Curse of the Dark

Harry? asked the voice again, though with more certainty.

Who are you?

Hermione, Harry. I'm Hermione. Remember me? Your best friend?

I thought I was his best friend, spoke up the other voice.

Shut up, Ron. This is really not the time.

I don't know you. He doesn't want me talking to you. But I want to. No, stop. I'm going to. I will. I will. I WILL.

Ron and Hermione could feel a very painful internal struggle going on, maybe with another person, though they couldn't tell who. All they could do was stay silent until Harry got control of himself and his mind.

Are you still there?

Yes.

Can you help me?

Of course.

Could you tell me who I am? Or why I have to keep running? I don't know and he won't tell me. I'm scared. I don't know what I am or who and I don't know who he is.

Who?

I don't know. He's in my mind.

The pain in his thoughts was evident. He sounded as if he were four and needed the assurance of an adult that there was really nothing under his bed. Hermione could feel her heart breaking and tears forming in her eyes, though she seemed unable to move.

You're Harry. And you don't have to keep going. Come back, Harry.

I can't, and I'm not, said the werewolf.

Yes, you can. You have to remember. Hermione, Ron, Dumbledore, Hogwarts? Any of it? Even Malfoy would be fine.

I'm sorry...I can't. Oh...he found out. I'm not supposed to talk to you. Goodbye.

Hermione and Ron suddenly found themselves abruptly cut off as if they were still holding a phone whose other side was hung up. The last thing Hermione heard was a voice echoing off into the distance calling her name. Then it too was muffled until she could no longer hear anything from him.

Why? WHY? Why did I have to let them go? They seemed to not want to hurt me. I KNOW they were trying to change my mind. It didn't seem so bad. I'm sorry...I won't yell. But can you at least tell me who they were? Please...

I will keep running.

Both Hermione and Ron sat in silence for a moment while their vision cleared and their stiff joints eased up. The scarlet globe around them was starting to fade away and the several hundred wizards were staring at them expectantly.

Dumbledore spoke. "Is he coming back?"

Hermione shook her head slowly. "He - he cut us off. He was so scared." She was fighting to keep from bursting into tears. "I'm sorry," she added quietly, as an afterthought.

"What do we do?" asked another wizard in the shadows. (A/N: Shoot the hostage! Line from Speed.)

"I don't know what else we can do," said Dumbledore.

"He was fighting it, though," Hermione said.

"If he doesn't want to let you in, then there's nothing we can do."

"But he does. He's just too scared of whoever is controlling him to do anything about it," Hermione wailed.

"Dumbledore," called a voice. "Dumbledore...what if we found him? Could we bring him back? If we could bring him to the Phoenix, couldn't it persuade him?"

"We could try it, but it will take an incredible force to find him. No doubt he's hidden by several spells. Even if we do find him, he won't want to come easily. It's not in his blood anymore. All he wants is to make it to Voldemort. Voldemort has too strong a grip on his mind. It's up to him now."

I don't want to keep running. I'm tired. I want to know where I'm going. I'm not going to run anymore. I want to know who I am. I WANT TO KNOW.

Hermione. Ron. Dumbledore. Malfoy.

Tell me. Who am I? I won't run.

Hermione. Ron. Dumbledore. Malfoy.

I want to know. I almost remember.

Hermione. Ron. Dumbledore. Malfoy.

I almost remember. Who are they? Friends, they said. I'm-

Hermione. Ron. Dumbledore. Malfoy.

Harry. I'm Harry. I'M HARRY. My name is Harry. Who is Harry? Is that me?

Hermione. Ron. Dumbledore. Malfoy.

I remember.

Hermione. Ron. Dumbledore. Malfoy.

I REMEMBER.

Inside Harry's head, there seemed to be several explosions going on. There was a voice calling 'Potter' that he recognized as Malfoy's. Then he heard one calling 'Harry' that was Ron's. Then a 'Mr. Potter' that was Professor McGonagall's. And then the one that pushed him over. Harry? It was Hermione.

Hermione. She was...she was my friend. I remember.

"Harry! Wait for me!" Her laugh and smile drifted across his mind.

"Just concentrate on it and say 'Accio'!"

"Honestly, I can't do your homework for you."

"They were trying to save me Professor McGonagall."

"Merry Christmas to you too."

"You two are so stupid!"

"Harry! Harry, are you all right?"

"Books! And cleverness! There are more important things - friendship and bravery and -"

"HARRY! COME BACK! Please..."

He heard her laugh, then others' laughs, and others' voices becoming louder and louder until the sounds in his head were unbearable.

"You are - truly your father's son, Harry."

"Kill the spare."

"Harry - yer a wizard."

"Speak to me Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts Four."

"- holly and phoenix feather, eleven inches, nice and supple."

"Avada Kedavra."

"- she's a right old fraud."

"You - must - not - be - seen."

"Barking mad."

"Run. Run. Now."

"You're the only person who has the right to decide, Harry."

I know them. No...I don't. I DO. I will be controlling me. I'm going back to them. They're my friends. They're not. They are.

I want control of my mind. I'm taking control.

You can't. You're not strong enough.

