Darkness Rising by hgromance



Summary: ON HIATUS FOR NOW. Sequel to Innocence Lost. Read that one first. Harry's fifth year. More surprises are in store for Harry and company. Harry has to learn how to handle an evil teacher, an evil wizard who wants him dead. He finds the answers to why he and Ginny can practically feel the others' emotions. Oh, and Harry's parents are alive? He has a sister?
Rating: R starstarstarstarstar
Categories: Post-OotP, Alternate Universe
Characters: None
Genres: None
Warnings: None
Challenges: None
Series: None
Published: 2008.12.24
Updated: 2012.02.14


Darkness Rising by hgromance
Chapter 1: Chapter 1
Author's Notes:

Chapter 1



The ride back to Privet Drive was just as Harry expected it to be. Vernon and Petunia sat in front while Harry had to squeeze into the back with his enormous cousin. There was so little room in the back, Harry had to leave his crutches with his trunk. From the moment they pulled away from the station, Vernon started vocalizing the outrage he felt.

“The nerve of some people. How dare he tell me how to behave! I’m an adult and his better. I deserve some respect. I won’t have his unnaturalness around my house, you hear me, boy? I won’t!” Vernon’s face started to turn red and spittle flew as he ranted. “Those freaks cannot tell me what I can and cannot do in my own home! There’s nothing they can do to me without breaking that Secrecy law and getting themselves into trouble. I’m not as stupid as they think I am.”

Harry sat back and tuned out his uncle. It was just a new version of old rubbish, nothing he hadn’t heard before. Leaning his head against the window he tried to ignore the discomfort he was already beginning to feel in his knee. He tried flexing it a little but there really was no room to move and it ended up making it worse. Sighing quietly, he massaged his knee wishing for Ginny or at least the towel he’d foolishly packed in his trunk.

Dudley watched his cousin covertly. Something seemed different about him, Dudley just didn’t know what. It wasn’t anything physical, for his cousin was still scrawny. It was more…attitude he guessed, not that Harry had talked back to Dudley’s father, he hadn’t spoken at all. Dudley had heard what that man at the station had said about Harry’s knee but he hadn’t really believed it. Who would? It seemed too outrageous to think that a person’s knee could be fixed that well and that quickly after having been destroyed. Seeing Harry wince periodically, rub his knee, and try to bend it made Dudley rethink his position. Questions began forming in Dudley’s mind. What really happened this year to his knee? How did he get asthma? How did he get such a pretty girl to notice him?

++++

After an interminably long drive, they finally reached Privet Drive. Vernon and Petunia got out and headed straight inside the house without a backward glance. Dudley exited the car and watched Harry’s struggles to exit the car with a knee that didn’t seem to want to cooperate. Without thinking, Dudley retrieved the crutches and handed them over. He also took out Harry’s trunk and set it on the ground. Realizing what he’d done and for whom, he hurried into the house.

++++

Finally! We’re here. Harry hadn’t thought they’d ever get back. His knee was killing him and he had a slight headache. It came as no surprise when his aunt and uncle left him in the car without offering any help whatsoever. It’s what they always did. What did surprise him was, after struggling to get out of the car, Dudley giving him his crutches. Harry accepted them without a word but couldn’t help staring. What Dudley did next nearly floored him. Harry watched, speechless, as Dudley removed Harry’s trunk from the car and set it on the ground. A look of incredulity came over Dudley’s features and Harry watched as Dudley ran for the house.

“There’s hope for that one yet,” chuckled Sirius.

“Sirius!”

“Don’t look so surprised. I had a feeling you were going to need some help.”

Sirius picked up one end and just barely levitated the other end so it appeared to drag the ground, when in reality it didn’t. Sirius pulled the trunk up to the front door and looked over his shoulder at his godson.

“Well, come on. I don’t think they’ll want to open the door twice.”

Harry hurried over as best he could. He would have just opened the door if he could have reached it. Sirius rang the doorbell. Petunia answered, her nose wrinkling in distaste when she saw who stood there. She walked away leaving the door wide open.

“Which way?” Sirius asked when they were both inside.

“Up the stairs, first door on the left.”

