Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

Descent into Darkness	By : Athey1024 Category: Harry Potter AU/AR > Slash - Male/Male Views: 107206 -:- Recommendations : 47 -:- Currently Reading : 68
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 4
- 5
- 6
Disclaimer: Don't own Harry Potter. JKRowling does.

First Beta Pass by Clemex

– –

Christmas morning arrived and Harry lay in bed for about a half hour, sunk into his mindscape and spending as much of the morning as he thought he could get away with, with his dark companion.

It was destined to be interrupted though, and Harry found himself being 'shaken awake' by an enthusiastic Ron, shouting about presents and breakfast.

Hermione was still giving Ron the cold shoulder in response to his latest display of insensitive idiocy, and Ron only made it worse by persisting that Hermione had to be lying about having a date.

Hermione, and the rest of the girls of Gryffindor disappeared around 4pm so that they could go get ready for the dance. Harry thought it was ridiculous that it could possibly take anyone four hours to get dressed and cleaned up – especially considering that they had the aid of magic, and that really could only speed things up – but he wasn't an idiot, and opted to keep his incredulity to himself.

Ron wasn't nearly so smart, and ended up on the receiving end of several girls' scowls.

–

At seven, Harry made his way to the dorm room and got into his dress robes. The 'traditional' set of robes that Mrs. Weasley had sent Ron were absolutely hideous and it took every last ounce of will power on Harry's behalf not to burst out in in pearls of laughter at how utterly idiotic the ginger looked in them.

Harry begged off early, both because he was running out of the strength necessary not to laugh at Ron, but also because he needed to go wait for Fleur.

Harry made his way towards the entrance hall and waited for Fleur where they had agreed upon. She didn't keep him waiting too long, and for that, he was grateful.

Harry complimented her on her dress and hair, and the two made easy small talk. Mostly they bantered, and she seemed to find him sufficiently entertaining. McGonagall gathered up all of the champions and pulled them into the side-room, just off the great hall where first years waited before they were sorted at the start of term.

When Viktor Krum entered the room with Hermione on his arm Harry grinned widely at her. She looked sufficiently gleeful. She blushed and ducked her head when she spotted him grinning at her. Cedric came in with the Ravenclaw seeker, Cho Chang on his arm.

Finally McGonagall came back and lead them all into the Great Hall. They made a procession down the center of the gathered crowd and onto the dance floor. Harry caught sight of a furious looking Ron as Hermione walked past him with Krum. Harry grimaced as a small sense of dread settled in the pit of his stomach. He knew that look. It was the look that meant Ron was going to do something monumentally stupid before the end of the night.

Harry sighed and simply hoped he wouldn't be there whenever the ginger did whatever stupid thing he was going to end up doing.

Harry led Fleur onto the dance floor, placed his hand easily on her waist and in her hand, and led her in the traditional waltz that was expected of them for the start of the ball.

A minute into the dance, the rest of the students and professors joined in and the ball had officially begun.

"You just keep surprising me 'arry." Fleur said with a little smirk.

"Oh?"

"Yes. You are a surprisingly good dancer."

"Why thank you, but it's only because your beautiful presence at my side has inspired me to do my best."

She laughed. "I doubt that."

Harry looked at her curiously and tilted his head to the side a bit in mild confusion.

She gave him a knowing little smirk before diverting the conversation onto another topic. They stayed on the dance floor for two more dances before Harry finally decided to try slipping into her mind. He knew it would be easier to find information in her memories of the the task if she was actively thinking about it, but he didn't want to bring up the tournament in their conversation.

He couldn't actually ask her, and even mentioning the second task would surely make her realize he was fishing for information. So instead he distracted her with aimless banter on the school's pathetically limited elective classes. Fleur took up the conversation eagerly and boasted proudly on the multitude of subjects offered at Beauxbatons that Hogwarts did not.

