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SIYE Time:8:15 on 29th March 2024
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After
By Senator of Sorcery

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Category: Alternate Universe, Asylum Challenge (2013-3), Asylum Challenge (2013-3)
Characters:Albus Dumbledore, All, Draco Malfoy, Harry/Ginny, Hermione Granger, Lily Potter, Luna Lovegood, Minerva McGonagall, Other, Ron Weasley
Genres: Action/Adventure, Angst, Drama, Romance
Warnings: Dark Fiction, Death, Disturbing Imagery, Violence
Story is Complete
Rating: PG-13
Reviews: 105
Summary: *** Winner of Best Overall, Best Drama and the People’s Choice Award in the Asylum Challenge ***
*Nominated for 2014 April/May and November/December DSTA for Best Romance and Best Drama* *Nominated for 2016 January/February DSTA for Best Drama and Best Completed*

Ginny's plans for the weekend were just perfect: a day out in Hogsmeade with her girlfriends. Spend the morning window shopping and wishing, then lunch at the Three Broomsticks, and then to the local theater for a production of the Scottish Play (Macbeth).


Unfortunately, the bad luck of the Scottish Play strikes before it even starts. The village is invaded by Death Eaters, Dementors, and a man she had hoped to never see again in her life.


And in the middle of the battle, Ginny sees something she'd never thought she'd see. Voldemort and one of her greatest friends dueling; Harry Potter and Voldemort fighting so fiercely, she lost focus on her own battle. Harry Potter, crying out, falling, and hitting the ground. Dead.

And then, someone she never expected to help her saves her from Voldemort’s wrath.
Hitcount: Story Total: 167863; Chapter Total: 5029







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Chapter Eleven

‘I’ll Watch Your Life in Pictures’



I awoke to a face very close to mine, much too close. His breath was hot and smelled horrible. I let out a yelp, and the face yelped with me and jumped backwards. I realized as he backed up that the face belonged to Alasdair.

“She’s awake!” he called.

“Yes, thank you, we noticed,” Lucius’s voice. I turned my head to see him standing off to the side, but he wasn’t paying attention to me. His focus was fixed on a… a round something in his hands. It looked was shaped like a plate, but it was made of glass. Stained glass. I saw vaguely words painted on its surface and an image that looked like a flower.

“What’s that?” Alasdair asked as I groggily sat up.

“Stay down,” Lucius said almost lazily. Alasdair pushed me back in a lying position. “And as for what this is, I can’t be sure, but it appears to be stained glass.”

“I think that’s obvious,” Alasdair said, “what is it apart from that?”

Lucius glanced at him. “I can’t be sure.”

I sat up again, Lucius scowled, and I waved a hand.

“Shut up, Malfoy,” I grumbled. “It’s the spell key thingy. I passed.”

Lucius’s eyebrows rose. “Really? Well done! Was it difficult?”

I gave him a dirty look. “No, it was a walk in the park. Of course it was difficult.”

Lucius looked affronted, but he seemed to brush it aside. “What was the test?”

“Let’s just say I know a bit more about you lot,” I said quietly. I glanced at Alasdair, who looked down at his feet. I looked back to Lucius. “I visited the Realm of Dreams.”

“Dreams?” Lucius said. “How are dreams a test?”

“Nightmares,” I said. “I went through seven nightmares.”

Lucius paled. “Real nightmares?”

I nodded, but I guessed it would be a bad idea to tell him I saw his worst nightmare, and everyone around me’s worst nightmares. For one, Alasdair didn’t seem like the kind of person that would appreciate being pitied.

“Whose?” Alasdair asked sharply.

“I- I didn’t know,” I lied, averting my eyes. My gaze disobeyed me and flicked to him. His face showed no emotion. He looked away, towards the western horizon. I turned to face it as well, and saw the sun dipping down behind the mountains.

“How long was I out?” I said.

Lucius opened his mouth, but then there was a cry of delight and a bundle of busy brown hair was shooting towards me, obscuring my vision.

