Categories > Books > Harry Potter > The Slayer, The Avatar And The Guardian Of Light

CH118 - Pain, Death & Despair

by GuardianOfLight 3 reviews

A history lesson on Adam's past.

Category: Harry Potter - Rating: G - Genres: Crossover - Characters: Dumbledore,Flitwick,Ginny,Hagrid,Harry,Hermione - Warnings: [!!] [?] - Published: 2009-12-27 - Updated: 2009-12-28 - 4899 words

1Exciting
Chapter 118 - Pain, Death & Despair

Dimension: 1375 - Earth
Date: 2nd December 2001 AD
Country: Britain - Scotland
Location: Hogwarts - Staffroom
Time: Morning


An hour later almost everyone was gathered in the staff room including their new quest, only Madam Pomfrey was not present as she was watching over Adam with a large portion of the DA who had opted to guard him in their absence; Charles has been introduced to all and was busy explaining the Spell of Fears.

"How does this Spell of Fears work?" asked a confused Remus. "And how did it come to be cast upon Adam?"

"The spell locks onto someone's fears and focuses on them, enhancing them quietly and subtly until they reach the point where the spell is ready to release all those fears at once."

"Is that why the spell became Glorificus and the basilisk when Ginny and Dawn were there?" asked Fleur, from her position on Harry's lap.

"That was the effect of their presence, though that should not have happened at all."

"Could you elaborate?" asked Dumbledore.

"Unfortunately for your school, the caster or casters, whoever he, she or they were, was not able to cast the spell very well, which is why the troll, dementor and acromantula appeared. It's not the easiest thing in the world to explain but this analogy is the best I can come up with; When one of your wands gets damaged it spells are not as effective as they were and can have strange side effects, it is the same with a badly cast spell, the curse effectively leaked out and was triggered by other people's fears, though as the spell was badly cast the creatures did not normally appear right next to the people that feared them."

Hermione thought back, now she understood the cause she could make the connections, when the spider appeared Ron was nearby, when the Dementor appeared Harry was near and she was close when the troll attacked Ginny and Draco, though noticeably, none of those times did the creatures appear right next to them.

"Do you have any idea who cast the spell?" asked Dumbledore.

"I'm afraid not and I would not be allowed to tell you even if I knew."

"Why not?" asked Tara.

"Because even though the idea for the spell was undoubtedly James's, he did not cast it and therefore it is a mortal issue not a higher one and I am ordered not to interfere," he explained, he was obviously not overly pleased by not being allowed to act on information known or otherwise.

"And how often do you obey disobey those orders?" Anne asked, getting the feeling that she was pushing her luck.

He turned to her with a raised eyebrow and an amused expression.

"Not as often as I should, but I have been told to obey them by beings I respect and thus I shall."

"How do we go about saving Professor Berio?" asked Harry, changing the subject.

"Berio?" Charles asked confused.

"Adam...He called himself Berio-Megiltura when he first came to teach here," Ginny explained.

Upon hearing the full name Charles smiled, obviously understanding some meaning in the name that the others were not aware of.

"Firstly, I need to explain what is wrong with him in order for you to understand how we can cure him. He is suffering from what could be described as schizophrenia; he has withdrawn into his mind."

"What, why?" questioned Tara.

"Because he can no longer withstand the pain of reality...This has happened once before and Sara the Estelcyll brought him back from the brink."

"What does Estelcyll mean?" inquired Harry.

"Hope bringer," replied Hermione and Tara simultaneously.

The entire population of the room stared at them most in confusion only Charles looked pleased that they had answered.

"I'm glad your mastery of your new abilities is proceeding well, that language is a horrible language to try to learn the normal way."

"What is that language?" asked Hermione.

"It is the language that beings more powerful or more pure than humans use. It is considered to be a sort of universal language for higher beings."

"Oh," Tara replied.

"Wait," began Hermione, realising something. "Wasn't Sara his wife?"

There were several gasps of surprise at this news, only Charles and Draco remained silent. It was obvious no one expected to hear this bit of news; none of the others had any idea that Adam had been married.

"Yes, before she was taken from him by batros demons."

Harry actually growled as the name was spoken.

"You've come across them before," Charles acknowledged. "You did well against them; they are not easy to defeat. As I was saying; Sara brought him back, when she had rescued him from his mind, they fell in love and were married until..."

