CHAPTER SEVEN:

BLACK HOLES AND REVELATIONS

Much to Harry's surprise and annoyance, he woke up in his dorm room. The surprise was because he had fallen asleep and not even known it. The annoyance was because despite his protests to Madam Promfrey, he obviously did need more rest.

Another thing that irked him a LOT was because he had drifted off in the Room of Requirement and somebody had seen fit to bring him back to Gryffindor Tower. How infuriating. He pushed himself up off his bed, cursing under his breath because his leg twinged something fierce as he turned around. Abruptly he realised that he was not in his dormitory after all.

It only looked like the Gryffindor dorm room. Harry, having fallen asleep on a couch, woke up on a four-poster bed that merely resembled one from the Gryffindor house.

Evidently, the room had changed after he had fallen asleep on the couch. And Harry, not planning on having visitors, much less falling asleep, had been subject to someone else requiring the room during his nap.

Slowly he slid off the bed, grabbed his cane, and tried to slink out of the room without disturbing its other, most recent occupant. Whomever it might be, he didn't want to be noticed by them.

He could hear someone saying something somewhere in the room, but couldn't quite make it out until he heard the words "the green flash" said aloud quite distinctly.

Harry whirled around as fast as he could, leaning heavily on his cane. It sounded like the person might have been talking to him..

"Hello?" he inquired softly. Nobody answered him, but the intermittent speaking continued.

Slowly he crept back into the room, cane tapping the floor with his steps.

"Is anyone there?" inquired Harry.

He stepped around a corner of wall and saw the mysterious person. It was Shantiel Biggs. She was sitting propped on her knees in a window seat, her face turned to look out the glass. She appeared to be in some sort of trance, lost in reverie, and didn't even pay Harry the slightest amount of attention as he came nearer to her.

He watched and listened very carefully; following the green flash comment, Shantiel also was saying things incoherently such as "Mummy and Daddy," "I love you," and "goodbye," Harry felt like he was intruding on her in this state yet he couldn't bring himself to walk away.

Suddenly, Shantiel became very agitated and started calling out things in her little-girl voice, "LIZZY!", "black-robed bad people" and "NO! You KILLED her!" among them.

So entranced was he with this, it intermixed with his own feelings...Harry knew that same type of inner turmoil. It was apparent to him that he was witnessing Shantiel having a flashback, so she too had watched someone be murdered as he had, that was the only explanation... Green flashes, Death Eaters in black robes, killing someone...Shantiel had said it...

"I KILLED HER!" the girl suddenly screamed and spun around, "it was me, I know it!"

She was so caught up in her memory, she'd stumbled straight into Harry, knocking his cane aside. Though Harry was a bit unbalanced himself, he reached out instinctively to stop her falling, but she was so out of it she started pummelling her fists against his chest.

"NO!" she screamed, "let me GO!"

Harry stared at her wide-eyed as she threw her tantrum. For lack of something else to say to her, he simply intoned, " I'm not going to hurt you, you can trust me." As he spoke, all the fight seemed to go out of Shantiel and she sagged against him, apparently so overwhelmed with emotion she could no longer hold herself up.

She sobbed into his shoulder, for how long Harry knew not. But he stood there, despite his own mixed feelings, pushing them aside to try and help...somebody who needed it most...always helping...

Gradually, Shantiel's body, so wracked with painful sobs, was quelled with his reassurance.

Then she looked up into his face, and her eyes widened again in shock. "I'm so sorry," she whispered, "I didn't mean to, I didn't know…" as if she was horrified it was Harry she had intruded on.

"It's okay," he replied, "I understand, really." But then she pushed off his chest and out of his arms, backing away from him.

"No, you don't understand...you can't...I'm sorry," she choked, "I'm so sorry…"

Some semblance of manners still remained in her...she dazedly picked up his cane, handed it to him, said, "Thank you", then turned around and flew out the door.

Harry wondered just what it was that he had witnessed Shantiel remembering. This night proved that he and the girl were more alike than perhaps even Hermione and Ginny knew. One thing was certain; it was only right that he try and get to the bottom of it. He'd been a prat to Shantiel long enough.

He left the room in search of the blonde girl.

" Madam Adonna! Madam Adonna!" Shantiel pounded on the Healer's office door in the hospital wing. Her emotions were in such a jumble she didn't hardly know what to do. All she knew was that she needed help. "Madam Adonna!"

"I'm coming! My goodness, what is all the—Shantiel!" she was shocked that the normally shy and timid girl was practically in the process of beating her door down. "Whatever is the matter?"

"Everything!" the Healer had to pull Shantiel into the room and close the door. She was really spilling her guts out.

