Realizations
Harry was walking along the hall away from the Owlery later that day, not minding the fact that his pace was a little bit too fast for a casual walk. Or maybe he didn’t even realize it. Behind him, Ron was trying his best to catch up, almost full on running. When they were finally close enough, the werewolf snatched Harry’s arm to put an end to whatever trance the Alpha got himself stuck in.
Harry jumped at the contact and Ron would’ve snickered at his startled expression if he wasn’t so worried.
“Sorry, I was distracted,” Harry apologized, successfully managing to sound both worryingly frustrated and genuinely guilty at the same time.
Ron released a sigh, exasperated. “No kidding, Harry. You were totally out of it.” He put a calming hand on the other’s shoulder. “You know you can tell me things, yeah?” Knowing Harry, he might have been thinking too hard on whatever it is that got him fast walking across the hall like a madman and denying what he had probably been aware of already.
“Yeah. I know.” Harry then leaned into the wall of the empty hallway and tilted his head back, his eyes closed and his features all scrunched up. Ron followed his example and placed his hands on his robe’s pockets as he tilted his head to mimic Harry, only without closing his eyes.
“So, tell me,” Ron said carefully when none of them spoke or even move a bit for some time now.
Once again, they were engulfed in silence until a few sighs were heard from Harry and he began to speak. “At first, I only tried to get close to him due to him being human, you know,” he started, voice low.
Ron immediately straightened his back as he nodded and regarded Harry fully. When he coaxed him to talk, he didn’t exactly expect Harry to open up to him just like that. Usually, it took some inspiring words from Hermione until he broke the ice but never this. So Ron braced himself and opened his ears to hear whatever Harry would say.
“…Then I found out that he was somehow connected to Draco Black, the boy who could help save our race from extinction and…” Harry stopped there as he looked down and heaved again another sigh.
It took Ron some time to realize what Harry meant to say. But when he did, his breath hitched.
Carefully, he continued Harry’s hanging sentence. “…you began to grow fond of him, huh?”
Harry did not look at him. He just kept staring at the ground as if the pattern there kept his attention prisoner. Ron knew better, so he waited patiently until the other was ready to say more.
“There was something about him, Ron.” Harry looked up then, his eyes meeting Ron’s, and he could see just how much Harry was fond of Marius. “I can’t explain it, but he was different. So different that I’m afraid if I ever look away just one second from him, he will disappear and I can’t bear how that makes me feel. I know I just met him but…” Harry began to slide down the wall and sat down on the floor, his hands rested on his knees as he faced the wall opposite them.
Ron followed after him, saying, “You like him.”
Harry gave out a dry laugh. Ron couldn’t help himself but to side eye him with worry.
When the laughter receded not so long after, Harry suddenly said, “I know,” before he repeated it once again, this time softer as if he was whispering to himself. “I know.” One of his hand went up to cover his eyes, his mouth quirking up in a smile. He felt like an idiot only realizing it by now and the one who had to push him to notice it was Orion bloody Lestrange.
Ron didn’t know if he should say anything or nothing.
In the end, he decided someone had to push the conversation going. Harry seemed to be content wallowing in silence and that wasn’t how you should solve a problem.
“Why don’t you tell him?” he asked softly.
Harry put his hand down and looked at Ron straight in the eyes. His mouth twitched in an amused manner, but his gaze was rueful. When he answered, his voice was just as soft if not strained. “I can’t do that.”
Automatically he said, “Why not?” As soon as the question left his mouth, though, the realization dawned upon him. “Ah, your mate.”
Harry’s smile appeared again, this time it looked so pained Ron winced inwardly seeing it. He was just about to apologize, or anything really, for even letting his best friend put on such an expression. But before he could stutter anything, Harry spoke up.
“Yeah, that.” The werewolf turned his head around so he was now staring at the wall opposite them instead. “When I meet my mate, I can’t just throw Marius away. It would not be fair. I will just end up hurting him and I… I don’t want him to hate me. I don’t want him to think that he was just someone who is worth nothing when in fact he deserves so much more.”
Ron could understand where Harry was coming from. It would be unfair for Marius if Harry ever did that. And when he remembered the small kind smiles that the human was showing despite losing his only family, Ron could understand that Marius has already been through a lot and doesn’t need more pain.
“Lestrange is right. Marius deserves so much more.”
“Oh wow, is the world now about to end? You just said that that Vamp is right.” Ron tried to ease the atmosphere with his lame joke. He relieved a small sigh when he heard Harry’s snort and his expression turned lighter.