"How did she bring him back?" questioned Remus, preventing the hanging sentence from becoming an awkward pause.

"She went into his mind and managed to pull him back, but this time it is far worse."

"Why?" asked Tara

"Last time this happened it was because Adam had- He had done something terrible, something he hadn't meant and had no control over, but he blamed himself nonetheless and his mind fell in on itself in despair. This time he did not send himself into this state, his mind was literally overthrown with grief, it doesn't help that his mind was never exactly stable when it happened anyway."

"What do you mean?" asked Dumbledore.

"Are any of you familiar with Maslow's Pyramid?"

"Vaguely," nodded Hermione. "It's a theory of psychology that shows different levels of human needs, you must complete one level to move onto the next."

"Essentially correct," nodded Charles. "Simply it shows different levels of needs, the basic pyramid has five levels. The first level is physiological needs like food, water, sleep, breathing, excretion, health and sex. The basic needs of an individual, if we took most of the adults in the school I think it is safe to say that they would have most of these needs fulfilled. The second level is safety needs comprising of personnel security, security of employment or financial security, of health and wellbeing and a safety net against accidents and illnesses. Again most adults in the school will feel relatively safe, have a secure work future, will be healthy and will have proper medical care if anything goes wrong. The third level is social needs consisting of friendship, intimacy and family, all emotional not physical like on previous levels. Yet again most people will have these, I don't think I need to go further up the pyramid as I think I will be able to describe the problem just using those three levels."

He paused momentarily before continuing.

"As he is not mortal you might say these needs don't apply, but as he was born mortal they fit and his mind instinctively thinks they should be needed. The first level; food, water, sleep, breathing, excretion, health and sex. Adam does not need to eat, he does not need water, he does not need to excrete and he does not breathe."

"What do you mean he does not breathe?" asked Tara.

"Have you ever felt his pulse?"

"Only when we rescued him and he was dead for a few moments."

"Yes, he was dead then, but if you had continued to check his pulse or whether he inhales and exhales you would not have noticed any change. When the gods created him they gave him his body as it was when he died but they did not bring his body back to life."

"Why not?" asked Dumbledore.

"Human bodies are easily damaged and are extremely fragile, you have seen what his body looks like, if he were alive he would die almost instantly, therefore the health aspect of the first level is irrelevant. He is effectively possessing his own body, six sevenths of the first level are irrelevant to him though as he was born a human he deep down still expects to need them, for the most party only those in third world countries don't have the first level complete, the only part that actually affects Adam is sex and since Sara he has not been with anyone. Second level; personnel security, security of employment, of health and wellbeing and a safety net against accidents and illnesses. He is hunted by the demons of hell; he is constantly battling, fighting struggling against evil, only those against him and those who created him have more power and they don't protect him. Employment; if you call spending your entire existence fighting employment? Health and wellbeing, again non-applicable, his body gets cut and stabbed, he will feel it but it won't kill him, only magical weapons and attacks will kill him."

"How can he die if he is already dead?" interrupted Draco.

"He died; or rather he departed after you rescued him because of the culmination of all those magical weapons he was attacked with. As for a safety net, who is going to fill that role? I don't think I need to continue to the third level but I will. Intimacy, again not since Sara, family he has none left and friends, because of the length of his life he has lost more than most will ever have, he has some immortal friends but not that many. The first three levels of the pyramid apply to him, but either he cannot fulfil the need or because of his condition they do not apply, the very basis for a stable mind is utterly smashed."

"You said his mind was overcome with grief. Grief from what?" asked Ron

Charles turned to him slowly a sad expression on his face. "One thing the Gods learned from creating Adam is that immortality is the worst curse to inflict upon any being that was born mortal."

"Why?" asked Harry.

"Imagine your life expectancy is one hundred years; You grow up, go to school, make friends, go to work, get married, have children, become a pensioner, grow old, have grandchildren and then die of old age. A pretty standard life, now imagine being given immortality after being brought up knowing that you are mortal, you do most of those things, you go to school, make friends, go to work, get married, have children, have grandchildren, watch your other half die of old age, watch your friends die of old age, have great-grandchildren, make new friends, watch your children die, watch your grandchildren die, watch your new friends die, watch your great grandchildren have children and watch them all grow old and die. Are you getting the picture?"

"Oh God!!" Hermione exclaimed.

"And all that would have happened in just a few hundred years, imagine that over billions of years."