I CAN! And if I'm not strong enough...I'll have to take enough power.

LET GO OF ME! I'm in control now.

With a sudden force, something rushed over Harry that made his bones burn and his blood boil. It felt like...power. He had only felt this on one other person - Dumbledore. Dumbledore had always palpitated this sense of power, but now Harry was feeling it in an even stronger force than Dumbledore. His entire body seemed full, as if it were hollow before. His eyes felt as if they were dripping with the stuff and his entire body began to shake. He was still running.

I...CAN'T...HOLD...IT...ALL...I...HAVE...TO...GET...RID...OF...IT...TOO...MUCH...POWER...I...HAVE...TO...DRAIN...IT...OFF...HERMIONE...RON...

Abruptly, Harry burst out of the forest and into a field where the Moon was high and cast a silvery glow over everything.

Hermione and Ron looked around at the expectant wizards, all staring back through their darkened hoods. Hermione was at a loss of words; Ron was too terrified to do much of anything but stand and stare back.

Then a sound grew in the room...or at least it seemed that way for the two youngest in it. It was like a million voices all screaming to be heard. Both teenagers fell to their knees from the power that was exploding in their heads. Unbeknownst to them, they were glowing with a silvery color that seemed to shine from deep inside. And underneath it all was that steady current of screaming voices. It was so loud, that even the wizards in the room were starting to hear a low roar. Hermione opened her mouth to let out her own scream, but instead came a barrage of voices from another time. Some were recognizable to a few of the wizards in the room as their own, others were unknown. It was as if every voice, every cry, every plea, every murmur Harry had ever heard was coming forward now. Everything from his reprimanding aunt to a girl he had heard crying in a park once to Hermione and Ron after visiting Hagrid one afternoon.

Memories..., thought Hermione. They're mostly of me! Then she once again heard that voice that had echoed away when they were cut off. It was much louder this time. It too was screaming, but much louder than the others. It seemed to be in control of the others and it called out to her to be subdued too. But not in a cruel way. It simply wanted her.

Hermione...Hermione...Hermione...Hermione...Hermione...Come on...Hermione...

She relented. Harry? Is that you?

Join me. Come on.

I'm coming...what's happened to you?

I'm in control, Hermione! I'm in control! He seemed overjoyed.

A few rabbits scurried out of the way of the animal that all others feared. One stopped for a moment. Something was wrong. This was no ordinary werewolf. It sniffed the air and felt it alive with the crackle of magic and power. This was much worse. It too ran, though away from the dreaded beast, as fast as its legs would take it.

Some of the wizards tried to get close to the children from whose mouths were coming an eruption of voices; they were thrown back as if they weighed no more than a feather.

Slowly, one voice began to prevail over the others. It was Harry's and it was seductive, calling them all to be part of what he held. Even the older, more experienced wizards had an overwhelming urge to give themselves and their power to the calling voice. Only Hermione and Ron could join him, and they did.

The phoenix began to glow brighter and of a deeper scarlet, and then it began to fade, though it didn't seem to be as labored and forceful as the others. Instead, it seemed to be feeding its power to some other, unknown, source that Dumbledore guessed was most likely Harry.

When a wizard was initiated into the Order of the Phoenix, they were magically connected to the Phoenix. It was like a tax. The Phoenix took a small amount of power per person and lent them back some when it was required. When a wizard died, it got all excess power left in that person's body before it disappeared completely. It had been doing so for as long as wizards had been around; it was said to have been started by the Hogwarts' Founders or before. As a result, it had more power in it than any person could ever hope to have. But now - now it was all being given or taken away, Dumbledore wasn't sure which. Within a few minutes, it was empty; a cold stone shell with the heart of a phoenix still alive inside, though much weaker, and very, very aged.

"What in the name of -" whispered Dumbledore. "What is going on?" He could feel his power being slowly sucked out of him now and into the children, and then away. They were taking it from all the wizards, though they didn't seem to hold it for very long. The children's too seemed to be getting slowly sucked away.

A shape silhouetted by the round Moon hurtled out into the field. It was low, lithe, and streamlined. Its powerful muscles were pumping rhythmically in time with its heavy breathing. Almost imperceptibly, it began to slow down. It slowed until it was going at a mere walk. Then it stopped altogether. It grew rigid and began to vibrate. Slowly, slowly, it began to grow upright. The arms and hands thinned and fell to the sides. The tail shrunk and vanished. The chest began to flatten out to a new form and the legs straightened and started to bend the other way. Lastly, the head shrunk and reformed itself. The snout disappeared and the ears grew rounder and lower. Against the Moon, a new beast of a different kind was shadowed. A human.

It stood for a moment, swayed, and dropped flat on the cold ground bathed in silvery moonlight.

The torrent of voices coming from the children stopped so abruptly that the silence seemed much louder than the voices ever had. Then it was just the two of them groaning. They climbed to their feet as the silence fell over them. Hermione blinked, trying to bring the room back into focus. Ron, next to her, was doing the same.

"Dumbledore?" whispered Hermione hoarsely. "What's going on? He - he got control. And he -" She stopped. Then she and Ron swayed, and dropped on the hard, stone floor of the tower.