Ron could feel his friend’s sadness at his every pore. Wanting to be with someone, but that someone is not your mate is hard. It was like betraying what their lives are made of.
“We really can’t help who we fall in love with, can we?" He patted Harry’s shoulder softly, trying his best to comfort the other.
Harry looked at him gratefully. “No, no, we really can’t. So before these feelings of mine get even stronger, I have to bury them all away.” He paused before saying, “For his sake and mine.”
Ron knew it wasn’t his place to say that they actually didn’t know what Marius would think about this matter so Harry couldn’t just decide for the both of them. Instead, he just hummed in response.
They stayed there for a few more minutes before Harry schooled his features and stood up, holding out a hand to Ron’s direction. Ron took the offered hand and they began to walk towards the Hufflepuff Common Room.
……….
As soon as the four got out of the Chamber, the door softly went back into place, closed and sealing the Chamber until someone tried to enter it once again.
Hermione stared at the Grimoire in her hands. She could feel a twinge of magic in it, making the book felt like it is alive. She shook her head before promptly turning around to check on her companions. They all looked like they had seen something that caused a turmoil in their minds. Even the usually bubbly Ginny now remained quiet while Luna seemed to be pondering about something. Marius—well, he looked like someone just defined his existence and his face was too pale, too gaunt.
Hermione was also experiencing a mixture of feelings from what she saw before in the Chamber. It showed her things about the Dark Lord that they had never known about even though she still couldn’t understand what the spirit meant by telling her about the Dark Lord’s ‘chains of power’ that they had to break somehow.
Hermione held the Grimoire close to her heart. It gave her a warm feeling of hope that they are now closer to figuring things out. She knew she had to share this information with the adults but this was not the time. First, they had to put Marius’ plan into action. She was snapped from her thoughts when Ginny suddenly spoke up.
“Hermione, I have to go. Good luck with whatever it is that you are planning.” There was a tight smile on her lips as she said that. Hermione gave her a look of concern but Ginny shook her head as if saying that she would be fine. Then, she was gone.
Next was Luna’s turn. “I have to go as well,” the girl informed them with a small smile. "This mini-adventure was fun. See you later, Hermione, Marius.” With a wave, she followed Ginny out.
After Luna has completely left their sight, Hermione carefully turned around to look at Marius. She didn’t know what she expected to see on the human’s face, but she knew there was something hidden beneath the smooth façade he put on.
If Marius caught her staring, he didn’t comment on it. Instead, he asked, “Are you ready to return to Hufflepuff, Hermione?” all the while shivering slightly as the wind blew. Absentmindedly, he tugged on the cloak on his shoulders closer to him. Hermione noticed that a small smile escaped Marius’ lips when he seemed to remember that the cloak did not belong to him.
“Yes. We have a lot to talk about.”
They reached Hufflepuff Common Room only to find Orion sitting across Ron, immersed deeply in a game of chess. The sight made Hermione’s eyebrows rose even though Marius remained indifferent.
Meanwhile, Harry was sitting on one of the couches. He was silent, in a somehow strange way that may or may not be only Hermione’s feeling, only recognizing their entrance by nodding his head before quickly staring at anything that was not the both of them. This time, Hermione’s eyebrows scrunched in confusion.
“Where are the others?” she asked as she removed her coat and placed it at one of the back of a sofa.
It was Ron who answered her without straining his eyes from the board in front of him. “Well, Zabini asked Neville to go on a last minute Hogsmeade date while Parkinson dragged Nott to buy some sweets as her stash needs replenishing.”
Marius abstractedly followed Hermione as she sat on the sofa with a book in hand from the shelf behind them.
Although he managed to put on his usual calm demeanor, Marius actually couldn’t stop thinking about the things he learned from the Chamber. He found out the truth about his birth. He knew now that he was basically the reason why his mother did not step out in the First War. He felt like it was all his fault one way or another and he couldn’t help but to think the blood of innocents were in his hands. He felt dirty, unworthy. Worst, he didn’t know what to do to stop the feeling.
Marius’ hands began to shake the longer he dwelled on that thought. His breathing was coming in short. He could feel his body started to shiver too and the last thing he needed right now was a panic attack. He painstakingly tried to look up in an effort to distract himself. Then he met Harry's gaze.
The werewolf seemed caught off guard at first, clearly not expecting Marius to look back at him, before he finally looked at him as if he was searching for something. Marius didn't mind maintaining the eye contact because ever so slowly, his breathing returned to normal. The striking green of Harry's eyes managed to calm his body and somehow, he didn't know how what or why something within Marius tugged him closer to the werewolf.