"I had a nightmare in the middle of the day, I was thinking of my parents, hoping they would be proud of me. You know? Proud that I caught the Snitch for the game. But the nightmare was about my OTHER parents, the ones that the Biggs have told me don't really exist, but I think they're lying to me! I hate saying that, but I swear it must be true! I think the Biggs have been lying to me this whole time about their being my real parents, and I also think they're lying that I ever had a fever. But what makes it worse is that Harry Potter saw me having this daymare! Madam Adonna, Harry hates me, I know he does! This is all so awful, I don't know what to do or what to think anymore! And on top of it all, I still think I killed Lizzy!"

Shantiel was sobbing with wild abandon, crying so hard into her hands that she nearly fell to the floor. Madam Adonna guided her to a chair so the girl could bring herself under control. However long that might be.

As Shantiel cried, Madam Adonna began formulating a plan of action. Dumbledore had wanted to know if there was any "breakthroughs" with Shantiel and what they might mean. Clearly, Shantiel was in no state to properly describe her "daymare", as she had called it. That meant the next best thing was to find Harry Potter and ask about what he had witnessed.

"Shantiel? Can you tell me where all of this happened? Where did you leave Harry Potter?"

"The...the...Room of Requirement."

"Okay, thank you." The Healer removed a small bottle with a stopper from one of the drawers in her desk. "Hold still. This won't hurt at all."

Madam Adonna took her wand tip and held it to Shantiel's head, pulling out what looked like a silvery-grey strand of something. On one of its ends, it looked darkened, but the rest of it gave off an ethereal glow. Adonna carefully let the strand slide into the bottle and put the stopper in the top.

"What—what was that?" asked Shantiel through her tears.

"That is the memory that is currently vexing you the most right now."

"What do we do now?"

"We need to find Harry Potter and the Headmaster."

"Why Harry Potter?" Shantiel was starting to panic.

"Don't worry, Shantiel, it's just to ask him what he heard and saw. You're not in trouble or anything. Just wait here, and I'll help you work out everything, all right?" Madam Adonna smiled warmly and projected a powerful aura of serenity. Shantiel couldn't help but feel a bit calmer.

"So you'll be back, then?"

"Yes, just as soon as I can., or I'll send someone to get you."

"Headmaster, you wished to know if anything was happening with Shantiel Biggs."

"Indeed, Madam Adonna. What seems to be the matter?"

"Well, she seems to remember and be having flashbacks from her past. Memories that were suppressed for whatever reasons and now..they are being set free. The girl came to my office, utterly hysterical. She's there recovering right now, in fact. Shantiel had a most violent waking nightmare—which I believe is a flashback—just a few minutes ago. She says she thinks the Biggs are lying to her that they are her real parents."

The elder gentleman and the Healer shared a knowing look.

"It seems as if Hogwarts has stirred these things within her," answered Dumbledore. "Were there any witnesses to this, ah, flashback?"

"Yes, sir. Shantiel said Harry Potter saw her. I also have this from Shantiel's mind." Adonna took the small stoppered bottle out of her robes.

"Am I looking at her memory, here?"

"Yes, Headmaster."

"I will send Severus to find Harry Potter. Severus, come forward please."

The former potions master materilized from one of the many recesses in the headmaster's office. The Healer bristled when she saw him. Though she got along with practically everyone, she did not like Severus Snape and she did not understand Dumbledore's trust in him. Adonna was moderately concerned that Snape had overheard her entire conversation with Dumbledore, but there was precious little she could do about it. Snape had the edge here—for he knew quite a bit more about Shantiel than Adonna did.

The Healer and the potions master left the office together.

"Am I to understand you overheard everything I just told Dumbledore?" Adonna asked shortly.

"You are," answered Snape, "and I shall find Potter."

"Good. Please send him to my office when you find him."

"Hello, Harry," Madam Adonna greeted.

"Hello, Madam Adonna," answered Harry nervously. "Snape found me on the Quidditch pitch and said you wanted to talk to me?"

"Yes, that is correct. I wager Snape didn't tell you why I'd like to speak with you?"

"No, he didn't."

Adonna sighed and said, "Typical. Anyway, I understand that you saw Shantiel Biggs in the Room of Requirement not too long ago."

"Yes."

"And she was having a type of waking nightmare?"

"I'm...I'm not exactly certain what I saw, Madam Adonna. But I do know that she was speaking in a little-girl-voice. Like she was five years old or something. Shantiel appeared to be seeing things in front of her that I couldn't see. She mentioned "black-robed bad people" and she was terrified. She...she saw a green flash, apparently. If I didn't know any better, I'd say she witnessed Death Eaters killing someone. But for some reason, Shantiel thought she was the one who killed somebody. I don't know why. If she was just a little girl, she couldn't have killed a person, could she?"