“You’re awake!” Hermione gushed. “Oh, we’ve been so worried!”

“Hermione!” I croaked. “I can’t breathe… let go!”

Hermione did, and when she pulled back, I saw her face was stained with tears. I glanced around, feeling dread fill me.

“How long was I in the Realm of Dreams?” I asked darkly.

Lucius set down the piece of stained glass with a sigh. “Seven days.”

“We were going to try to pull you out tonight if you hadn’t woken,” Hermione said. “We were really worried.”

“Is anyone else here?” I asked.

“Professor Dumbledore returned to the school four days ago,” Lucius said. “Draco went with him. But your brother arrived this morning. I don’t know where he is right now.”

“Ron?” I said eagerly. “Is he better?”

Hermione glanced at her feet. “No,” she said, her voice tight. “He’s actually gotten worse. He hasn’t woken up. Madame Pomfrey called for someone from St. Mungo’s yesterday. Bill’s the one who’s here.”

I clenched my jaw. “I want to see him.”

Lucius shook his head. “I’m afraid we have to move quickly to get to the next test site. We don’t have time to return to Hogwarts.”

Hermione laid her hand on my arm. “We’ll go see after the next test, okay? He’ll be okay.”

I nodded. “Where do we have to go?”

Lucius lifted the stained glass. “Israel.”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*


I trudged along dejectedly through fallen leaves and broken twigs behind Lucius and Alasdair. On my left, Bill walked with his hands in his pockets and on my other side, Hermione hugged herself tightly, with her eyes trailing on the ground. I glanced at her, and had a sudden flashback to my nightmare, of Harry walking along the Chamber, and then of his body dangling in the air like a puppet who’d been put away.

I shook myself sharply. “Stop it,” I muttered under my breath.

“Are you all right, firefly?” Bill asked softly. I glanced up, and forced a smile.

“Fine,” I lied. Bill furrowed his brow, the corners of his mouth drooping down in a frown, but said nothing more. My gaze fell back to the ground, and I shoved my hands into my pockets. I saw Harry in my mind’s eye, walking the same way and quickly withdrew them. I crossed my arms, and pulled my eyes from the ground to the sky, cut into sections by the bare, naked branches of the trees above me. The sky was gray, but I saw a glimmer of sunshine behind a cloud. A branch snapped beneath my feet. I reached up and brushed a strand of hair from my eyes. Ahead of me, Lucius stopped.

“Here,” he said, turning to face me. I stepped forward and Lucius pointed to a large oak tree just in front of him.

“What do I do?” I asked.

“We must tie you to the tree,” Lucius said, drawing his wand. I felt my heart constrict. I had a sudden, kaleidoscope of images, the stake and fire burning my body; the gravestone and Voldemort’s laughter. I shook myself with a jerk, and stepped up to the tree. I rested my back against it, lay back my head, and closed my eyes. I heard Lucius whisper an incantation, heard the ropes spring from his wand, and felt them bind me, tying tightly me to the wide oak.

“Are you ready?” Lucius asked.

“Don’t we have to wait for a certain time?” I asked quickly, opening my eyes.

“Well, yes, it is coming so, but it isn’t exact. It is the place more than the time. Rest your eyes, Weasley. Calm down. Are you ready?”

I sighed. “Might as well be.”

Lucius did not smile. “Get yourself ready.”

“Why do I have to be tied up?”

“So you stay still,” Lucius said. “If you move around too much, then your soul might have trouble finding your body when you finish the test.”

I felt the blood drain from my face. “You mean there’s a chance I won’t wake up?”

“Well, yes, but it’s a small one,” Lucius said. “Don’t worry.”

“Easy for you to say,” I grumbled.

“You can’t start the test until you calm down,” Lucius said, his tone conveying annoyance. “Relax, Weasley.”

“Fine, fine,” I mumbled. I laid my head back and closed my eyes again. My heart beat a fast tat-too in my ear. I focused on the sound until it slowed and I let out a deep breath.