It was Harry’s question that pulled him from once again dwelling in another deep thought. “Is there something wrong, Marius?”
The werewolf’s voice was low and concerned enough that it even stopped Hermione from her reading to look at the human beside her. Marius’ expression was just as unexplainable as usual, but the way he subtly pursed his lips told a different story.
‘Just what did he find out while inside that Chamber that rattled him so?’ Hermione couldn’t ask.
“Marius? Are you okay?”
They both looked at Marius worriedly when the human didn’t answer right away. Instead, he looked like he was frozen on the spot, unmoving. Even Orion and Ron stopped what they were doing to check on him.
‘Am I okay?’
The brief calm shattered at that question. Marius’ mind scattered into pieces again.
Almost all at once, his surroundings turned into nothing as thoughts began to plague his senses, overwhelming him. His Mother—oh, his beloved mother—who died that night, had she just only aborted him, her magic would've been still on its original strength and she would still be alive until today. But because of him, because he was born, she paid the price of his birth the night that she died. Fate exacted the proper payment for the spell that she cast years ago.
“Marius?” Harry repeated urgently.
Marius covered the left-side of his face using his left hand. His body began to shake, he could feel something rattle inside of him. He needed to calm down again, completely, right now.
He looked up and know immediately it was a mistake to look in those emerald eyes full of concern for him. He could feel the eyes of his cousin, Ron, and Hermione too, just full of worry and confusion for him. It truly was a mistake because, different from before, other thoughts began to flood his very mind, overtaking his sense.
Marius imagined those emerald eyes hating him if he ever found out that he was the reason they lost many Werewolves in the past. What was worse if Harry found out that Draco was the one that killed his mother, will Harry still look at him the same way?
He could feel it, the locks of something dark within him was rattling so loudly that he could not hear the voice of anyone in the room as he began to breathe heavily, his body full on shaking that he was wondering how he was still standing. The darkness of his self that he kept from ever appearing was trying their hardest to appear from its box where Draco trapped them in his mind.
“Draco. Remember, you are a Nullum. A witch—well in your case, a wizard—that bears Light and Darkness within your person. You have to keep them in the balance as always,” Narcissa said as she combed the blonde hair of a young Draco.
“What if I tip the balance? What happens to me then?” her son asked, his eyes averted as he watched Beau rolling on the grass to find the perfect spot for a nap.
“Well, my dear,” Draco looked back at her as she explained in a way for him to easily understand. “If you lean too much on the Light, you will become someone who will only care about the greater good, not caring about the consequences of your actions. But if you chose the Darkness…” Her voice became wary as if warning Draco. “You will be consumed by it. Your emotions will shut down and you will be a husk of your true self. You will become someone who will be drunk with power.”
“So being too good and too bad is both bad?” Draco asked, confused.
His Mother looked at him as if she understood how it did not make sense to a child of his age. She merely nodded.
“What causes being bad Mother?” he asked once again as if noting it to assure that he would not try to lean to the Darkness too much.
“Self-hatred is one amongst others, but they are mostly negative things. So it is best to keep those feelings and thoughts locked away within ourselves to maintain the balance of who we are.” Draco looked about to ask a dozen more questions but his Mother stopped him, by saying. “It is a good day, Draco. Let us not speak about such things any deeper, shall we?”
Narcissa kissed her son’s forehead and Draco nodded his head, basking in the warmth of his Mother.
“Marius!” A voice stopped Draco from his musings.
‘Marius is not my name,’ he thought bitterly as he felt Harry’s hands on his shoulders. They were warm, just like his Mother’s. His Mother’s love was what killed her.
Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Orion looked at Marius with eyes full of worry as they could not comprehend what was currently going on within his head.
Orion’s eyes then flashed to Hermione sharply as he began to ask. “What the hell happened in the Chamber?”
“I don’t know exactly, but we all saw different things. I saw a glimpse of the past. I think Ginny’s was the future and Luna was the present. I never knew what Marius saw as we were all unconscious during that time. He was left with the guardian of the Chamber,” she explained as clearly as she could.
“How could you leave him alone?” Orion gritted out, but he knew he could not blame Hermione as she snapped back.
“We had no choice! As soon as we entered there, we did not know that we were going to be tested!”
Orion scoffed but he could understand the witch if he were in her position, so he just snapped his eyes back to his cousin. His condition reminded him of himself. Of how broken he was when he found out the broken connection he has with his wolf. Of how he blamed himself.