While she talked Harry began digging through her mind, searching for anything in relation to the egg or the task. It was taking longer than he had hoped, and he was finding it hard to stay attentive to their conversation while simultaneously searching her mind.

He was just about to give up and wait till later to try again when he finally stumbled across a memory of a rather... er – naked Fleur, getting into a bath with the egg. She pulled the egg under the water and ducked her head down with it.

She opened the egg and instead of the ear piercing screeching, she was graced with singing voices.

Harry wanted to smack himself in the face.

But still – how the hell would he have ever thought to pull the blasted thing under water to listen to it?

He listened to a bit of the clue, and connected it to some mental images she had of the black lake. It was enough. He knew how to get to the clue on his own now and he could focus on that later. Now, he had to focus on his date.

– –

The band switched to a popular wizarding band called the Weird Sisters. The first fast dance was a little awkward for Harry since he'd never actually danced like that before, but he managed to catch on quickly enough. Fundamentally, all that was required was some confidence and the ability to relax and not worry about what anyone else thought. As long as he didn't give a damn about other people judging him, he wasn't afraid to just cut loose and enjoy the music and the rhythm.

By the forth song that the band performed, he was completely losing himself to the dancing and having the time of his life. Fleur laughed and twirled and danced and Harry was pleased to say that she looked to be legitimately enjoying herself.

A few more songs passed before the two of them sat down at one of the tables, giddy and giggly from exertion and dancing. Hermione and Krum joined them at the table a moment later. Hermione was flushed and smiling brightly, clearly she was enjoying herself too. Krum and Harry both stood from the table and left to go get their dates punch and biscuits. Once their task was completed they made their way back to the table and Harry saw Ron sitting alone at another table against the wall, scowling angrily at the whole room in general, and at Krum, more specifically. The distinct lack of Parvati told Harry that Ron had probably already done at least one obnoxiously stupid thing.

Harry rolled his eyes and walked directly back to Fleur, dedicating himself to steering clear of his angry dorm mate for the rest of the night.

The four of them sat and kept up a simple conversation for a short while. Krum seemed to have a twitch, but then Harry noticed that the Bulgarian was just swatting at a beetle that kept flying around their table.

Harry raised his hand subtly and focused his magic on the desire to ward off the insect. He covered his mouth with his other hand, and turned his head to the side, as if he were covering a cough and hissed §away!§ while keeping his eyes trained on the beetle and twitching his fingers.

The small black insect was instantly sent flying far away and Harry smirked. It was a stupid simple piece of magic, but he'd not only done it without any wand, but he'd also done it without anyone the wiser.

After chatting through another song, Harry felt he'd sufficiently found his second wind and asked Fleur if she was interested in returning to the dance floor. She smiled widely and nodded her head, eagerly allowing Harry to lead her away from the table.

Fleur was a fantastic dancer, Harry decided. Some of her movements got a bit on the risque side in some of the songs, but Harry just laughed and played along. She was clearly amused and the pair of them both seemed to enjoy the watchful eyes locked on them several times through the coarse of the night.

The crowd was beginning to thin, and Harry realized that there was only about thirty minutes left until the ball was officially over. Harry and Fleur were leaving the dance floor in a fit of giggles after a particularly risque set of dance moves made Professor Vector snort punch out her nose in shock.

Their antics had also caused several of the boys dancing in their vicinity to trip over their own feet and fall down, taking their dance partners with them.

They had finally decided that they were causing too much of a scene and willing vacated the dance floor in search of more punch.

Harry came back to Fleur's side after grabbing a couple cups of punch. She was still slightly breathless and recovering from her giggles.

"Oh 'arry, you are far too much fun," she said, covering her mouth with the back of her hand as she finally calmed her chuckles.

"I try, I try," he said with a mock bow before taking a sip of his drink.

Harry was about to open his mouth to say something else when his attention was suddenly drawn to a familiar angry voice. Harry turned towards the sound just in time to see an obviously distressed Hermione standing opposite an indignant looking Ron. Her hands were balled into fists, and her eyes were alight with barely restrained fury.