“Very good,” Lucius said. “Everyone, back up. Wait for it…”

I half opened one eye. Lucius was the closest to me now, but he stood a good fifteen feet away. He was looking up into the sky with an expectant look on his face. I looked upwards and my eyes widened. The gray clouds directly above me had blackened. Then, lightning flashed in the distance, and thunder boomed.

“DON’T WORRY!” Lucius shouted above the thunder’s roar. “JUST RELAX!”

“YOU RELAX!” I yelled back, annoyed. I looked up at the storm clouds brewing above my head. I wasn’t worried about the thunder; I had never been scared of thunder. It was what came after the thunder that frightened me.

A bolt of lightning shot from the clouds. I winced. Thunder boomed once more. I saw a flash of light in the clouds, and then a second bolt of lightning came down. I watched it strike the ground five feet from me, and the people around me ran from it. Lucius turned tail and ran. Bill stepped into the clearing away from the trees, making himself as small as possible. Alasdair followed him, and Hermione waved her wand and conjured something out of thin air, a red sheet of something. She laid it on the ground and stood on it. I glanced at Bill and Alasdair, who were both yelling at me, but I couldn’t hear their words.

“GO!” I yelled. “I’LL BE FINE!”

Hermione shouted something I couldn’t hear, and two more sheets of red something landed on the ground at Bill’s feet. I couldn’t see why, but Alasdair grabbed one and stood on it. He grabbed Bill’s arm and tugged him onto the red sheet. I glanced over at Hermione. She waved a hand and yelled something. I looked up at the sky, as thunder boomed once more. Another bolt of lightning shot down, and I watched it strike the top of my tree. I felt the power run through the tree, felt it vibrate my bones, and I blacked out.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ *~*~*~*~*


“You did it last… a store… let me do it!”

“Romancer, shush, don’t say that here!”

“She’s unconscious, she can’t hear us.”

“You’d be surprised what Fireflies can do when they’re in danger.”

“But she’s not in danger-”

“Romancer, she just got struck by lightning. Of course she thinks she’s in danger!”

I heard the voices like through water. They were muffled and distorted, but I could tell one voice belonged to a woman and the other to a man.

“When will she wake?” the man

“I can’t be sure,” the woman’s voice. It sounded familiar. “Could be now, could be in another hour. The lightning stopped once it hit her tree, but her companions must be worried by now.”

“I still want to be the tester,” said the man.

“It’s my realm, Romancer,” said the woman. I guessed the man’s name was Romancer. Funny name that was. “I’ll do it.”

“Why do the tests get to be in your realms?” said the man, Romancer.

“Only two of the tests are in my realms, stupid.”

“Oi!”

“Quiet, the both of you!” another voice, a man’s again. “Honestly, you’re like a pair of squabbling children. Or an old married couple.”

“I wouldn’t mind that last synonym,” said Romancer in a low voice.

“Shut up,” said the woman.

“Its simile!” cried the second man, his voice sounding annoyed.

“Whatever, Bard.”

“Don’t call me ‘Bard.’”

“Now who’s the old married couple?” Romancer retorted. I heard a low growl.

“Don’t go there, Romancer,” said the woman’s voice.

“I will murder you,” said the second man. I stiffened.

“Please, I’m tired of your empty threats, Storyteller.”

I recognized the name. Storyteller, I had met someone called the Storyteller in my last test, yesterday.

“Put your money where your mouth is,” continued Romancer.

Storyteller said something else, but I could not understand what he said. Romancer made an indignant sound. I shifted a little, to hear them better.

“Quiet, the both of you!” the woman said. “She’s stirring.”

I felt something poke my cheek. I shied away from it.

“Yep, she’s awake,” said Storyteller.

“Okay, you two scram and I’ll test her,” Romancer said.

“It’s my realm!”

