Darkness

Chapter One-Forward To Time Past

Darkness.

The dark sky stretched endlessly, like a black vale shrouding the Earth. Neither sound nor light penetrated this blackness. Only one soul sat alone in this area of near emptiness, and he might as well have been merely a shadow himself.

Harry dragged his weak and defenseless body up the steps of the place he used to call home. So much had changed since he had been gone, and now there were so many questions to have answered.

"Wow… How much have I missed?"

He had stumbled up the stairs of the entrance hall to find Severus Snape laughing at something. That in itself was unusual. However a few more painstaking steps later, Harry found out what his old potions master found so funny.

Two Slytherins were beating down a Gryffindor student that seemed as helpless as he had been so many years ago. Voldemort was still out and about, and he had to get to Dumbledore before some of his newer followers did. Harry's fifth year had been the last he had had the pleasure of spending at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The real difference was when he saw Hermione and Ron dressed in finer robes. They had become professors at the school, and apparently had given up the search for him a while back. Hell, what was to stop them? They surely had gotten married and such while he had been fending for his own all this time… How could they give up their happiness just to find the lost soul that had and always would be Harry James Potter?

The first thing Harry did when he saw the grand staircase was frown. They were kissing at the top of it. Harry had seen a swish of midnight blue robes enter the first floor corridor, and that was where Dumbledore was headed. How long had it been since he had seen his old mentor? Thirty years? Damn… He had grown older and obviously more childish. The man was wise, cunning, skillful, but otherwise he fit the characteristics of a seven year old. Albus was obsessed with muggle candy, and he had many different silver instruments in his office on spindly tables… Clearly he had been headed down to see his deputy before turning in. That would have been a great thing to do, but Harry felt that if he dare climb one more set of steps, his feet would forget their meaning and he would go crashing down to the ground.

Albus had indeed been going to see his deputy. Minerva McGonagall sat pouring over fourth years' homework essays from the previous day. She didn't even hear the soft knock on the thick mahogany door that isolated her from the rest of Hogwarts' daily life.

"Minerva?"

"Albus, come in…"

"What troubles you, my dear?"

"Nothing out of the ordinary. I just hope these fourth years hurry and realize that time is not eternal. I mean look at these."

She handed him the stack of papers. He quickly glanced at each one and grinned

"You know, these remind me of the essays you'd frequently get from Ronald Weasley, Hermione Grainger, and Ha-"

He stopped at the sudden look of grief on her face.

"It's not your fault he disappeared those years ago, Minerva."

"Yes, but I fear it had something to do with all of us, Albus…"

"What do you mean all of us?"

"I think that he had to go far from here due to the pressure we all gave him in his fifth year. That probably had something to do with his disappearance… Don't you think so?"

"I really don't know… The only people who might are Ronald and Hermione. They should know… "

"It is quite clear that they have had no contact with him since the summer of their fifth year as well. They probably know no more than we do. I haven't given up, though. Not a day goes by that I don't think about it."

Albus was deep in thought now. It was true that if anything had come up, Hermione or Ron would have told them. Or at least that's what they thought.

Harry had meanwhile climbed up the old stairs to the first floor without falling and or fracturing some bone he never knew he had. No one had noticed him enter the hall or leaving it. Ron hadn't noticed him on the grand staircase, Hermione hadn't either. This worried him. Had he been gone for so long that people had forgotten his existence? Had they forgotten everything he had done? Oh well, no time for that now. He had to get to that office and tell them. He had to tell them then and what, why, where, and when the tragedy that could overtake Hogwarts would happen. The mahogany door was the only thing blocking him from telling them. That was it. How could he get in there? Exhaustion threatened to overtake him as he wrapped on the door. Oh how it hurt just to knock… What had he been thinking when he set off to face Boldemort alone knowing that he would need backup?

The occupants of the office head the knock, and Minerva had gotten up to answer it when there was a loud knock on wood. Something had hit the door rather hard, and Minerva and Albus weren't prepared for what they would find on the other side.

"Oh god! Albus, firecall Poppy. I think we've found the subject of our attention."

"Very well. Is he alive?"

"Of course. He won't be for long. Hurry!"

Albus rushed off and called Poppy, the school nurse, She came through the fireplace as soon as she heard about the little discovery.

"What happened? Is this how you found him? When did it happen?"

She examined him and quickly whisked him off on a stretcher to the hospital wing. Once there, She began running diagnostics on him. They came to find out that he had been through a series of patterns of abuse. Rape, beatings, stranglings, and the worst part… Suicide attempts during the past ten years alone.

"How long has he been missing? Thirty years, is it? There's no telling what he went through during that amount of time. Did He Who Must Not Be Named have anything to do with this?"

Albus and Minerva stared. Would he do such a thing to an enemy for about thirty years? They had asked themselves a very stupid question. Of course he would. There was no doubt in Minerva's mind that Tom Marvolo Riddle had an assload to do with it. And yet there she stood… helpless and alone. Asbus had gone to alert the order that Harry had been found and was being treated, but what else would he tell them? Surely he wasn't hoping Harry would wake and tell him everything like he used to when he was a wee little lad. How could Albus be so blind?

"Poppy, when do you think Harry will wake? There's many things we need to know in such a short amount of time."