She growled out angrily, but Harry couldn't make out any of the words. The next thing he knew, Hermione picked up a cup of punch and tossed it into Ron's face before angrily stomping off towards the exit.

Harry blinked and then slowly turned back to Fleur, barely restraining the amusement in his expression.

"What do you sink dat was about?" Fleur said with wide curious eyes as she continued to look over Harry's shoulder to the now soaking wet and pink Ron.

Harry shook his head and sighed. "Ron is an idiot. He probably said something appropriately idiotic."

"Isn't he one of your friends?"

Harry snorted, but quickly shifted his expression. "Er... I suppose. Or we used to be, but we've kind of grown apart a bit. I think the biggest problem is I grew up a bit since last year, and he... well, he hasn't."

"Ah. Should you go check on your friend 'ermione?"

"She's probably run off somewhere to have a good cry. I probably wouldn't even be able to help her even if I could find her."

Harry led Fleur back onto the floor only one more time that night, for the final song of the night. Finally, the band pack up and left, and all of the students began to disperse.

Harry walked with Fleur back towards the wing where the Beauxbatons students were being housed during their stay.

"I had a truly wonderful tonight, 'arry. Thank you for inviting me," Fleur said with a smile and a twinkle in her eye as they came to a stop beside a deserved alcove a brief distance from where they would have to part ways.

Harry grinned and shrugged. "I had fun too. Thank you for accepting my invitation."

Fleur smiled and gave Harry a rather piercing look for a long silent moment. Harry felt an odd tingling sensation float through him for a moment. It was a foreign sort of magic he wasn't familiar with and he narrowed his eyes and looked at her speculatively.

"What are you doing?" he asked when his curiosity got too powerful to ignore.

Fleur ducked her head, but her grin was obvious. "Just testing a theory. Tell me something 'arry. You're gay, aren't you?"

Harry's eyes widened and he blinked at her in surprise. "Er..." he began but snapped his mouth shut. He scrutinized her for a moment before he chuckled and shrugged. "Yeah. How'd you figure that?"

He giggled and rolled her eyes. "I am Veela, 'arry."

"You say that like it's supposed to mean something to me."

"I hit you with a very strong wave of my aura and you didn't even bat an eyelash. It meant that you either had no interest at all in women, or you hadn't yet hit puberty, and I can plainly see that you have done the later."

Harry chuckled and shrugged again. "It doesn't bother you, does it? That I asked you to the ball even though.."

"Of course not. I already suspected, even before tonight."

At this Harry rose his eyebrows questioningly.

"The way you were able to approach me with such ease. Both before zee first task, and then again when you asked me to zee ball. You showed none of the usual reactions to my aura."

"Ah, I see," Harry said nodding his head. "And it really doesn't bother you?"

She laughed at this. "Bother me? Of course not. You were funny and witty and able to hold a conversation. It was far better an evening that I had anticipated it being when we were first told of zee ball."

Harry ducked his head and smiled broadly. "Well, I'm glad you had fun."

Fleur grinned and gave him a simple little nod. She leaned forward then, and Harry's eyes widened in mild surprise as she pressed her lips on his cheek. She pulled back and that mischievous twinkle was in her eye.

"Goodnight, 'arry. Good luck with the second task."

Harry grinned and pushed down the mild blush that had managed to bloom on his cheeks. "Good luck to you too," he said once he'd regained his composure. "Goodnight."

Fleur turned and left the alcove only to disappear through a doorway a moment later.

Harry watched her leave and sighed. He was exhausted, but it had been fun. Much more fun than he had ever expected.

He pushed himself off the wall he'd started to lean against and turned in the opposite direction. A little bug buzzed around his head and he shooed at it with his hand absently before jogging towards the grand staircase, and back up to Gryffindor Tower.

– – –

He swirled the shot glass of brandy in his small spindly fingers. His first Christmas in a body in more than a decade.