As Harry said it, he recalled the scenes in the Pensieve he had witnessed—scenes of a very young boy who was more than capable of murder. Tom Riddle. But Shantiel was nothing like him at all. As far as Harry knew, her only connection to Slytherin was her parents.

Harry was starting to have sneaking suspicions that there was much more to Shantiel than met then eye. If the girl were to be believed, she was absolutely nothing like her mother and father. Yet...in her nightmare, she'd addressed them as "mummy and daddy". That didn't sound a thing like the stern overbearing people that Hermione and Ginny had mentioned.

"Madam Adonna, I know you probably can't tell me this...but I've wondered this for some time now. Is Shantiel...well...is she adopted?"

The Healer looked at him seriously before replying, "I can't tell you in this case. It would be breaking confidentiality. Let's just say...your instincts regarding this could be correct. But don't mention anything to her. She doesn't know yet."

Harry looked incredulously at the Healer. Shantiel was adopted and her parents hadn't ever told her? The young man imagined that to be quite the cruel existence. Surely, the Biggs must have their reasons for keeping it secret... Harry suddenly felt a kinship with the blonde girl that hadn't existed before today. It was turning out that Ginny and Hermione were right about the two of them.

"You may go now, Harry. Thank you for coming and speaking with me."

Harry nodded, limped out the door, and headed toward the Hogwarts school bridge.

After Madam Adonna finished speaking with Harry, she made her way back to the Headmaster's office.

Dumbledore had been clarifying matters with Shantiel, asking about what she remembered. He had a feeling that he was missing something in regards to the girl. She was proving to be more of a mystery than even he had anticipated.

He walked over to his wardrobe and took out a large bowl-shaped object filled with liquid. "This, Shantiel, is called a "Pensieve". It allows you to co llect your thoughts and view them in a way that makes them more vivid than simply recalling them in your mind," the elder man explained. "The experience can be rather disorientating at first, but you do grow used to it. First, you put your face into the liquid and it brings you into the memory."

They heard a knock at the door. It was the Healer.

"Ah, Madam Adonna, good. We're just about to begin."

Dumbledore took the small bottle, removed the stopper, and poured the contents into the Pensieve.

"Ladies first," he said.

Madam Adonna put her face into the liquid of the Pensieve and started to be pulled in and then disappeared.

"Ack! Where did she go?" Shantiel exclaimed.

"It's quite all right, Shantiel. You'll see. It's your turn now."

Nervously, the blonde girl approached the swirling liquid, held her breath, and plunged into the liquid face-first. She began to fall and felt the urge to scream but before she could, she landed. It knocked the air out of her for a bit, but luckily the surface she landed on was padded carpet. Before she knew it, Madam Adonna had appeared out of nowhere to help her up. Dumbledore appeared soon afterward.

As Shantiel caught her bearings, she looked around and saw a little girl's bedroom. It was just like the one in her nightmares. A small blonde child sat on the bed playing with her toys in the moonlight instead of sleeping like she was supposed to be doing.

"That's me!" Shantiel said. "At least I think it is..."

"Yes, Shantiel, that is you."

"Will she be afraid of seeing us?"

"The people within these memories can neither see nor hear you. You needn't worry about that."

Before long, the little girl had abandoned her toys on her bed and tip-toed out of her room toward the landing on the stairs. She shivered and wrapped her arms around her. She jumped suddenly as the family cat started to follow her and twined itself around her feet.

Suddenly, there were voices coming from downstairs. Some scuffling noises. A bright green light shown upstairs. Horrific screaming. As if entranced, the little blonde girl went down the stairs.

"No, walk back upstairs, walk back upstairs!" Shantiel kept telling her younger self. But of course the words went unheeded.

"NOOO! LIZZY!" yelled little Shantiel as she ran down the stairs. "You black-robed bad people! Leave her alone! She's mine!"

Inexplicably, the already-darkened home got even darker. The little-girl Shantiel raised her arms and started speaking in a deep frightening voice that could never have belonged to a small child.

The house started shaking. Little Shantiel started floating midair and threw dark magic from her fingertips as a girl possessed. Red bolts of power struck the Death Eaters each in their chest and then the black-robed people collapsed to the floor.

As teenaged-Shantiel watched, she cried with her younger self. Little Shantiel came back to the floor, no longer possessed with anger and overcome with magic.

