Chapter 11: The boy who lived
.
"Parseltongue"
"Normal talk"
'Thoughts'
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The fourth year's DADA lesson that day was interesting to say the least.
Professor Moody had taught them about all of the unforgivables and then proceeded to demonstrate them on a spider. He later cast them on the students!
Obviously, that didn't include neither the torturing or killing curse. He only cast the imperius curse to anyone who desired to test themselves against it.
Needles to say, not many had felt like tackling the worst of unforgivables, even one performed in a controlled environment and by a teacher…
Harry, knowing his luck, concluded that it'd be wiser for his first time being under the curse not to be done by a death eater, was one of the two aforementioned teens.
Hermione wasn't impressed with his thinking.
However, the rest of the class didn't share her reluctance and they clapped as Harry kept staring at Moody's eyes, or eye, instead of jumping around like monkey; the thing he was commanded to do.
Ron, in a vain attempt to not feel outshone by the boy-who-lived, went up next.
Unfortunately for him though, he didn't seem to have what it took.
"Imperio."
"Do your best imitation of the headmaster," Moody commanded gleefully.
Without missing a single beat, the redhead proceeded to do just as that.
Under the Imperius Curse, Ron's movements became unnaturally fluid, devoid of his usual laziness. With a vacant expression in his eyes, he stood straighter, his posture eerily reminiscent of Dumbledore's regal bearing.
"Ah children, how are you on this fine morning?" he asked, patting a non-existent beard and looking benevolent.
By the time the professor finally released his hold of him, most students were amidst roars of mirth.
Ron was so embarrassed after the whole fiasco that he darted out off the classroom. None saw him again that day.
[BREAK]
His whole demeanour changed in an instant after hearing Harry's revelation. His eyebrows were now furrowed, and there was a barely discernible tremble in his voice.
"Don't jest like that! Dragons? Are you sure about it?" demanded Salazar.
'They wouldn't, would they? I mean dragons? If a single cockatrice was able to ruin the last tournament, what do they reckon that four dragons would do? Spit some fire and lay down? Imbeciles…'
"One hundred percent. Do you remember Hagrid, the half giant I talked to you about? I just came back from the forbidden forest with him. He took me deep inside the woods, to a recently set up camp that spanned for about a kilometer. After Hagrid's urging, I got under my invisibility cloak and went closer… There were people shouting and dragon handlers, as I found out later, running in every direction. It was pure chaos."
Harry's eyes became glassy as he concentrated more on the memory.
"In the centre of the camp, I found four large pits. The three of them were occupied with the dragons I mentioned. I assume that the last one has yet to arrive," he finished.
Neither talked for a while, letting for the situation to seek in.
Salazar desperately tried to think of a way for Harry to escape the mortal situation while the boy himself, simply waited for the verdict.
'It can't be all that bad right? Perhaps, the idiots got baby dragons for the challenge!' he thought with some hope.
"How big did you say that the dragons were?" Salazar asked eagerly, his eyes lighting up to match his spirit.
"The smallest one had a length of about fifteen meters. I heard someone saying that the biggest one was exactly thirty meters," he answered with shaking hands.
He didn't even bother to attempt stopping his fear and anxiety from showing up.
He was fucked and that was an understatement. He was living on borrowed time.
'How did it come to this?' he wondered tiredly.
Someone up there hated him and they wanted him dead.
Every fucking year he was placed in mortal danger, and as if that wasn't enough it kept bloody worsening.
It was as if the world itself kept pushing and pushing his limits, eagerly trying to find his breaking point.
"How'sss this fucking fair?" he asked rhetorically.
It wasn't fair.
The universe didn't do fair when fiddling with him.
Asmodeus, that had been on Harry since the start, came out of his necktie and started rubbing Harry's cheek with his head.