He snickered at his own thoughts. It was ridiculous for him to have such sentimental thoughts. Besides, his current vessel only barely qualified as a body, although his control over his magic was gradually improving.

He had spent the day with only Nagini as company. But she made surprisingly good company, so that wasn't exactly a bad thing. He certainly preferred spending the day with her than spending it in the company of Wormtail. Now that was a decidedly pathetic prospect. Spending the holidays with Wormtail.He could practically feel the bile try to rise in his throat at the mere thought.

He sighed and set the small glass down on the table beside the dwarfing armchair he currently resided in. Next to it lay the book he'd been reading. It was an old text. One that Barty had managed to find for him. It was on the theory of ancient blood magic. The subject intrigued him. He theorized that dear Lily Potter had been playing around in darker magics than anyone else had suspected her capable of.

He was finally beginning to form a theory as to how the Potter brat had managed to survive that night and why his body had been so utterly obliterated. He hated not knowing. Any knowledge that escaped him frustrated him beyond words and filled him with the most intense desire to discover it's every secret.

Aside from the fury he felt at being deprived of the much needed time to complete his work, being trapped in that horrific half-life had been most maddening in how mind numbingly boring it had been. Utterly unable to do anything, least of all, study the nature of magic or improve his skills. His perception of the passage of time had been warped. Years had passed in such a fast, hazy blur, that he hadn't had to suffer the boredom for nearly as much time as had actually passed.

But at the same time, it had taken so long for him to regain a modicum of power and begin to regain his awareness of the world around him that thirteen whole years had passed since he was last in power. Thirteen years. He had so much work to do. So much ground to recover.

So much to do, and yet here he sat, unable to do anything.

Frustrating didn't even begin to cover it.

He pushed himself up into a sitting position and scooted his undersized body to the edge of the chair before hopping down into and standing position. He felt like a bloody house elf in this damned body.

Shriveled and disgusting. He yearned for the beautiful masculinity of his former form and wondered if he'd be able to fully recover it. Chances were high that he would once again be physically distorted by the powerful magics he was using to restore himself. That was unfortunate, but certainly not unexpected. It was more important that he regain a fully functional body and return to his tasks than any sense of vanity he may have still possessed. He could not wait for a better option to come alone, so he would have to make due with what he could.

He could think of several ways to power his resurrection spell that would achieve more ideal results, but the chances of any of those circumstances coming to pass were basically non-existent. So unfathomable were they, that they were not even worth the time to consider them.

He walked across the study, past Nagini who was curled up and sleeping by the fireplace, and to one of the bookshelves. He reached for a book of Shakespeare's plays, and took it back to his seat. He grumbled bitterly to himself that he had to bother walking to get the book instead of being able to simply summon it. But he needed to reserve his magical strength for when it actually mattered.

He returned to his seat with an annoying amount of discomfort and opened the book to King Lear. He always felt that it and Julius Caesar were particularly poignant to his situation. He snickered to think of how his followers would react to him reading muggle literature. Such mindless blind sheep.

Of course he didn't know if that were the case anymore. How many of his followers would have remained faithful to him over the passage of so many years? Would he have to start over from scratch? The thought was entirely disconcerting.

And frustrating. So many frustrations.

He sighed, trying to just let it go... for now. He need only wait and he would be able to begin his efforts. He relaxed back into the chair and began to read.

– – –

KING LEAR

Dost thou call me fool, boy?

Fool

All thy other titles thou hast given away;

That thou wast born with.

Harry blinked open his eyes and felt utterly disoriented. He sat up, shaking his head slightly as a minor bout of dizziness echoed through his head. He looked around his bed and onto his small night table, trying to find his book. He must have fallen asleep reading it...

Harry paused and frowned. He hadn't been reading. He'd come to bed after the ball and practically collapsed into the bed from exhaustion. But he had been reading... it was Shakespeare. Harry had never actually read any Shakespeare before. He always found the words too confusing and hard to make sense of. It was too hard for him to follow it, but he hadn't had the problem last night. He'd actually gotten quite engrossed in it.