"A dance of Mayflies," remarked Dumbledore.

"Quite so."

"Mayflies?" asked Draco

"Mayflies are an insect that only live in their adult form for one day to breed before they die," explained Tara. "Twenty four hours is a short time for us, for Mayflies it's their entire adult life. We are like mayflies compared to Adam."

"Adam is fifteen billion years old," continued Charles. "In that time he has seen and done things most of us can't even contemplate; he has seen more horrors and despairs that anyone should ever have to see."

"Dare I ask the question, like what?'" pressed Ron.

"I will not even begin to describe the horrors he's seen, but I will say this: that man has outlived almost every other being he has ever come across. He had fought in so many battles, so many wars and killed so many enemies that all the losses from your First World War are but a drop in the ocean. He has seen good friends come and go, some dying of old age, most dying in battle. He lost everything when his world was destroyed, his friends, his parents, his grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles, pets, his sister, his entire world. He has fought in wars between good and evil since the dawn of time. He has seen fellow soldiers, comrades murdered before his very eyes. He created himself a new home it was destroyed, he got a wife and she was taken from him, he made a brother and he was turned dark and he has lost people he has sworn to protect and he has still kept on going. Fifteen billion years of pain, death and despair. Could you go through that unaltered?"

Silence reigned in the room for at least a minute before any made a sound.

"He is unbelievably altruistic and that doesn't even begin to describe him. For his own good, Adam should have left the moment he got here, but he stayed to help and protect you. He should never have had to endure the pain that this world brings up in him; there are too many things here that remind him of his past, too many memories that have been stirred up. The ring that he gave to his wife and the bearer of the ring who bears a passing resemblance to a young version of his wife."

Ginny was looking decidedly guilty at this point, she obviously had no idea that the ring had belonged to his wife.

"The destruction of the chest of personal affects in his vault."

"Oh God," Anne exclaimed.

"The fact that he blames himself for the capture of himself and more importantly the ring bearer."

"Oh no," Ginny whispered, still trying to look as though she wasn't there, Draco placed a comforting hand around her shoulder.

"And that he blames himself for the trouble that Glory caused during his absence from Sunnydale. He blames himself for Tara's mind getting absorbed, the Watchers getting injured, not being there to help cure Mrs Summers when it was within his power to do so."

Tara, Hermione and Ginny were now all crying and were leaning or being held by Draco, Ron and Remus as he was closest to Tara.

"And then there is the presence of the Key."

All eyes flicked to Dawn, whose eyes were now bulging.

"What! What have I done? I didn't even touch him."

"It is not what you have done; it is the fact that you are here. You remember I said that he had lost people he had sworn to protect."

Several people nodded.

"During the French Civil War in the eighteenth century, he had sworn to protect the Key as The First's attention had been drawn to it. He spent over one hundred years doing nothing else. When The First's attention had moved away from the Key and when he thought it was safe for it to leave his protection, he left to continue his duties elsewhere, unfortunately after he left, the Key or to be more precise the form it had been in at the time was destroyed, he has never forgiven himself. There is one more thing that I have to explain but I need to check that some of you can be told about it first and for that I need to discuss it with a select few of you beforehand. Can I ask everyone except Madam Pomfrey, Professor's Dumbledore, McGonagall, Fontaine, Maclay, Summers, Miss Granger and Mr Malfoy to wait outside for a moment please."

After a little confused mumbling amongst some of the members before the others began filtering out. Once the door has closed Charles resumed.

"Strictly speaking I just lied to them, only three of them must not be told and that is because they are linked."

"Harry, Fleur and Dawn you mean?" asked Colette.

"Correct, you can tell the rest later, I just don't want those three to be singled out. The problem is Comtesse Delacour."

"Fleur?" asked Dumbledore. "Does this relate to the mating?"

"Correct again. The problem is that in order to keep her alive he has to stay close to her, but in doing so he is killing himself."

"How?" asked Hermione.

"A while ago he made a deal with the Gods that he could only be brought back from the dead so many times as long as the deaths were not suicide, one time over that amount and he would remain dead and move on, in exchange he would do the job he was created for."

"He has died before?" asked Madam Pomfrey.

"Yes. In fifteen billion years of war it's inevitable you will lose occasionally. He died earlier this year in this very castle. It was unfortunate that he did as he is now on his last life, it he dies again it will be for good."

"How is he dying?" inquired Tara.

