Order of the Phoenix
Behind Closed Doors
By Ruskbyte
Chapter Twenty Seven
~ Behind Closed Doors ~
Ron was engaged in a fierce argument with Fred and George when Professor Dumbledore arrived at the Burrow. It had been three days since the end of school and the disturbing incidents that had played
out at what was once number four Privet Drive.
The crux of Ron's argument revolved around Harry, who was now residing in Ron's bed while Ron doubled up in Percy's room. Since returning to his human form, after having vaporised the Dursleys' house, Harry had been in a shock-induced coma.
After an initial assessment by Madam Pomfrey at the Auror headquarters in the Ministry, Harry had been brought to the Burrow at Arthur and Molly Weasley's insistence. The idea was that being in familiar surroundings and the company of people he considered friends and family would speed Harry's recovery.
At least that's the working assumption.
Fred and George, however, were pushing for having Harry transferred to their room instead of Ron's. They argued that the vibrant (glaring, actually) orange that suffused Ron's room would have a detrimental effect on Harry's condition.
Ron's counterargument was that Harry was in a coma and could care less about the colour of the room he was staying in, as his eyes were shut.
The twins responded with the belief that upon waking Harry would take one look at the bright orange walls surrounding him and promptly go back to sleep.
"Honestly! How can you two be so flippant at a time like this?" exclaimed Hermione as they joined the adults at the dining table. She had Flooed to the Burrow only minutes after receiving Ron's letter about Harry's condition. Ron had been pleased to hear that she had told her parents, in no uncertain terms, that she would remain at the Burrow until Harry recovered.
Both boys' smiles dimmed a fraction before George answered in all seriousness, "We have to do something. If we just sat around twiddling our thumbs and worrying; we'd go crazy."
Ron looked at them and smirked. "Too late."
"It is important to try keep in good spirits during times like these," observed Dumbledore, sipping the tea Molly had drawn for him.
"Hopefully Harry will be up and about in a few days," said Bill, trying to be positive about the situation. He smiled and reached for a biscuit. "If he can survive You-Know-Who I don't think a crazy Muggle with a gam would be that much of a challenge."
"Gun, not gam," corrected Hermione, absently, accepting a cup of tea from Molly as the four teenagers took their seats at the table.
Ron felt proud of his success in stopping himself from rolling his eyes. That's my Mione; worried about our grammar or whatnot, even at a time like this.
Charlie, who had just finished a biscuit, turned to Dumbledore. He managed to open his mouth to speak, but did not manage to get a word out as the back door swung open. Everyone turned to look as Ginny slunk back into the house from the garden.
The youngest Weasley, and the only girl, had a terse expression on her face as she walked through the kitchen. Her hair fell to her shoulders in an uncombed tangle and her clothes were wrinkled from having been slept in.
"Ginny, why are you still wearing yesterday's clothes?" asked Molly Weasley, her eyebrows arched up in a faint scowl of disapproval.
"I forgot to change," replied Ginny, passing from the kitchen and into the dining room without breaking stride. Her voice had a sullen and tired ring to it, devoid of the life and energy that normally bubbled within her.
Without another word, she exited the room and trekked up the stairs, clearly heading to Ron's room and Harry. She had hardly left his side since the incident at Privet Drive, and it had even reached the point where Hermione, who had spent the last two nights at the Burrow, had yet to sleep in Ginny's room with Ginny actually present.
She really does love him, Ron thought as he glanced at Hermione to share a worried look, both for Harry and his sister.
No wonder she seems so distracted.
***
Ginny stood in the doorway to Ron's room, currently occupied by Harry, and wondered just when she had lost hold of her sanity.
Ron's room was as it had always been, every surface covered in violent orange posters and pennants. The Chudley Cannons, ninth in the league, zoomed here and there in their equally bright orange robes.
"Hello, Hedwig," she greeted as she stepped into the room. The snowy owl had arrived at Privet Drive shortly after its destruction and had been redirected by Ron to the Burrow. Now she sat perched on the headboard of Ron's bed, maintaining a silent vigil over Harry.