But he hadn't gotten to finish it. He'd...

Harry hadn't been reading the book; Voldemort was. He'd had another... vision. Or whatever they were. He'd been in the Dark Lord's mind again.

Harry's frown deepened slightly, and he sighed heavily. He reached up and ran his fingers through his messy morning-hair. His palm brushed over his scar and his eyes involuntarily fell closed and a shudder shot through him. His lips parted and a shuddering breath escaped from between them. Hesitantly, he let his fingers brush lightly across his scar. Just once, then twice. He traced the lightening bolt shape with his index finger lightly, and then with more pressure. Warm zaps of power coursed through him and he got lost in the sensations and the instinctive act for several minutes before he finally realized what he was doing.

Harry's eyes snapped open and he pulled his hand away and looked at it with mild horror.

What was wrong with him?

–

Harry was quiet and distant from his friends for the rest of the day. Hermione was clearly still angry with Ron, and Ron was angry right back. Since they were each giving each other the silent treatment, Harry didn't have any trouble avoiding conversation.

He was distracted and... confused.

An hour after lunch he found himself entering the school library and looking around with a lost, confused expression.

"Do you need help with something, Mr. Potter?" Madam Pince asked as she came up to him.

"I... do... does the school have a copy of any of Shakespeare's plays?"

She looked confused for an instant, and then the expression was replaced with surprise. "I'm sorry Mr. Potter, but I'm afraid that we don't."

Harry frowned, feeling legitimately disappointed and wondered if there were any owl-order places he could buy a muggle book from or if he would have to wait until summer when he was abandoned back in the muggle world.

"Oh, well... thanks anyway," he said with a sigh as he turned away and left the library.

His companion had remained silent for the majority of the day, but Harry could still feel his presence in the back of his mind. The presence served to remind him that he wasn't alone, and it was a calming reassurance.

He wandered the halls of the castle for a while, just trying to clear his head. Finally he resigned himself to focusing on some more pressing needs and went back up to Gryffindor Tower to prepare his things for taking his first dose of the accelerant potion that night.

He set his his invisibility cloak, the Marauder's Map, and his satchel with the first dose of the accelerant potion, as well as one dose of each of the other two potions, since he'd need to take them the next morning when he got up, and he figured he'd may as well just have them on hand. His bag also had a change of clothes that he could change in to.

Getting his things ready hadn't taken nearly enough time though and he sighed in frustration and impatience.

He made his way down to the common room, where he found Ron sitting at one of the tables with Dean and Seamus, playing exploding snap. They were being obnoxiously loud and Harry sneered disdainfully at the small gathering.

"Harry?"

Harry spun around and quickly masked his expression as he came face to face with Hermione.

"Are you alright?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah. I'm fine," Harry said, giving her what he hoped was a convincing smile.

"Are you sure? You've seemed rather distant today."

"Yeah, 'Mione. I'm fine. Really."

She smiled at him and nodded her head. She began to make her way past him when an idea made itself known in Harry's mind.

"Hey, Hermione?"

"Yes, Harry?"

"I know this may be a long shot, but do you have many muggle books in your collections?"

"Of course."

Harry blinked and was stunned by the power of the hope that bloomed in his chest. Why was it so damned important to him to get that book? He pushed the thought aside and pressed on.

"Do you have any Shakespeare?"

Hermione's eyes lit up and she smiled. "Oh yes. I have his complete works!"

"Seriously? Can I barrow it!" Harry asked excitedly.

To say that Hermione looked shocked, was an understatement. "O-of course! But why?"

"I just... I wanted to read a couple of his plays."

"Which ones?"

"Uh, King Lear and Julius Caesar?"

Hermione nodded her head thoughtfully and made a humming noise in her throat. "Those are both really good. Two of his tragedies."