“SHUT IT!” I yelled. I opened my eyes to see four figures sitting Indian style on the ground beside me. The ceiling above was plain white, and as I looked around, I noticed that the rest of wherever I sat was just as unmarked and white. I sat up slowly, wincing as my back protested, and noticed that they were taller than me, even while sitting down. I recognized two of them, the woman on my left and the man sitting in front of me. As for the two on my right, I had no idea who they were. The man was fair haired, muscled, and had warm brown eyes and tan skin. The woman was white as the world around us, her skin, her dress, her hair, all but her lips and eyes. Her eyes were black pits with no whites and her lips were just as dark. I felt a shiver pass through me as she stared me down.

“The Dreamkeeper and the Storyteller,” I said. “Of course.”

“Didn’t I tell you that you would be seeing me again?” the Dreamkeeper said.

“No,” I said. “Who are they?”

“Storyteller got to meet her already?” the man on my right said. I recognized his voice, and guessed he was Romancer. “Not fair.”

“I guided her through her nightmare,” Storyteller said. “Did I forget to mention it to you?”

Romancer scowled.

“Stop it,” the Dreamkeeper said in annoyance. “Ginevra, this is the Romancer and the Punisher.”

Romancer inclined his head, the Punisher made no movement.

“Only one of us was supposed to be here when you woke,” the Dreamkeeper continued, “but Romancer got caught up in who would test you.”

“Okay,” I said. “Where am I?”

“The Realm of-” Romancer started.

Storyteller cut him off with: “Memories!”

“Ta-da!” they exclaimed together, spreading their arms and grinning.

I gave them an ‘I’m freaked out’ look. Romancer scowled. Storyteller smirked.

The Dreamkeeper cleared her throat. “Since you’re already awake, and we’re still here, we’ll just have to test you together.”

“No!” Romancer said, looking shocked. “Only one can test her!”

“Well, seeing as we can’t agree on who,” the Dreamkeeper said, shrugging, “we’ll just bend the rules.”

“You can’t bend the rules,” Storyteller said. “It has to be one of us.”

“Um, can you not start arguing again?” I asked. Romancer looked at me, startled.

“Arguing is part of a healthy relationship,” he said. “Are you suggesting we end the healthy part our relationship?”

“No, just don’t argue so much. At least not in front of me? Please?”

Romancer cocked his head. “I have a strange urge to do everything she wants me to do.”

“Remember, Romancer she’s a Fidelis Anima,” Storyteller said.

Romancer shrugged. “My fifteenth girlfriend was a Fidelis Anima. Didn’t mean she couldn’t have fun.” He gave me a coy smile and winked.

I scooted away from him. Storyteller laughed loudly.

“Romancer,” the Dreamkeeper said, annoyed. “Quit trying to seduce her.”

He raised his hands up in surrender. “I’m sorry, I can’t help but be attracted to Fire- I- I mean redheads,” he said, stammering at the end as the Dreamkeeper gave him a warning look. I raised an eyebrow. He smiled apologetically at her.

“Sorry, Ginevra,” the Dreamkeeper said. “He’s crazy. I always said he should be locked away in Insanity’s Domain, but the Healers said he isn’t crazy enough.”

I nodded and pretended I understood. The Dreamkeeper sighed and shook her head.

“Anyway, either the rest of you leave or test her with me,” she said.

“You leave!” Romancer said.

“It’s my realm,” the Dreamkeeper said. I raised an eyebrow. “I’m the lord of the Realm of Memories,” she explained.

“If we are can’t pick someone, we should give the job to someone who doesn’t want it,” Storyteller said.

“Me!” Romancer said quickly, throwing his arm in the air as if he was asking a question or answering one. “I don’t want it!”

Storyteller closed his eyes a moment and whispered under his breath a moment. Romancer slowly put his arm down.

“Someone who really doesn’t want the job,” Storyteller said.

“No,” the Dreamkeeper said suddenly, “don’t do that to the poor girl.”

“Yes!” Storyteller said insistently. “We’re testing her, right? That would test her even further than if you or I did it.”

“Let me do it, please, Dreamy?” Romancer said, clasping his hands and sticking out his bottom lip. “I can make her uncomfortable!”