Hedwig hooted softly and turned her amber eyes to Ginny as the girl closed and locked the door. The owl's eyes seemed almost mournful as she watched Ginny walk up to the bed. After permitting a quick ruffling of her feathers, Hedwig turned her sombre gaze back to Harry.
Ginny looked down at the boy she loved and reached out a hand to lightly stroke his cheek. It had been three days and he had yet to wake or move. Madam Pomfrey was staunch in her assertion that Harry would be coming to in a matter of days, but Ginny had reason to doubt.
Several, highly convincing reasons actually.
He looks so pale, she thought as she gently sat down beside him, running a hand through his unruly hair. Harry's body was completely free of any injury, even Madam Pomfrey could not find anything wrong with him, but the magic used to accomplish this had been highly unstable.
Shaking herself free of her musings, Ginny stood and double checked the intricate Locking Spell she had cast on the door. For what she was planning, Ginny did not want to be interrupted. If anyone did happen upon her during this crazy venture she was certain she would die of embarrassment.
"Explain to me again why I have to do this naked?" she asked in a whisper. Even as she spoke, she began unbuttoning her blouse.
Receiving no reply, although she could have sworn she heard a snicker, Ginny pulled off her blouse and folded it neatly. Placing the clothing on Ron's dresser she then removed her skirt and folded it as well before placing it next to her discarded shirt.
Feeling oddly reluctant, even if Harry was blissfully unaware of her presence, Ginny pulled back the orange bed sheets. Chewing nervously on her bottom lip she proceeded to divest her boyfriend of his rumpled pyjamas. Removing her underwear, the last of her clothes, she hopped into the bed next to Harry and pulled the covers back up.
It was truly remarkable, a piece of her mind noted, how uncomfortable she was with all this. After their dinner at the Ragnarok, and on several occasions since then, she and Harry had engaged in relatively intimate explorations of each other's bodies.
Of course, Harry had been willing, not to mention awake, during those encounters. Now it felt almost like a violation of his trust in her, doing something like this without his consent or awareness.
Besides which, her parents, brothers and Professor Dumbledore were downstairs.
"I must be out of my mind," she muttered as she pressed against Harry, resting her head on the slope of his bare chest.
*Don't worry,* assured a voice, *Soon you'll be in a new one.*
***
Ginny blinked.
This is not what I was expecting.
Ginny blinked again.
Harry sure as heck never mentioned anything like this.
Ginny blinked yet again.
Nor for that matter did any of the voices.
*Well you can't blame us for having a little fun now, can you?*
Startled Ginny spun around, coming face to face with a young man standing only a few feet away from her. She narrowed her eyes as she looked him over with a cautious and appraising gaze. He was fairly tall, about the same as Harry was, and same slender, yet toned, physique. His light brown hair fell to just above his shoulders and his cobalt coloured eyes sparkled merrily.
With a sudden bout of apprehension Ginny glanced down and was relieved to discover that while she had stripped naked in Ron's room, here she was fortunately enough not naked. The blue skirt and green blouse she had been wearing in the real world had somehow managed to find their way back onto her body her in this realm of thought and mind.
"Do I know you?" she asked after a moment. "You look familiar but I can't..."
*My name, dear girl," he said, his lips twisting into an amused smile, *is Merlin.*
Ginny found herself unable to do anything save blink. Her mouth opened and closed several times before she managed to stutter, "You don't... I mean... you look..."
Merlin shrugged amiably, *Unfortunately the magical community tends to only publish pictures or paintings of me as I appeared during my second century of life. Here, in the Grand Hall of the Phoenix, I can appear however I wish.*
Reaching out his hand, Merlin led her further into her magnificent surroundings. The Grand Hall was beyond anything Harry had described to her. The walls shimmered and glowed in vibrant reds and gold, with soft white light surrounding everything. Columns of undulating energy stretched up from the white marble floor to the distant ceiling, which was lost in a haze.
"When are we going to get Harry back?" Ginny asked, forcing her attention away from the splendour of the hall. All this was undeniably impressive, but Ginny's only concern was for Harry, not metaphysical architecture.