“Potter. Move.”
Harry flinched as his hands were still on either side of Marius. When he saw the glare that Lestrange gave him, he removed them.
Before anyone could make a move Orion stood in front of Marius and held both of his cheeks with his hands, Marius—no, Draco’s—blue-grey eyes looked up at him. Orion then whispered in a voice that he knows would be heard by any of them in the room, but he did not care.
“It is not your fault. Nothing is your fault.” Draco’s eyes widened as something flashed within his eyes that Orion almost did not catch. He looked about to protest, so Orion continued to speak. “We are all but pawns in this game called life that fate concocted. Whatever happened was meant to be. There was no way for you to stop any of it.”
Draco’s breathing was now evening as he slowly regained control of himself. A small smile tugged his lips before he looked up at his cousin.
“Orion, I kil—“
Before he could finish his sentence, Draco suddenly fell forward and straight into Orion who actually hadn’t meant to force his cousin into unconsciousness. He just wished Draco could calm his mind and sleeping seemed like the best idea.
“Sleep, Marius. We will speak when you wake.”
Orion then began to carry him to his quarters, leaving Harry, Ron and Hermione stunned on their places.
“What just happened?” Ron asked once the cousins were out of sight.
Hermione shook her head. “I think Marius saw something within that Chamber that shook him as much as it did to me and the others.” She then glanced at Harry whose hands were fisted so tight it turned white.
She was about to ask something, but Ron cut her off as if indirectly telling her if her question was about Harry, the other werewolf would be fine in some time. They had to discuss other things. “So, what exactly did you see in the Chamber, Mione?”
Hermione understood his silent words and instead gestured to the other seating around her. “Take a seat you two. You will need it.”
……
When Hermione began her story, little by little, Harry’s posture went from rigid to inquiring. Ron looked both terrified and confused at the same time, if not repressing a shudder.
“So, you are saying that the Dark Lord has some kind of super power that makes him immortal,” the Weasley stated.
Hermione bit her lip. “We were all unsure of how he was still alive till now. But with this information, we have proof that he might have something like that.”
“He was sealed, though. It still is possible that that was the reason he still didn’t die,” Harry began to say that made Ron nod his head profusely.
Hermione began to contradict what he said. “Yes, he was sealed, but how is it that he knew exactly how to break the seal when we all know that the only ones present in his sealing was our Headmaster Dumbledore, Narcissa, and your parents, Harry?”
All eyes widened and then Ron began to speak up. “She’s right. It would be impossible that any of them would be a mole or anything, but Hermione, are you implying that when they sealed the Dark Lord, his soul transferred to another vessel?”
Harry and Hermione’s eyebrows rose as they have never seen Ron brainstorm this much other than when he was playing chess.
“It is possible. She said ‘the monster would live in another vessel and return once again’, so I think the Dark Lord was able to transfer his soul.”
Harry finished Hermione’s sentence, “And waited for Narcissa Black to die to return to his former one?”
Hermione nodded.
“But how was he able to do all that when he was just a mere vampire bitten?” Ron asked once again.
This time, Hermione looked down, not knowing the answer to that question as she shook her head. There were too many questions than answers and if they need to defeat the Dark Lord before he was able to set all his plans, they had to find out how to break his chains of power.
As the three were thinking too hardly, a voice began to tear them away from their thoughts.
“My Mother.” Orion’s voice rang in the room and they all looked back to see him leaning on the wall at the end of the Hallway heading to the room of Marius.
Without missing a beat, Harry asked, “How is he?”
Orion raised an eyebrow. “Asleep. Beau is by his side so it will be fine,” he answered as he sauntered to one of the couches and plopped himself as if exhausted.
“Mind sharing us your theories?” Hermione then began to cut away the tension apparent in the room.
Orion nodded as if understanding her. “As you all know, Bellatrix Black was the first to become the Dark Lord’s follower. She is the most loyal and his right hand. All the plans and tactics are made by her when the Dark Lord was indisposed.”
Hermione then became all curious and Orion caught her inquisitive eyes. He was also creeped out when the three were now watching him closely.
“But I am sure as hell he somehow borrowed my Mother’s power to create something. I don’t know what, but when the Dark Lord was sealed, my mother and the others who scattered did their hardest to search where he was sealed.”
“They didn’t find him did he?”
Orion shook his head and began to continue. “You weren’t too far off from your theory though, Granger. He did transfer his soul to an object and my Mother was able to speak to him by allowing the Dark Lord to possess a human body.”