"No, no, Lizzy! What've I done?" the little girl threw herself across her babysitter's body and sobbed as if she would never stop. "Please don't let me have killed you...Lizzy..." and the memory faded as the headmaster's office came back into view.

Tearfully, Shantiel looked up at Madam Adonna and said, "But...that's not—it wasn't me, I-I-I..."

Adonna shared another look with Dumbledore and said, "Shantiel, it's okay. We know it wasn't you. There are signs to know when somebody's memory has been tampered with, and this one showed signs of tampering."

"R-really?"

"Yes," continued Dumbledore, "remember when it got all darkened and black in the memory, and you appeared to be wielding dark magic? That wasn't you.. We know that wasn't you. Your memory has been altered. Most expertly altered, but altered nonetheless."

"So...you mean...I didn't kill Lizzy?"

In spite of herself, the Healer embraced Shantiel and said, "Yes, we mean that you most definitely did not kill Lizzy. Anything you remember as a result of this tampered memory is false."

"Who would do such a thing to me?"

"That, my dear Shantiel, is something we intend to find out as soon as possible," answered Dumbledore.

Shantiel was still somewhat in shock over everything that had happened in the last hour or so. It was still so difficult to know what to believe...her nightmares, the altered memory, or Adonna and Dumbledore. She still knew that somehow Lizzy had been hurt. And the Healer and Headmaster now knew at least part of the truth… Shantiel's feet led her outside to the Hogwarts bridge. The girl was so preoccupied she didn't even notice Harry standing on the other side of it.

At first, Harry decided not to disturb her. After a few minutes, Shantiel vaguely saw him slowly limp alongside her but she just kept staring at the lake in silence, afraid of her own thoughts. Afraid of what Harry may already know. Out of nervousness, she placed a strand of her hair behind her ear and still avoided eye contact with him.

"Going to go have a good laugh with your mates over what happened?" she asked quietly.

Instead of chiding her like she expected he would, Harry was brought to an abrupt standstill. All he could think of to say was, "No. Of course not, Shantiel. Somebody's pain is no laughing matter."

He stood right next to her, placing his folded arms on the railing. "Hey...look...do you want to talk about it?" he asked with concern.

She looked at him incredulously. "Are—are you serious?" He simply nodded.

She shook her head as she responded, her voice much softer then usual, "No, but thank you, Harry. It's something that is difficult to talk about." She still avoid looking in his eyes. Harry remained silent again for sometime before speaking again.

"You know...I've experienced a whole load of things that are impossible to talk about," he paused for a second before continuing. "But I also know that sometimes...it can help to have a friend who can understand that. I don't know if you have that with Ginny or Hermione."

"I do but I haven't told them about this either. It would probably ruin everything if they knew," Shantiel answered very timidly. If anybody else knew about Lizzy, Shantiel felt as if her friends would never trust her again.

"Is it something you'd never tell anyone?" Harry asked.

The young woman took a deep breath and bit her lip before answering his question. Perhaps he really would understand where she was coming from. "I think I...I did something awful to someone when I was four," she started trying to keep her voice calm.

"You can stop now if you want. I didn't mean you had to tell me…" He interrupting her. As he did he saw the immense relief spread on her face.

"Thank you...Sorry…" she said with a smile in appreciation of his kindness.

Harry sighed in thought before he turned to her and asked with much seriousness, "Can you keep a secret?" This finally got her to look at him and nodded in reply.

"Yes, I can," She said simply.

"You have to swear not to tell anybody this. Not Ginny, not Hermione, nobody. The only two people who know are Madam Adonna and myself," he said even more seriously to make sure she knew just how important it was to stay quiet. She nodded again, "I swear, I won't tell," she said just as seriously.

Harry looked at her, instinct telling him that he could trust her with his secret.

"I believe you. Thank you. I just had to make sure," he said as he briefly touched the back of her hand.

"Anytime," Shantiel smiled at him with reassurance. Harry took a deep breath before speaking again.

"Okay, here goes. Last summer, I died. I literally died, and was brought back to life," Harry said.. Shantiel looked at him in a mixture of shock and interest. What truly surprised Harry is that Shantiel was so overcome with compassion that she embraced him.

"I'm so sorry!" Shantiel said as she hugged him tightly.

"It's not your fault. I just...I've never talked about it before. I can't because...we changed the future, Adonna and I did. We're not supposed to be here, yet here we are," Harry said as he returned her spontaneous embrace.

"That's really incredible. May I ask how? If I'm intruding, you don't have to tell me anything." she added.