*Impatient, aren't we?* asked Merlin with a benevolent smile that reminded her of Dumbledore.
Ginny scowled and shook her head. "I have priorities, and Harry's top of the list. Everything else is unimportant."
A voice spoke up from one side of them, *Even then, there's no reason for you to rush so. Time is highly subjective here. You could spend a month with us, within these halls, and scarcely an hour would pass in the waking world.*
"Who the blazes are you?" Ginny turned to face the newcomer. It was another man, also young in appearance. His long black hair was drawn into a ponytail and his dark complexion was matched by the deep burgundy and gold robes he was wearing.
*I am Quetzalcoatl,* he replied, indicating to one side as he spoke. *And these are the other members of the Order. Or at least, the other active members.*
Somewhere between a dozen or two people seemed to emerge from the sides of the seemingly endless hall, a mixture of men and women from widely varied cultures. Ginny only recognised one of them, a man she knew to be Alexander the Great, one of the few famous wizards that was also know to the Muggles.
"What do you mean active?" she asked, watching the others curiously.
*We are not real people,* explained one woman, whose dusky skin tone, black hair and accent led Ginny to recognise her as Isis, one of the voices she had heard before. Isis walked over to where Ginny, Merlin and Quetzalcoatl were standing. *We are simply echoes of past holders of the Order's power, echoes that will eventually fade away.*
A short, wiry man with a horned helmet and gold beard stepped forward. *Of course not all of us held the Order. Some of us are merely 'echoes' of people that were frequently in the company of those that did. Eventually your brother Ron, and that know-it-all Hermione, will leave their own echoes here, along with Harry's and your own.*
*Thank you for stating the blindingly obvious yet again, Loki,* drawled an exceptionally tall and muscular man.
*My pleasure, Heracles,* replied Loki, executing a mocking bow as he spoke.
A young blonde haired woman dressed in a chain mail suit of armour sighed. *'E was being sarcastic, you Nordic oaf. 'Onestly.*
Ginny turned to Merlin with raised eyebrows. "You people are weird."
*No, we're just eccentric,* replied an Egyptian man standing beside Isis.
"Fine. You're eccentric then."
Loki seemed proud of this and declared in a loud and boisterous voice, *Of course we are! We're dead! What's your excuse?*
Ginny rolled her eyes, wondering how Harry had managed to retain his sanity with such a bunch of... interesting individuals constantly bothering him. She arched an eyebrow at the diminutive Norseman and told him, "I am not eccentric.*
*That's a matter of opinion, Gin.*
"Harry?" Ginny turned on her heel so rapidly she lost her balance and almost fell flat on her face. Strong arms reached out just in time to catch her and hold her steady. With surprise emblazoned on her face, Ginny looked up at the smirking face of Harry Potter.
For a moment she simply stood there in his tender grasp, wondering if this task she had spent the past three days readying herself for had truly been this easy. Frowning in confusion Ginny looked over her shoulder as Harry released her and looked quizzically at Merlin. "Wait a minute, I thought you said Harry was missing!"
*He is!* asserted Merlin, as if Harry wasn't standing right in front of her.
*I am!* agreed Harry, thoroughly confusing the poor girl.
Ginny shook her head in an attempt to clear her thoughts. Unsuccessful in this, she rubbed her fingers against the bridge of her nose, feeling that the explanation she was about to hear would no doubt bring about the onset of a headache. Taking a deep breath she rounded on Merlin, who was grinning broadly and stated directly. "Explain. Now."
Merlin's grin broadened and he chuckled before answering, *This is Harry, however he is not the Harry you need to find.*
A tall and slender Asian man, with a carefully cultivated moustache and goatee nodded his agreement with Merlin's words. *Harry has been merged with the Order for nearly a year now. His mind has begun to insinuate itself into the Order's being, just as ours once did. Just as yours is doing so, now that you are fully with us.*
"So..." Ginny turned back to an abashed-looking Harry. "You're not real?"
