CH.21

Also Harry found that the spheres could alter themselves and split apart. In this way, if he wanted to remember his first meeting with school bully Draco Malfoy, that part would break off from the rest of the "First Trip to Madam Malkins'" sphere and become its own separate sphere. In this way Harry could watch his first meeting with Draco without having to watch the rest of his visit to the wizarding clothes shop.

As Harry continued to make his way further away from his starting point however, it slowly began to dawn on him that the memories and thoughts surrounding him were getting less and less pleasant. In other words, they were memories and thoughts he had been trying to push away and forget about, for years in some cases.

He came across one where his six year old self was forced to desperately scramble up a tree in order to get away from the pointed teeth of Marge Dursley's dog, Ripper. The rest of his so called "family" were laughing in the background.

Another memory showed himself being pushed violently down into a pile of mud by Dudley and Piers. Dudley then stomped on Harry's glasses to break them as Piers delivered a kick to Harry's stomach, causing him to be sick. The memory ended with Dudley and Piers hurrying off laughing uproariously as Harry lay winded in a mixed pool of mud and his own vomit.

Unbidden by Harry came the smaller memory containing his struggle to get home before he was locked out. This was followed by the memory of what happened once he was inside the house. Aunt Petunia screaming at him for daring to come home all muddy and then proceeding to make her disapproval absolutely clear by throwing a saucer she had been washing at him. The memory ended as the saucer smashed apart against Harry's forehead, knocking him out.

Harry pulled away from those memories before more had a chance to join the chain.

He was suddenly aware of an intense desire to wake up. He had done what he had intended and found his way into his mindscape. Now he needed to get out.

He began to move, looking for the middle point again and hoping that once there he would be able to leave. But he quickly found himself going the wrong way; the faint memory of his mother begging Voldemort to spare her son in the last seconds before he murdered her told Harry that much.

He changed direction, but that way appeared to be wrong as well, as a memory in that direction showed the Dementor that attacked him on the Hogwarts Express before the start of his third year at the school. Naturally that memory led to the one of his mother begging for mercy from Voldemort coming forward again.

Harry pulled himself away and stumbled backwards, right into a thought sphere that contained a line of thought he had one evening recently when he was blaming himself for the death of Cedric Diggory.

Harry wrenched himself away from the through and began to run. Given how there were spheres both above and below him as well as around him, Harry began to wonder if perhaps his starting position had been in one of those directions. Had he been walking up a gradual slope and not realised? When the memories began to form lines the spheres appeared to move towards him, but what if he had been moved towards them without his realising it? Had he been dragged slowly downwards?

"Hhhhhaaaaarrrrrrrryyyyyyy."

He froze, his eyes wide and his breaths coming in a fearful pant. He knew that voice, even if it was weak. But why would it be here? He hadn't touched a memory, so why would he hear it?

The answer came to him. Every single sphere rushed past him, vanishing into the inky blackness in the distance behind him. For a moment Harry was surrounded by nothingness. Complete and absolute nothingness.

And then it came from the shadows.

It was small in size, and appeared rather infant like. But there was no mistaking what it was. Harry had last seen something like this being dumped into a bubbling cauldron in the graveyard of Little Hangleton a little under two months ago. However, the two were not exactly the name. Though the one in the graveyard had been creepy, this one was covered in a thick red slime that may well have been half-dried blood.

Harry tried to back away, but the thing kept coming for him, bounding along on all fours like a dog.

Harry stopped, and a moment later so did the thing. It was less than six feet from him.

It raised his head and Harry saw its evil, snakelike face, red eyes and twisted mouth.

"Harry Potter," it snarled in the same cold voice that had attempted to murder him so many times.

"I have seen your heart, and it is MINE!"

Without warning the thing sprang at him. Harry tried to fight it off, but he felt its long, grasping fingers slip around his throat.

It was trying to choke him.

Everything began to fade as Harry felt himself falling backwards and down… down… down…

'No, not Harry. Please, not Harry. Have mercy.'

'Kill the spare!'

'… and servant and master shall be reunited once more…'

'You're nothing but a worthless, good for nothing freak!'

'… See what I have become? See what I must do to survive?'

'There's Potter, the cheat…'

'He's a parselmouth, everyone knows they're evil…'

'Pettigrew escaped…'

'…maybe I am the heir of Slytherin…'

'… and the blood of the enemy, forcibly taken. You will resurrect your foe.'

'…And I am now going to prove my power by killing him, here and now, in front of you all, when there is no Dumbledore to help him, and no mother to die for him…'

'…bow to death, Harry…'

'Harry, wake up…'

.....

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