"Sigh. Harry, allow me to ssspeak plainly… Assuming that you can fight a dragon with your current skill and experience is nothing more than pure lunacy. If the tasssssk isn't about fighting the dragon but insstead focusesss on doing something elsse, which I hope, as well as you undergo the ritual before the time comesss, you may just stand a chance of falling another day," he provided sadly.
Harry took a moment to digest the older man's words.
"I can't do the ritual after the task then huh? You said that doing it on yule would have greatly boosted its effects," he mumbled.
Was it going to be enough though?
"Exactly, doing it on yule would have definitely been the best choice considering the time frame, but we can't afford to be greedy now."
"Your sole goal should be to survive for now," Ash hissed.
"Sigh, Asmodeus is correct. I wished for you to grow stronger before openly acting against Dumbledore. Alas, it seems like you should try and get Fawkes to become your familiar as soon as possible. With a phoenix at your side, your chances of surviving the death trap should become exponentially higher," the Slytherin said.
Before Harry could offer his own thoughts though, he started speaking again.
"Don't fret on it now. Let me think about the task for a day or two and I'll assemble a final plan for you," he offered, prompting Harry to give him a grateful nod.
It hasn't been long since he started thinking for himself and he couldn't compare his own ideas to the older man's wisdom.
Anything Salazar could offer would probably be much better than anything he could come up with.
"Thank you Salazar… I would have been so lost without you," he commented appreciatively.
Finding his portrait had been extremely fortuitous; he had Ash to thank for that.
'Ash was an unexpected blessing as well,' he thought, subconsciously moving his hand to caress the snake.
"Do not even think about it heir… Now that we finished discussing the news you brought, I believe it is time that we talk about what I discovered while going over what you told me yesterday," he said with a frown.
Harry knew when to expect bad news.
'Are there ever good news?' he wondered defeated.
In an attempt to emotionally prepare himself, he drew three deep breaths.
"Can you recall the night your parents died?" he posed the question without seeking for a response.
There was no way Harry had forgotten about that.
There was also no way that the meagre self control he had managed to build up, would hold against anything to do with that incident.
"Please bear with me," he added quickly as he saw Harry's quickly darkening expression.
Harry shook his head and visibly relaxed as he gave the man a nod, prompting for him to continue.
"Now, think back to what everyone said that night," he urged.
A sigh escaped Harry's lips.
'What is he talking about? Fine, I'll humour you Salazar since you've yet to fail me. Dad told mum to take me and run… And mum… Well she begged Voldemort to spare me and also pleaded for him to kill her instead of me. Voldemort then repeatedly told her to move away. Come to think of it, why didn't he just kill her straight away? Wasn't his goal? Why did he come to our house then? Was it to just kill dad? Nah, he would have left straight after then.'
He looked up at Salazar.
'Why is he looking so stiff? It's almost as if he knows something horrible about that night that I seem to miss.'
Harry closed his eyes as his mind went back to that horrible night once more.
'Why did my parents go into hiding? Bloody hell, they even used the fidelius on the house. Why would they take such extreme measures when many others didn't? Wait, didn't that happen right before I was born? What else, beside my parents, was inside that house except myself as a bab-'
He suddenly dashed from the couch he was sitting on, and stood right before Salazar, his eyes wide open now.
"Voldemort came to our house to kill me."
It wasn't a question.
"His stupid obsession with me didn't start after I was hailed as the boy-who-lived. That instead, was an after-product of him failing to eliminate me. And whatever reason he had, my parents knew about it."
"It is exactly as you say."
Salazar gave him a grave nod, but Harry wasn't done yet.
"Ah, I'm the reason for my parents' deaths. Then there's also the person who cast the fidelius charm on the house. Hey Sal, wanna bet that Albus fucking Dumbledore knows the real reason I became an orphan and isn't planning on sharing?" he spew.
Right after that, all hell broke loose.
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FakeViolinist
FakeViolinist Sorry for the delay. I finished the chapter yesterday but I didn't have time to proofread it. Now give me stones :]
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