"Yeah. Do you... er, do you think I could borrow it now?"

"Oh! Of course. I'll be right back," Hermione said with a smile and raced back up the stairs towards the girls' dorm. She was gone for nearly five minutes and Harry felt himself begin to fidget impatiently. Finally she came back down the stairs, clutching a thick book and smiling.

She reached the bottom and handed the book over to a very eager-looking Harry. He took it and looked at it almost reverently. It wasn't an expression Hermione was accustomed to seeing on Harry's face when looking at a book. Looking at a broom, maybe – but a book?

"You've really changed a lot this year, Harry," Hermione said thoughtfully.

Harry looked up at her suddenly and frowned. "What do you mean?" he asked in a rather guarded tone.

"Well... I never really see you playing chess or exploding snap with the others. You don't go flying with Ron or get excited by their debates on Quidditch, and it seems like you're reading a lot more."

Harry shrugged dismissively and turned away from her as he began to make his way over to one of the chairs.

"I don't see it as a bad thing," he said quietly as she followed.

"No..." she said slowly. "It's not. Actually, I'd say you've matured a lot. You're... I guess you see more confident with people. I'm really impressed with how much more seriously you've been taking your studies."

"My priorities changed. I've also learned to see Hogwarts for what it really is."

Hermione waited, expecting him to elaborate, but he didn't, so she prodded. "What do you mean?"

"Well... I think I used to just see it as... well, first and foremost, as an escape from the Dursley's. But secondly it was just school. You come here and you get assignments, and you take tests and you turn in your homework. You know – just school."

"But you don't see it as that anymore?" Hermione asked with a bit of confusion in her tone.

"No. It's not about grades or tests or homework. It's about learning. About gaining knowledge. It's about an opportunity to become better. To become stronger. By not taking it seriously, I was wasting a huge opportunity."

He looked up and saw Hermione looked at him with a mixture of awe, and joy. "Harry! I'm so proud of you!"

Harry ducked his head and barely managed to keep from scowling. Instead his expression became a vague frown.

"Yeah, well... I just... I realized that I was an idiot. I followed behind Ron because it was easier, but also because I thought it was more important to keep my friend than getting O's. If I started doing really good in my studies, I knew I'd alienate him. You know? If we were both doing really well, he'd get all pissy."

Hermione scowled and stuck her nose into the air. "Yes, well, he's an idiot." she spat rather harshly.

Harry laughed. Really laughed.

Hermione startled and looked at him oddly. Harry finally managed to calm himself a minute later. "Sorry, 'Mione. Erm... yeah. Ron is an idiot. But that's part of what made me realize that I was being an idiot too, because I was using him as a role model. I was imitating his behavior, and for all the wrong reasons. So I stopped."

"Well I'm proud of you, Harry," she said, giving him a proud smile.

"Er... yeah. Thanks."

Harry finally managed to escape her scrutiny and settled into the chair to read the book. He got lost in it, and was jolted out of his focus by Hermione tapping him on his shoulder and telling him it was time for dinner.

He kept the book with him and read it all through dinner, earning him a bewildered look from Ron. He spent the evening doing the same and was most of the way through Julius Caesar when Ron said he was going to head off to bed soon.

"Oh, hey! Ron?" Harry called out as the ginger began to climb the stairs. He paused and turned back, questioningly.

"I need to work on my potion tomorrow and I'm going to be getting up really early for it. I'll probably be gone before you even wake up, and I'll be down in the dungeons till a while after lunch."

"Ugh, seriously? Blimey, mate! You're working too hard! All this reading and potion brewing. You need to relax some more. You should join us for some exploding snap tomorrow afternoon."

"Yeah... I'll think about it Ron," Harry said with a fake smile.

"You coming up to bed?"

"Yeah, I should," Harry said with a resigned sigh as he closed the book and stood to his feet.

