chapter three
Defense against the dark arts was painfully slow. Quirrel seemed to struggle to get a single word out, much less an entire lecture on Defensive charms, like the basic shielding spell protego, which Harry had read about in preparation for this class. It looked as though he would have to learn the subject on his own, for the lessons amounted to nothing great in the knowledge gained.
Herbology was even worse than Defense against the dark arts- why? Because he got paired up with Dudley and the bigger boy threatened to hex him into oblivion unless he did all the work they were supposed to split with each other.
Harry was sure that Dudley didn’t actually know any hexes yet but he still couldn’t risk it.
After the lesson was over and Dudley had left in the direction of the great hall, Harry stayed behind to beg the professor to change the pairs.
“Please, put me with anyone, just not with Dudley”, he begged the stout witch.
She looked at him rather perplexed, sizing him up, “I thought you would enjoy working with your cousin mr. Potter, especially after being thrust into the wizarding world like that. I thought you would enjoy the feeling of familiarity”
“No, professor, you don’t understand”, he pleaded, “Dudley takes every chance he gets to terrorize me. Just now, he threatened to jinx me”
“Very well mr. potter”, the witch agreed reluctantly, “but try to get along with mr. dursley”
He thanked her vigorously, shaking her hand like a madman.
He walked out and- horror! Dudley stood there, his ear right next to the door, “That wasn’t very nice of you”, he snarled, “betraying me like that”
Before he could respond, Dudleys fist was already flying and impacted his head, knocking off his glasses, “Don’t try a stunt like that again, freak”
Harry wanted to call him out, to say that he was no more of a freak than dudley was but he couldn’t, he didn’t find the strength to do it. His consciousness slipped away from him as the darkness came to envelope him, swallowing his mind and body whole, like a black hole.
Dark- everything was dark. In front of him, darkness, to his left, shadow, to his right, void, behind, above and below, nothingness. He felt nothing and everything at the very same time. It was freezing cold and burning hot and yet completely without temperature. There was booming sound and deafening silence, hate and happiness, sorrow and envy, ecstasy and regret. There was him and there was something else. A presence beyond his own self, a force of great power, yet subtle as a whisper.
The presence noticed him, he could feel it. It turned to him and suddenly, there was light in the darkness, two large, glowing red eyes of immense power, yet broken, mangled beyond recognition.
“Interesting”, a high, cold voice rang into the silence of the void, sending shivers down Harry’s spine like ice upon his bare skin, “I recognise you, the bane of my existence, the chosen one”
"Chosen one?”
“Oh, yes, a great prophecy was ushered, foretelling my fall at your hands. I tried to end you before you grew too powerful but it was to no avail, I was gone and you are still here, still alive. Now… now you are dying and yet I am forced to keep you alive, forced to offer my own life to grant you yours”
“You are forced?”
“Yes, I am but a shard of my former self, a tiny fragment, barely more than a hundredth of myself, I hold no power of my own and now, your body is dying and my shard is destroying itself to heal you. You will soon wake with my power eternally yours, try not to die again, I only safe you this one time.”
“What-?”
“Now is not the time, now leave, I have my own death to await”
“Ah-!”
Harry sprang upwards with a chill running through him.
He was in a bed, somewhere, in a room painted celestial white. The bedsheets were grey in color.
He was disoriented and so, did not realize at first that a witch in white robes had sprung to his bedside and was now asking questions, “-happen? What do you remember? Do you feel any pain?”
“Yes, my head hurts- a lot. I remember- I remember dudley hitting me and then- then everything went dark and I-”, he gripped his head in great pain.
“Don’t worry, it will all be better soon, just drink this. I will inform the headmaster you are awake”