*Of course I'm real. I'm here aren't I? Even if I am only an imprint,* responded Harry with a small amount of playful indignation. After a moment of playing it up he abruptly turned serious and waved his humour aside. *Still, that's all neither here nor there. Then again... neither am I right now.*
The elegantly robed Asian folded his hands, *So... you begin to see our problem, hmm?*
Ginny looked closely at Harry's duplicate. "But Harry's still alive. So how can you be here?"
*Normally Harry's presence would drown me out,* explained the shade. *Since I am technically a part of Harry, if he were conscious I would not exist.*
*Unfortunately Harry is lost to us,* admitted Osiris. *His body still lives, but his mind is on the cusp of death. He is imprisoned within himself and unless you can free him...*
She shook her head in frustration. "I don't understand. I know that his uncle shot him and he was badly hurt and his Animagus transformation must have been a strain, but what's the problem? Why is he in so much danger?"
It was a pair of identical twins that answered. They were dressed in crude-looking togas, one lined with red and the other with blue. First to speak was the red twin. *As you just said, the Animagus transformation was a great strain on Harry. Not just his body but his mind.*
*You see,* continued the blue twin, *Harry is an Imperial Arch Griffin. Such creatures were rare even before they became extinct, millennia ago. The sheer size, not to mention its magical nature, was causing an obstruction within Harry.*
"Are you saying Harry is brain damaged?" asked Ginny, silently terrified. Madam Pomfrey's examination had given Harry a clear bill of health, but if anyone truly knew Harry's condition it was the Order of the Phoenix.
*No. What Romulus is saying,* picked up Remus, *is that when Harry transformed he was unable to effect any control over the process.*
A diminutive, but pretty-looking Asian girl nodded in agreement. *The part of Harry that equates to his Animagus form, with beast within him, took over. That is why Harry has been unable to awaken - the animal side of his mind is in control.*
Heracles harrumphed and looked from Ginny to the kimono-clad girl and back. *What Miko is trying to get across is that all that is left of Harry right now is pure instinct. To fight, flee and... er... um... ahem.*
*Chase the wenches!* finished Loki succinctly.
*Precisely,* agreed the Greek demigod, looking both relieved that he did not have to finish the sentence himself, and annoyed at the Norseman’s bluntness.
Ginny turned to Merlin. Even though he was not the oldest of those assembled, she felt a kinship with him that reminded her greatly of Professor Dumbledore. "But why haven't you helped him?"
Merlin sighed and indicated a distant door that she had not noticed before. *Can you imagine having to constantly share your mind, your existence, with a multitude of other people. People who are not even truly alive? It would drive you insane.*
"So... you can't enter Harry's mind," said Ginny as the realization dawned upon her. She looked at the door and noticed that, despite its out-of-place plainness compared to the rest of the Grand Hall, it was somehow separate from everything surrounding it. Somehow she understood the symbolism of it.
A door that led the way into Harry's mind.
*We can enter Harry's mind,* corrected Alexander, *but only when Harry grants us entrance. Since he is otherwise... occupied... we are unable to help him. You on the other hand...*
"You want me to go into Harry's mind and rescue him?" Ginny asked, managing to sound incredulous even though she had seen this coming.
The assorted members of the Order, men and women, exchanged unreadable glances and then turned en-mass to face her and chorused, *Surprise?*
Ginny arched an eyebrow imperiously. "I don't like surprises."
*Don't worry, there won't be any more,* assured Remus, grinning broadly and motioning Ginny towards the door.
"In my experience, there always are," Ginny replied in a wry tone of voice. Without so much as a blink she gripped the doorknob and swung the door wide open, stepping quickly across the threshold. There was a white moment of timeless nothing, and then Ginny found herself stumbling forward onto solid ground.
With a surprised expression on her face Ginny looked around her, feeling her eyes widening as she took in the view. Standing upon a slightly elevated grassy bluff Ginny slowly turned in a circle and gaped at her surroundings. She had never expected that Harry's mind would prove so... so... wondrous.
"So, what happens now?"
*Damned if I know,* she could sense Merlin's shrug, *We're making this up as we go along.*
TBC...