He followed Ron up the stairs and went through the motions of preparing for bed. The rest of his dorm mates were already in bed and asleep, judging by their snoring. Ron climbed into his bed and lowered his hangings. Harry did the same and sat in his bed for about twenty minutes until he was sure that Ron had fallen asleep too.

He slipped out of his bed, pulling the hangings closed and applied a non-verbal sticking charm to them. He pulled on his invisibility cloak, grabbed his bag and the map and silently slipped from the room.

–

Ten minutes later, Harry was walking into Slytherin's study in the Chamber of Secrets. He laid out his supplies on a short table to the side of the chaise lounge and pulled off his robes, leaving him in soft cotton pajama pants and a t-shirt.

He eyed the thick silvery potion warily. He knew this wasn't going to be pleasant. He also knew there wasn't anything he could do about it. He had set his mind to doing this, and he wasn't going to go back now.

He settled himself down onto the chaise and held the potion bottle in front of him. He swallowed the lump in his throat and opened the bottle. He dumped the contents into his mouth as quickly as the slow thick fluid would allow and swallowed it before his nerves could kick in too strongly.

It tasted... cold. It was almost minty. He was surprised by the fact that it didn't taste disgusting, but any thoughts about it's flavor left him the instant the burning began.

His back arched and then his body curled into a tight fetal ball as the waves of pain began to course through him. He screamed out in shock of how intense the agony was, and how quickly it had hit him. He wondered for a moment if he had made some horrible mistake, but knew from the warnings in the book that it was supposed to feel like this. He'd been warned. He couldn't claim ignorance.

He clenched his teeth and keened out terrible whimpering noises as his hands came up and fisted into his hair, pulling it and clawing at his scalp.

Merlin, he was an idiot! How could he possibly endure this for twelve hours? And then do it again once a week for two bloody months!

Harry felt the tears beginning to stream down his cheeks and his whole body was twitching and convulsing with the mind shattering spasms of pain. He feared that the pain would drive him mad before morning, if it kept up like this.

Harry...

Harry continued to writhe and moan.

Harry... come to me. Escape... into your mind...

...escape the pain... here... with me.

Harry just barely managed to process the words through the fog of burning fire. He tried to calm his breathing, but quickly gave it up as a bad job. Instead he let his practiced instincts guide him, and sunk deep into his mind.

He gasped in relief as all of the pain suddenly left him and he was left standing in the center of his mottled gray mindscape. The black silhouette of his companion was standing there with a nervous tension to the set of his shoulders.

Are you well, Harry?

Harry sighed and nodded his head as he made several quick long strides forward. As he approached his companion opened his arms wide, in a welcoming gesture, and wrapped them around Harry, warmly, as the younger wizard finally reached him.

The feeling of completeness filled him as he wrapped his arms around his companion's waist in return and he breathed a sigh of relief.

– –

Harry 'woke' the next morning feeling sore and utterly exhausted. He had stayed 'conscious' in his mindscape the entire twelve hours. Falling asleep meant risking returning his aware mind to his body, and instantly being woken by the searing pain. So he had remained, safely locked away within his own mind. Safe from the pain.

He stood from the chaise on weak, wobbly limbs. His throat felt dry and horse and he suspected it was from screaming all night long. He shakily made his way across the office to a large standing mirror that rest to one side of the room. Harry hissed out a cleaning spell and waved his hand over it, blowing away fifty years worth of dust and cobwebs and then looked at himself.

At first he didn't see much. He reached down to the hem of his t-shirt and pulled it up over his head in a slow, jerky motion.

His skin was scattered with faded yellow and green bruises, looking to be weeks old, even though they weren't. The book had said that they would be gone by the end of the day she he was pretty confident that no one would get the chance to see them.

Looking bast that, Harry could see a notable difference in his body mass already and he grinned. He couldn't see his ribs any more, although he still looked fairly scrawny. He twisted and tried to examine his back. The vertebrae of his back used to be shockingly obvious, but they no longer were. His forearms didn't look nearly as thin anymore either.