Sirius reached the top of the stairs and couldn’t believe his eyes. Surely, Harry didn’t mean this one. There’re way too many locks on the door and…what is that…a cat flap? Uh-uh. No way. No way could he have meant this door. Sirius turned back to Harry.

“Did you say first door on the left?”

“That’s right.”
“The one with all the locks and the flap at the bottom?” Sirius’ voice turned icy cold.

Uh-oh. Harry finally gained the top of the stairs and reached around Sirius to open the door. Sirius didn’t seem to be in any hurry but Harry really wanted to sit down so he gave his godfather a shove into the room.

“Just set it down over there against the wall.” Harry pointed to a spot across from his bed.

Harry sat on his lumpy bed and gingerly lifted his leg up to the mattress. He ran through the knee bends Pomfrey taught him as best he could.

“Here,” Sirius handed him the warm towel.

“Thanks.”

Harry blew out the breath he’d been holding as the heat of the towel began to take effect.

“You going to be okay here?”

“I’ll be fine. Why doesn’t anyone believe me?”

“Maybe because we’ve seen a bit of what your relatives are like?”

“I’ll be fine, Sirius. Like you said, if I need you, you’ll only be a call away, right?”

Sirius nodded, still not convinced. If he thought it would help, he’d go downstairs and give those muggles a piece of his mind. He really hated to leave Harry with them but he knew he had to. He really would be just a call away.

“Alright, well, holler if you need me.”

Harry nodded. Sirius leaned over and gave Harry a hug before walking out the door, staring hard at the locks before shutting the door. Harry lay back on the bed, hands under his head, eyes closed. Within minutes he fell into a light doze.

++++

“BOY! GET DOWN HERE NOW!”

Harry woke, a bit disoriented. Oh, yeah, I’m back at Privet Drive. He winced slightly as he swung his legs off the bed. Grabbing his crutches he hobbled his way out of his room and to the stairs. He contemplated them a second knowing his uncle would be less than pleased to see Harry sliding down the rail. It really was the only way to get downstairs quickly so he did it.

Harry was about three quarters of the way down when Vernon stepped up to the stairs, ready to call for Harry again. Harry would have laughed at Uncle Vernon’s expression if the situation hadn’t been so volatile to begin with.

“WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING!?”

“Coming downstairs like you asked?”

“Don’t get cheeky with me. Normal people use the stairs, not the rail. While you are under our roof you will respect our property and do things the normal way.”

“I just figured you wanted me downstairs sooner rather than later and if I’d taken the stairs it would have been later.”

“Just get to the table, get your supper, and get back to your room. Be prepared tomorrow for your list of chores.”

“Yes, sir.”

++++

That night Harry’s dreams were filled with distorted memories of the year before. He dreamed he was back redoing the first task, except this time there were several runespoors and one of them actually got a fang deeper into him than in reality, pouring its venom into his body. Then a dragon came along to finish him off.

Harry woke with a start. He lay in his bed listening for any sign he’d woken his uncle. Sighing in relief when silence met his ears, he waited for his heart to calm. I wish Ginny was here. She always knows just how to make me feel better. After a couple hours staring out his window, Harry fell asleep again.

This dream was a mix of memories. It started out as the day Cho hexed him into the Black Lake but then all manner of creatures attacked him. Grindylows held him so the bunyip could ram him and the mermaids led the strange group down into the depths of the lake, to their city, tying him to a stone, saying he’d never see the surface again.

Gasping, Harry sat up. He wiped the sweat from his forehead. Quietly, he got up and went into the bathroom to splash water on his face. Letting water pool in his hand he leaned over and took a drink. When he could put it off no longer, he returned to his bed. He really didn’t want to go back to sleep but felt very tired so he lay down. Soon he drifted off.

His last dream session consisted of many things. The third task, in which he very purposefully let Zacharias die, despite the Hufflepuff’s cries for help. The Godric’s Hollow graveyard scene where Voldemort gave Harry a choice in who would be tortured and Harry played a coward choosing Fleur instead of himself. Then came the Chamber of Secrets where Ginny’s clothes were torn from her by the Death Eaters and Harry stood frozen. All the while Ginny begged him to help her. Familiar maniacal laughter filled his ears.

“No. NO. NO! NO!