“While I don’t doubt your ability to scare a girl,” the Dreamkeeper sighed, “we’re not testing her right now; we’re testing her match, who just happens to be in the Waiting Realm. So shut up you two.”

Romancer scowled. Storyteller frowned.

“Make a choice, all of us, or me,” the Dreamkeeper said. “I’m testing her, and you may stay if you want, or you can go, whatever.”

The Punisher shrugged, and I blinked, and she was gone. I felt better immediately.

“So the second test is more of a formality,” the Dreamkeeper said. “We tested your worth in the first test; here we’re testing your match’s worth.”

“How do we do that?” asked Romancer.

“Well, Romancer, we’re going to have a movie night,” the Dreamkeeper said. I heard the suppressed snarl in her voice.

“Movie night?” I said, confused.

“Moving picture,” Romancer said. “With words and music and sometimes nudity.”

I blinked and stepped back from him. He scowled and Storyteller laughed. The Dreamkeeper gave the two of them ‘Shut up’ looks.

“So we’re going to review his life in pictures to determine if he’s worthy of being rescued,” the Dreamkeeper continued. “Any questions?”

Silence for a moment. Romancer nudged Storyteller with his elbow. Storyteller winced and glared at him. Romancer raised his eyebrows. Storyteller made an ‘Oh!’ face, and raised his hand.

“Yes, Storyteller?” the Dreamkeeper said through gritted teeth. She was definitely hiding a glare.

“We’re going to watch his whole life? All sixteen years?” he asked.

“No, just the highlights.”

I raised my hand. The Dreamkeeper turned to me with raised eyebrows.

“Are the questions they’re asking legitimate questions or are they pre-determined lines?”

Storyteller nudged Romancer in the ribs with his elbow. Romancer winced. The Dreamkeeper did not answer.

“So, if that’s all, we’ll start with Harry as a baby, on Halloween night, 1981.”

The Dreamkeeper waved a hand and several large pillows dropped onto the ground. The Dreamkeeper sat down on one Indian style; Romancer and Storyteller each grabbed pillows and sat beside her, Storyteller leaning back on his hands and Romancer lying on his stomach. I snagged a pillow and sank onto it slowly. I pulled my knees up to my chest and locked my arms around them. I glanced at the Dreamkeeper. She gave me a brief smile and pointed ahead of us. I looked, and found myself looked at a wide grayish white screen, suspended in mid air. Static appeared on it, and then I saw what looked like puffs of colored smoke. I heard flashes of laughter, saw a red hair woman, and then there was screaming. The image on the screen changed abruptly, moving from wall to window to door and finally to a crib. The red haired woman was pleading with a cloaked figure, she was screaming, ‘Please, show mercy, mercy!’ and then there was a flash of green light, and then gold light and the screen showed static again.

I blinked.

The Dreamkeeper sighed. “Seeing as he was a baby, he doesn’t remember much, and we have to see everything through his eyes. That was the night he received his scar, the night his parents died, the night he defeated Lord Voldemort by accident-”

“We get it, Dreamy,” Romancer interrupted. Her cheeks turned palest pink.

“Fine, moving on. The next highlight is from three years later. Again, he’s young, he doesn’t remember much.” The static on the screen faded, and I saw through four year old Harry’s eyes.

I saw a large, purple face, and I surged backward. The man’s mouth was moving furiously beneath his bushy mustache and the image was blurred slightly at the bottom.

“Where’s the audio?” Storyteller said in a loud whisper.

“Shush!” Romancer said.

“I can’t remember anything he heard that night,” the Dreamkeeper said. “Now shut up.”

The large face backed away, and I saw the rest of the man, a very fat man, standing in a kitchen. There was black smoke issuing from a pot on a nearby stove. The man grabbed something from the counter, and swung it hard against the side of the screen. The image shifted, and I saw the man’s shoes. Then, the screen blacked out, and static returned.

