changed the potion a bit. I've attached a counter curse to combat the binding spell currently holding the curse in your system. That, in addition to the current healing spell, should produce the results we want."

Hermione squeezed him tight enough to restrict his breathing again as Professor McGonagall brought the vial to his lips on the bed. They all watched in silence as Harry's skin seemed to flush with warm health again, his lips parting on a sigh as the potion began to take effect. It was several long minutes later when they all breathed a sigh of relief, Harry most of all. Whatever unusual route they had taken, the cure seemed to be working. For now. If that binding spell idea was correct, he knew they'd have to counteract it with the same amount of potion that was currently in his system. The same with every curse with which he'd been afflicted. He told the Headmistress this.

"You're right, of course," she said. "Good job to you both for discovering this nasty business to begin with. I don't think I ever would've considered this direction had I been studying the problem on my own. Unfortunate that we couldn't discover it earlier."

Harry nodded, knowing she was talking about the long illness his father had suffered.

"What exactly is in the potion, if you don't mind telling me?" Dumbledore asked. He eyed the clear vial as McGonagall poured the rest down Harry's throat and accepted the other vial from Hermione.

"It's a formula similar to Everlasting Elixir," she responded. "It seems our attacker is quite familiar with Transitive Potions and fond of Dark Magic."

"A potions expert?"

"I wouldn't go so far as to call him that," McGonagall said. "We found books with the proper instructions within Hogwarts." She shook her head as she straightened and put the empty vials into her pocket. "After what happened with Tom Riddle, I'm starting to think quite a few of those books should be removed from student access entirely. I find it hard to believe that Magick Most Evile and other books of that ilk should be readily available for mere academic pursuits."

"What about students who wish to become Aurors?" Dumbledore asked. "They should know as much as possible."

"Yes, they should," she agreed. "I suggest you adjust your training program if you think it should include extensive knowledge of dismemberment curses and Ministry-approved torture techniques."

"The Ministry approves torture?" Hermione asked in a horrified voice.

"Not in the way your Headmistress would like to think," Dumbledore said, a smile coming to his face.

Harry had noticed the mood in the entire room had seemed to lighten since he hadn't collapsed into another fit. Indeed, his own outlook on the days ahead seemed quite a bit brighter than it had been hours earlier.

"The Ministry approves certain...effective techniques to obtain information as long as they are not Unforgivable and do not cause permanent damage," the Minister said.

"That sounds like an extensive list," Hermione said.

"A list of barbaric atrocities that should've gone out centuries ago," McGonagall put in. "If some of them were more widely used, I dare say you would face pressure to outlaw them altogether. As it is--"

"As it is, we find less extreme ways of catching Dark Wizards whenever we can," Dumbledore said. "Speaking of information..."

"I will give Healer Strout the potion we discovered," McGonagall said, picking up the copy of Advanced Potion Making Harry had brought along. "The instructions I'll have to add aren't too difficult. You will bring one of us back here to check on Harry's progress in a few days, won't you?"

Dumbledore bowed his head briefly. "Harry will be ready to leave as soon as he does one thing. We'll wait for you here."

She studied his face for a moment before nodding and leaving the room in search of the Healer.

Dumbledore gestured to the bed. "Legilimency is very easy, Harry. You just have to clear your mind and focus."

Harry approached the bed and stared at the less-ghostly image of himself now laying there. Taking a deep breath, he held out his wand and began.