Harry scrambled off the bed and barely made it to the bathroom before his stomach revolted. The pounding in his head didn’t help, nor did the pounding at the bathroom door.

“What is the meaning of this?! It’s three o’clock in the morning!”

Once he’d cleaned up and when he was sure he could stand without falling over, Harry opened the door to find all three Dursleys staring at him. Open hostility resided on Vernon’s face, disgust plainly evident on Petunia’s face. Dudley’s face held only bewilderment.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to wake anyone up. Bad dreams.”

“Well, get it together. Bad dreams. You’re not five any longer. Back to your room and don’t let me hear another sound out of you until morning, at a decent hour.”

Harry limped back into his room missing the look Dudley gave him and his father.

++++

With his room next to Harry’s, Dudley had heard Harry cry out the previous two times. Annoyed to have been woken up again by his cousin’s shouts, Dudley got up and stood by his parents at the bathroom door. When the door opened, even he could tell something wasn’t quite right. Harry was pale, shaky, his eyes red and tired. Dudley watched his cousin limp heavily back to his room then glanced at his mum and dad. ‘Good riddance’ seemed to be the expression of the moment. Too exhausted to puzzle it out, Dudley climbed back into bed, rolled over and went to sleep.
++++

Harry knew he wasn’t sleeping anymore that night. Turning the lamp on low, he sat at his desk, took out parchment, ink, and quill and wrote a letter to Ginny.

Dear Gin,

I miss you terribly and it hasn’t even been a whole day. I don’t know how I’m going to survive a month and a half without you. The Muggles have been okay, I suppose. It’ll be easier to tell as time goes by. Remember that time in the common room when Hermione made that remark about you being able to put me to sleep and she wondered how I’d get by without you? Well, I’m beginning to wonder that, too. I wish you could be here. I miss seeing you, being with you. I hope this next month goes fast. Well, guess I should end this before it gets too sappy (Ha Ha).

P.S. I finished this letter an hour before yours arrived. You’re amazing. Just bad dreams keeping me awake. Nothing to worry about.

Love

Harry


Harry folded the letter and put his writing supplies away. Now he just had to wait until a decent hour to send it. He knew Uncle Vernon wouldn’t be pleased with Hedwig sending letters but Harry didn’t care. He settled back on his bed to wait the night out.

To his surprise, an hour later, a brown owl flew through his window. He took the letter from the owl and it flew away again. Unrolling the letter, he smiled when he saw who had written him.

Dear Harry,

I hope the owl didn’t wake you up. I don’t think it did. I had this feeling that you were awake and needed me. I’m sorry I can’t be there for you. This is the best I could do. Please tell me what’s bothering you. If you’d rather not, that’s okay. I miss you something awful. It’s nice being back home but I wish you were here. Even Mum agrees that you should be here with us. Maybe Dumbledore will let you come before your birthday this year. Anyway, just wanted to say I love you. I don’t think I’ve said it enough to you and Merlin knows you haven’t heard it often enough. I miss you. Hoping to see you soon.

Love

Ginny



Harry sat on his bed reading and re-reading Ginny’s letter. He marveled how she could possibly have known he was awake and needing her. Six o’clock finally came and Harry sent Hedwig off with Ginny’s letter. Figuring he would need the extra time to get breakfast ready, he grabbed clean clothes and headed for the shower.

++++

Not having slept well and having to shuffle around on crutches made cooking breakfast difficult. Even so, he managed not to burn anything. Harry just began setting the table when the Dursleys came down. Vernon sat in his usual spot with the morning paper. Petunia gave him a list of his chores for the week before sitting. Dudley sat and filled his plate. Harry picked at his breakfast, not eating much. He felt tired and his headache hadn’t completely gone away. His knee ached too.

As soon as he could he left the table to start on the chores for the day. Clean the loos. Well, guess I should have seen that coming after last night. Rummaging in the cupboard under stairs, he found the necessary cleaners and hauled them upstairs. He hated the harsh fumes the practically industrial strength cleansers gave off. After a little trial and error, Harry found if he breathed through his mouth, the fumes weren’t so harsh.

Two hours of nonstop cleaning later, Harry finished the bathroom upstairs. Needing to get out of the little room, he sat on the top step, hoping to rest a minute. No such luck. Vernon walked by the stairs on his way into the kitchen and saw Harry sitting at the top.