“He can’t remember anything else past that,” the Dreamkeeper said sadly. “He was unconscious after the first blow.”

“Wait,” I said, before the Dreamkeeper could move onto the next highlight, “who was that?”

“Harry’s uncle,” the Dreamkeeper said.

“Vernon?” I said. “Vernon beats Harry?”

“Beat,” Storyteller corrected. “Past tense.”

I gave him a dirty look. “Shut up.”

“Calm down,” the Dreamkeeper said, holding her hands up between us. “Storyteller’s right, Vernon stopped beating him after Harry starting attending Hogwarts. So it is past tense.”

I looked down at my feet, embarrassed. The Dreamkeeper patted my shoulder.

“I had no idea,” I whispered.

“You didn’t know?” Romancer said, frowning. “I though Fidelis Animas confided everything in each other?”

“We didn’t really know we were our only soul matches,” I mumbled. “I only found out about a week ago.”

Romancer raised an eyebrow. “And you’re going through all this to bring him back?”

I gave him a dirty look. “Forget it, okay? It’s complicated.”

Romancer and Storyteller shared a look. The Dreamkeeper patted my shoulder again. I rested my chin on my knees.

“Go on,” I said softly. “Next highlight.”

The Dreamkeeper waved a hand. “He’s older now and remembers more. He’s nine years old, and this time it isn’t his uncle.”

The static on the screen vanished. The image on the screen was shaking; like Harry was running- I guessed that his eyes were the ‘cameras’- away from someone. He kept glancing over his shoulder, and whenever he did, I caught a glimpse of a group of boys, much bigger than him, all chasing him and shouting insults. I heard Harry’s panting as he ducked around a corner, and caught sight of a group of garbage bins against a wall. I saw the view surge upward, black out a second, and then I saw blue sky and red roof shingles. The view shifted, and we were looking down at the group of boys, who were staring up at Harry with shock on their faces.

“His largest burst of accidental magic,” the Dreamkeeper said. “He Apparated to that rooftop, without meaning to or even knowing what he was doing. Your Ministry of Buffoons labeled it as a glitch, so to speak, in their instruments. It registered as a nine year old Apparating, but they didn’t believe it. They scrapped the machine that caught it.”

“Harry Apparated at nine?” I said. I felt awed. At nine, I was still imagining sparks and chasing butterflies. The most powerful thing I had ever done was set Fred and George’s room on fire after they ripped up my fairy tale book.

“Without realizing it,” the Dreamkeeper said as the screen showed Harry looking down at the ground, at the boys pointing up to the rooftop and an adult looking up at him in shock. “Those boys terrorized him as a child. It wasn’t the only time he had to run from them. When they did catch him, they used him for a punching bag. His cousin Dudley led every game of Harry Hunting.”

I pressed my fingers to my mouth to prevent a string of swear words from exploding from me, as anger filled me.

“I can’t believe Dumbledore made Harry stay with those monsters!” I burst out. The Dreamkeeper shrugged.

“I don’t think Dumbledore realized Harry was being so violently mistreated,” she said. I frowned.

“Wasn’t he paying any attention to Harry?”

The Dreamkeeper nodded slowly. “But only from afar. He couldn’t step in lest the Dursleys decide they weren’t willing to shelter Harry anymore. He knew, I think, that Harry was unhappy, and I think he tried to do something about it. For a few months when he was six, Harry’s aunt received letters from Dumbledore, asking her to treat Harry better. Petunia eventually stopped opening his letters, and that was that.”

“Why didn’t he go to them?” I asked. “Why didn’t he go do something?”

“He couldn’t,” the Dreamkeeper said. “He made a promise to keep Harry out of the magical world until he turned eleven, so he couldn’t go to him. If he did, it would be a dead give-away.”

I shot her a look.

“Sorry,” she muttered. “Anyway,” she continued, “next highlight, he’s almost eleven. Another large burst of accidental magic.”

The screen showed static a moment, and then, I was looking into a glass enclosure, right into the eyes of a great big snake.
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