Despite the bruising, in general, his skin looked better. Healthier, and it had a better color to it. Not so pale or sickly. His face looked filled out slightly more – his cheeks and eye sockets weren't so sunken anymore; but he hoped the change was subtle enough no one would question it.

In general, the changes were small, but it was progress. And he knew it was better if the changes were slow or else more people would notice them and question him.

Harry walked back over to the chaise and picked his wand up from the table beside it. He cast a few cleansing charms over himself, but knew he would need an actual shower, and soon. He had sweat like mad during his ordeal and he felt decidedly icky. He cast a cleansing charm on the chaise as well and was suddenly grateful that he hadn't lost his bowels during everything. He was almost surprised that he hadn't.

He grimaced. That definitely wasn't something he wanted to deal with.

Ew.

He changed into the clean robes he'd brought with him and took his morning dose of the nutrition and muscle restructuring potions before packing up his things and leaving the chamber.

– –

The following day Harry asked Hermione if she had any idea where he might take a bath. She looked at him funny and asked him why he wanted to take a bath and why a shower wasn't sufficient.

Harry explained that the egg needed to be opened under water to retrieve the next part of the clue, and she seemed to accept this explanation without pressing for more. She informed him that it was her understanding that the prefect bathrooms had actual baths, and he could always ask permission to use one of them.

He heeded her advice and sought out McGonagall right after dinner. She clearly knew about the egg because she wasn't the least bit surprised that he was requesting access to the bath, and gave him the password to the Gryffindor's prefect bathroom.

He collected the egg from his trunk, and grabbed some toiletries and a change of clothes and made his way there.

Ten minutes later and Harry was standing, starkers, at the side of an enormous bubble-filled bathtub, with the golden egg in hand. He slipped down into the glorious warmth and melted into the scented water surrounded by magical bubbles. He allowed himself to just soak in it for a few long moments before he finally sighed and sat up. He set his glasses aside, took a deep breath, and dunked himself under the water.

He unlatched the egg and let it open. The sound of singing voices reverberated through the water instantly.

"Come seek us where our voices sound,

We cannot sing above the ground,

And while you're searching, ponder this;

We've taken what you'll sorely miss,

An hour long you'll have to look,

And recover what we took,

But past an hour - the prospect's black,

Too late, it's gone, it won't come back."

Harry rose back out of the water, sucking in another deep breath and frowning slightly as he mulled over the words in his head. He took another deep breath and went under to listen again.

A few more times and he was positive he had the whole thing memorized. He set the now-closed egg onto the floor beside the tub and relaxed back into the water.

Come seek us where our voices sound, we cannot sing above the ground.

So underwater. Mermaids can't sing above water. In fact, now that he thought about it, he had read in a magical creatures book that mermaid language sounded like nasty screeching to people, above water. He shook his head and sighed, annoyed that none of this stuff occurred to him before. There were mermaids in the black lake, right?

An hour long you'll have to look

That was probably the biggest complication, right there. So he had to be able to stay under water for a whole hour, and he had to find something while doing it. So not just being able to breath underwater, but also being able to swim and navigate. He would need to be able to see better so that he could actually find the whatever-it-was – and it wasn't called the black lake for nothing. It was deep, and it was dark.

So; underwater breathing. Some sort of swimming aid. Something to aid his sight...

And they were going to take something from him.

Something that you'll sorely miss.

What could they take? His invisibility cloak? That would certainly be difficult to find. Especially under water. He sure as hell hoped that, that wouldn't be the case. There wasn't too much that they could take from him that he would 'sorely miss'. The cloak, the map, and his wand. Everything else could be easily replaced.

So aside from the other things he needed to look up, it would probably also be useful to research some different kinds of tracking spells that he could use under water.

With that decided, Harry took advantage of his remaining time in the bath and relaxed until all of the bubbles had disappeared.

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Descent into Darkness