“Why are you sitting down? You’re being lazy. Get those chores done. You’ll be getting no free rides around here.”

Clenching his teeth, Harry gathered the cleaning supplies from the bathroom and started down the stairs. His temples throbbed with every heartbeat. His knee twinged with every bend. To top it all off, his lungs felt as if they were being burned with every breath. Another two hours passed before he was done with that chore. He felt a little light-headed but put it down to not eating much at breakfast.

Half-way through dusting his second ceiling fan, it happened. His airway closed up, nothing was getting through. He dropped the cloth and spray he’d been using, making Petunia shriek and Vernon to holler. Harry didn’t care. He sat on the stepstool he’d been using, bent over, trying to draw in air.

“What’s the matter now? What, are you so weak that a little dust bothers you?”
Harry stared at his uncle, breath wheezing in and out. Petunia wasn’t any help either. Harry knew he was in some serious trouble, more than what his capsules could handle. He looked at Dudley and thought he saw…sympathy? Whatever it was, Harry decided to use it.

“Get. Sirius,” he wheezed.

“What?” Dudley was dumbfounded. He couldn’t believe he’d actually been asked to do anything.

“Get. Sirius. Now.”

“How…Where…?”

“Outside. Call him.”

Dudley glanced at his parents. His father still wore the look of someone whose patience had worn thin. His mother looked annoyed. Looking back at his cousin, Dudley could see him growing paler by the second, an unnatural blue tint to his face. For the second time, Dudley acted without thinking. He jumped up, ran out into the back yard and called out.

“Sirius!”

Instantly, the man appeared. “What’s wrong?”

“Harry…living room…can’t breathe.”

Sirius tore off for the house. “Harry!”

Sirius entered the living room and found Harry, still on the stepstool, slumped over. What he saw when Harry looked up, scared him more than anything had. Harry was beginning to turn bluish. Sirius picked Harry up, went into the kitchen and set him down at the table.

“Hang on, Harry. A few more seconds.” Sirius turned to the cousin, Dudley. “Do you have anything with menthol in it? Like what’s used in cold remedies. Something that can be inhaled.”

Dudley opened a cabinet that contained most of the household’s medications. He pulled out a bottle of clear fluid and handed it to Sirius.

“Will this work? Mum puts it in a humidifier when one of us is sick. It helps us breathe better.”
Sirius looked at the label and could have cried when he saw the main ingredient was eucalyptus oil.

“Perfect. Now I need a cloth.”

Dudley handed one over and Sirius doused it in the clear fluid. He held the cloth over Harry’s nose and mouth with one hand and reached into his pocket with the other. He pulled out a makeshift tea bag.

“Here, take this. Boil some water. How did this happen?”

Dudley eyed the man warily but took the tea bag and put water on to boil. Turning back, he noted the vaporizer stuff was working. Pale though he still was, at least he didn’t appear blue any longer. Also, his breathing wasn’t as harsh. The man knelt in front of Harry, one hand holding the cloth, the other at the back of Harry’s head. He murmured things Dudley couldn’t hear but could see they had a great impact on Harry. This man obviously cared a great deal for Harry. For the first time in his life, Dudley felt the faint stirrings of jealousy. Jealousy over the close relationship Harry and his godfather appeared to have.

The kettle’s whistling drove those thoughts out of Dudley’s head. He poured water into a cup, added the tea bag and set it on the table. Without waiting for anything else to be said, he left the room.

Sirius removed the cloth from Harry’s face and shoved the tea into Harry’s hand. “This is the same stuff Pomfrey gave you. Drink up. She told me to use it in emergencies only. I’d say today qualifies.”

Sirius finally got out of Harry how he’d been feeling and what he’d been doing leading up to the attack. Looking over Harry’s chore list noticed most of them would be too dangerous to do with only one good knee. Sirius spied a pen on the counter and began marking through the chores he didn’t want Harry doing.

When the tea was gone, Sirius helped Harry into the other room where Vernon and Petunia still sat as if made of stone. Sirius gave them each a single glance then started helping Harry towards the stairs. This broke Vernon out of his daze.

“What are you doing? He’s not done yet!”