Hermione abruptly stood up before pacing around. “No, that is impossible! I could understand it if it were transferred to another object, but to take over a living human?” Her eyes widened suddenly.
Harry and Ron watched her as her face paled.
“Possessed? What does that mean, Hermione?”
“Possession is taking over another body without the permission of the owner. Technically, those two souls will battle over for the control of the body and whoever loses will have their soul destroyed. Never to exist nor reincarnated ever again.”
Ron swore.
Hermione ignored him and opted to ask Orion. “Did you know who he possessed?”
Orion shrugged his shoulders. His eyes were a pool of darkness and regret as he recalled what he saw. “It was some witch. After the Dark Lord revealed his location, he left the body he possessed and as you said, the witch never awoke ever again. She was a husk of herself.”
“How did you know all of this?” Harry asked, fury in his eyes.
Orion replied him with a cold tone. "I have Bellatrix as a Mother, Nymphadora as my sister, and Rudolphus as my Father. I have seen much worse things than you have ever seen Potter, so don’t ask me how I knew all of it. Unlike you, I was not raised to a loving family. Mine was kill, torture, and murder. I chose to be different, I know. Doesn’t mean I could change the fact what I have seen and know. Unless you want my memory cleaned, huh?”
There was a flash of understanding in Harry’s eyes that Orion saw. The wolf was really an open book.
Hermione spoke again. “She was preparing you for this day, wasn’t she?”
“Yes. The reason why I haven’t committed murder or torture was because she was training me to kill Dumbledore. She wanted for me to have the honor of breaking one of our Lord’s seals.”
Ron then snorted, trying to ease the mood as he gave out a single sentence that brightened them a bit. “Glad you decided not to follow the Family tradition.”
Orion huffed out a breath and gave the three a grin. “Couldn’t be any gladder.”
They shared a smile before Harry brought back the previous subject. “You mentioned an object that the Dark Lord possessed. Do you think you know where it is?”
Orion tilted his head to try and remember where he last saw that black book before replying, “The black book was placed under heavy guard in my Mother’s Library back at Lestrange Manor.”
Hermione was clearly disappointed at this. She wanted to have at least studied the book where the Dark Lord’s soul used to reside. She was sure there was something about that object and the chains of power that the spirit was telling her. She just did not know what connected the two together.
“I am going to research more on about the souls in the library. You two,” Hermione pointed at the werewolves, “are coming with me.” She then turned to Orion. “I will inform you if we ever find something. Oh, and tell Marius we will begin our brewing tomorrow after classes.”
The vampire nodded and waved them out. As soon as the door closed, he felt the presence of Marius staring right at him. He gave his cousin a small smile. “How long have you been standing there?”
Marius came forward before curling himself at one of the couches. “Not long.”
“Mind telling me what happened to you in the Chamber?” Orion asked carefully. He didn’t want his cousin to have another episode, but he knew they have to talk about it sooner or later.
Marius looked hesitant at first before he seemed to have given up whatever conflicting thoughts he had in mind.
“Okay.” Then he began relieving the not-so-joyful experience.
…….
At a dark alcove a few rooms from the kitchen, a witch stood in front of an elf that looked to have been under a curse. The elf’s body was seemingly swaying, losing its balance bit by bit. As soon as the witch waved her wand, the elf stiffened and began to shakily open her hand palm up as if she was about to receive something. A vial of clear liquid inside was put upon it soon after.
“Now, Missy, all you have to do is place the content of this vial in his dinner. No one must find out about this,” the witch softly voiced out her order.
The elf repeated back in a shaky voice, clearly trying to fight off the control. But as the witch flicked her wand, the elf answered back straight as if she was not under the Imperius.
“Missy will pour liquid to the boy’s dinner.”
“After you do it, return back to me in this same place.”
The elf nodded its head enthusiastically. “Yes, Master.”
“Now go.”
The elf disappeared with a pop to the kitchen, hiding the vial in her clothes she started to do her chores along with the others and the order still ingrained in her mind.
As soon as the elf was no longer in her presence, the witch pushed back her hood, only to reveal blonde hair. Luna took off her cloak and slowly walked out of the alcove. Seeing that no one was around, she started to walk away as if nothing happened. Her Master’s plan was about to be set in motion and her doing this would allow her to see her Father once again. She looked up at the crescent moon, counting the days she had left before the plan was put into action. She just hoped that her friends will find it in their heart to forgive her for what was about to happen.