"I'm not exactly sure how we did it," Harry started, "it was so incredible, the entire experience...and it was an incredible journey. And it all started out with me having no body. Meaning I was only in spirit form. I was wandering around the afterlife for over a week, separated from my physical self. I know it sounds impossible, but it's true."

Shantiel shook her head and said, "I don't know how I can believe you...but I still find myself doing so. That must have been so difficult to have to go through. How did you stay so strong?"

"I'm not exactly sure of that either," he said in awe of just remembering everything. "I...I only know it was mostly because of my friends. In fact, I found Ginny in a graveyard. She was so sad that she was crying her eyes out. She didn't even know for sure that I was there, but she kept speaking as if I were. In return, I answered her as if she could hear me."

"And did she?" Shantiel asked, intrigued

"Amazingly, yes, she did," he continued on. "Not very many people could see me...but many of my friends could. Ginny, Luna, Dean, Seamus, and several more-helped the others so that I could be seen. Through the power of their magic, we began the most crucial part of our journey. For it was the journey to find my body, Shantiel. It was alive, but only barely."

"Your body was separated from you—its soul, right?" Shantiel said incredulously. "How did it survive?"

"Actually, one's body cannot live without being inhabit by a spirit. At least not for very long," Harry sighed and covered his eyes. He continued very quietly. "It was so heartbreaking...to see my body in such a state. And I had to be rejoined with it. Him. I didn't know how to handle it, how I could possibly do it." Shantiel gently placed a hand on his while she wiped away tears from her eyes.

"But he-my body-proved me wrong. I thought there was no way he could be healed, no way at all. After Lupin and Hagrid took care of him, fed him, bathed him, clothed him-he showed us all how amazing he was by walking out of his own prison. He walked!" Harry said as he took her hand he truly appreciated the gesture. "After being starved and tortured for ten days.…"

"Really? That's a true miracle," Shantiel's voice trembled with the mixture of sadness and amazement.

"But you know...I...I couldn't accept what he did. I couldn't go through the rejoining. I was too afraid. So I rejected my own physical self, and he rejected me in return.. He was...angry. He thought I'd abandoned him," Harry spoke with a hint of shame in his voice.

"Oh Harry…," Shantiel softly intoned with sympathy.

Harry shook his head as he went on, "You want to talk about doing something terrible to someone? I did that to myself."

The girl had been so overwhelmed and touched by his journey that she hugged him again and asked, "Then what happened?"

"One of the reasons it was so hard for us to understand the other was because... he couldn't speak. I was the only one of us who did. But...with the help of hundreds of people, we opened up a time portal to the past. I know all of this sounds unbelievable..." Harry said, watching her reaction again.

"But it's amazing, it truly is…" Shantiel said in awe. Harry continued on.

"Dumbledore led them all to light their wands, and under the power of the lunar eclipse, we stopped time. Somehow we were able to communicate with each other—my physical half and I. It was only through understanding what had happened and by forgiving each other that we could finally heal and be rejoined again. So once he understood, he threw his arms around me. I embraced him back...and the next thing I knew, I was whole again. Like you see me, here and now," Harry finished his tale.

"I don't think I have heard anything so amazing in my life. Thank you for sharing it with me," Shantiel said, now with a whole new respect for Harry.

"Thank you for listening. And not ridiculing me. I swear it's all true. And the reason Adonna knows about it...is because she was there too. She was part of it," Harry said fondly.

"And I believe the both of you, I don't have a reason to ridicule you at all. I'm happy that she was a part of it and that you were able to rejoin with your body," Shantiel said with a smile as she saw the weight coming off the young man's shoulders.

"So am I. Wow, I feel better about telling all that to somebody. Finally. I can't even talk to Adonna about it very well. I hope it's not too much of a burden for you," Harry said self-consciously.

Shantiel shook her head, "Harry, nothing you say to me—especially something like this—isn't a burden for me."

"But ...all of the picking, the fighting...I'm sorry I didn't trust you at first. I feel awful for treating you how I did," Harry said, once more feeling ashamed.

"I forgive you. To be honest, I didn't ever give you much reason to trust me then. You were just trying to help me succeed in the things that I want to succeed in," Shantiel said. .

"You're an incredible person, Shan," Harry said in complete honesty. The girl shook her head again and blushed a bit.

"Thank you but I'm not that incredible..," Shantiel said very softly. They walked back to the common room, Shantiel was in deep thought the whole time about what Harry told her. There was so much more to him then what she knew.

A/N: This entire last conversation between Harry and Shantiel actually alludes to another novel-length story I wrote entitled, "Harry Gets Even". If you wish, you're perfectly welcome to go and read it in the interim. =] Just thought you'd like to know what we were referencing. ~Rae Carson