“He is too done. For the rest of the day. He needs sleep. I’m taking him upstairs then I’m coming back down and you two had better be here or, so help me, I’ll track you down and embarrass you in front of whoever you’re with.”

Harry wanted to argue with Sirius but by the time they reached his room, he had to admit he was pretty tired. He was helped onto his bed and the warm towel covered his knee again.

Sirius covered Harry with his blankets and stood there a minute, looking at the pale boy. “Okay, I want you to sleep as long as you need to. You need to rest that knee or it’s never going to get better.”

Harry nodded and drifted off to sleep. This time his sleep contained pleasant dreams.

++++

Sirius went back into the living room to find the Dursleys had, for once, done what they’d been told. Looking around, he found Dudley in the kitchen.

“Dudley, you need to hear this, too. Would you please come in here a minute?”

While Dudley got settled, Sirius stared at Harry’s ‘family’. He felt anger rise inside but tamped it down knowing it would do no good with these people. Taking a deep breath, he began.

“I’m going to tell you something that Dumbledore should have already told you. Perhaps he was waiting for the right time, I don’t know. Let me tell you a little story. First, you know of Voldemort, the evil wizard who killed Lily and James and tried to kill Harry, right?”

When acknowledged knowing this, he continued. “I’m going to tell you why Voldemort did this. You see, before Harry was born, a prophecy had been made about a child who could bring about the destruction of the most evil wizard of our time. This child was to be born at the end of July. Fearing for Harry’s safety, Lily and James fled but they were betrayed and Voldemort found them. We’re not entirely sure what happened that night but when Voldemort tried to kill Harry, he couldn’t. The spell rebounded and disabled Voldemort. Harry was left with the scar on his forehead.”

Sirius looked at the three sitting across from him. Dudley was trying to puzzle everything out, Petunia looked as if she already understood what was being said, Vernon just looked defiant.

“Harry is the one who can defeat Voldemort, the only one. We know because the prophecy said the child would be marked as Voldemort’s equal, that Voldemort himself would mark him. Now, we get to the present. One of Voldemort’s followers performed a Dark ritual to bring Voldemort back to his body.”

“Pure rubbish! Nothing but nonsense! A story made up just to scare us!” started Vernon.

“If you don’t believe me, ask to see the scar on Harry’s shoulder. He’d been taken a couple of months ago and forced to participate in that ritual. You see, this ritual required some of the enemy’s blood.”

“If this Voldy person is back then why don’t we just make Harry get rid of him? Are we even safe keeping that boy here?”

“Harry isn’t ready for a confrontation between himself and Voldemort. He needs some training, which is why it is imperative he stayed alive.” Sirius’ voice grew hard toward the end of his statement and he stared at Vernon. “All the protections you’ve enjoyed all these years are still in place. They will remain so as long as this place acts as his home.”

“Sirius?” asked a tentative Dudley. “What happened to Harry’s knee? How did he get asthma?”

“I wish I could answer those but they’re questions Harry should answer. I can tell you that this past year, there was a dangerous tournament. Harry had been entered by someone working for Voldemort. A couple months ago, during the last task, he was stuck for some time in a fiery maze. Inhaling all that smoke did some permanent damage. These ‘attacks’ happen when emotions are running high or strong scents can set it off.”

“The cleaners.” Dudley explained. “They have strong fumes.”

Sirius nodded. “That’s probably what did it this time. As for his knee, that happened during a Death Eater, those are Voldemort’s followers, attack at school. I noticed on his chore list there were several things in which he has to climb in order to accomplish. He’s not doing them. He doesn’t need to overly tax that knee or it’ll never heal. If it doesn’t heal, he’ll be at a disadvantage when going against Voldemort and we don’t want that. Now, I’m going to go check on Harry one more time. I suggest you let him sleep as much as he needs to. That boy’s been through hell this past year and it’s going to take a lot for him to recuperate fully.”

Sirius climbed the stairs and peeked in on Harry. The youth had rolled onto his side, sleeping peacefully. Hedwig had returned with a letter attached to her leg. Sirius convinced the owl to allow him to remove the letter then he placed it underneath the boy’s glasses where he’d be sure to find it. One final look at Harry’s sleeping form then Sirius left.

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