"You are aware of the bond that ties Lord Potter, Comtesse Delacour and now Miss Summers together means that they each hold a bit of each other's soul," at their nods he continued. "Adam had a similar bond with his wife before she... Since then he has had to forcibly keep the two soul halves he has apart as both halves are screaming out to be reconnected with the halves that resided inside Sara. The pain of such a split should have caused Adam to die, but because the gods need him they refused to let him crossover for that as it was effectively self induced by choosing to be with Sara. As such he had to separate off the Sara portion of the soul and bury it deep where he couldn't feel its pain as there was nothing he could do about it."

"What about his half?" asked Anne.

"He couldn't bury that, he needs a soul, even just half of one, but it too cries out, both for its missing half and the half of Sara's that it is separated from. By staying close to Comtesse Delacour in order to keep her alive and by extension, Lord Potter and Miss Summers, he is effectively torturing himself; his half a soul interprets it as him trying to be unfaithful, usually this would make him magically ill as your mated group will get if they stay apart for an extended period before deteriorating until they die, but as he is voluntarily staying close to her it again counts as suicide in the eyes of the gods, as such they will not let him die and the magic is aging his decaying body and causing him harm at the same time."

"What can we do?" asked Madam Pomfrey.

"He was already doing it, trying to find a way to satisfy the mating call of Comtesse Delacour so that she does not need him, but that will take time. Firstly we need to remove the spell that put him in this state and that has been causing the mass emotional spells that have been occurring here."

"How are they related?" asked Dumbledore.

"They are a side effect of the spell that is upon him, every so often his body would emit a powerful wave of magic infused with an emotion that would be passed onto the majority of those it came in contact with, this type of event is called a Primal Sin Surgel as the spells are normally those that religions consider to be the most dangerous like lust, greed, wrath, etcetera. The mass spells would have continued until the curse upon him was triggered."

"Is that the reason he could not detect the spells source?" asked Hermione. "Because it was emanating from him."

"Quite so."

"How do we remove the spell?"

"We need to perform an exorcism, but I will explain more once everyone else is back in the room, I say again that Comtesse Delacour and those mated to her must not learn of Adam's mating until the situation is resolved as that may cause them to do something rash to protect him and that will cause harm to them and Adam will not want that."

After the others had filed back in and resumed their seats, Charles continued.

"We have decided that the information for now must remain secret, we will be able to tell you at a later date, but not now. As I was just saying to the Headmaster we need to perform an exorcism on Adam to remove the spell from his mind."

"Exorcisms are only for possessions," replied Ron, challengingly. He, along with many of the others were not pleased about not being informed about what had just been but discussed but most were trying to continue as normal.

"Yes and Adam is possessing his own body. When we manage to pull him out of his body he should, as he is not in control of his possession, separate out into his magical parts like his soul halves, his mind etcetera, and begin to disperse. We should be able to remove the spell from him and reassemble him before we try to heal him."

"How do we do that?" asked Tonks.

"They say that dreams are the windows of the soul, take a peek and you can see the inner workings. That is what two people have to do, go inside his mind."

The surprises just keep on coming.

"Who?" asked Remus

"The two people on this plane he trusts more than anyone else, the people who now bear his power."

Hermione and Tara snapped their eyes to Charles.

"What?" they both exclaimed, before Tara continued. "Why us?"

"Because you are the two people here, not including myself that know him best, I cannot do it because I will be bridging the gap between your minds and his, in addition we haven't seen each other in a very long time, but most importantly, as I said this time the problem is more serious, there is an outside factor."

"What outside factor?" asked Harry
________________________________________________________________________

FLASHBACK - Chapter 90 - Tara's Mission

McGonagall placed her own hand and Adam's on the book as the Sunnydale crew did the same.

Pointing her wand at it she called out:

"Portus."

And they vanished.

As James slowly got to his feet he surveyed the damage to the building.

He smiled.

"You haven't won yet, brother...You may think you hold all the cards, but I still have an ace up your sleeve."

END FLASHBACK
________________________________________________________________________

"James!" exclaimed Tara.

"Yes, he placed the trigger for the /Spell of Fears /inside of Adam. Its full name is /Gowest Achas Anann Chelles; a Compound Fear Time Trigger/."

"What in Merlin's name does that do?" asked Hagrid.

"Simply, it triggers a /Spell of Fears/. A word is used as a trigger to activate the curse causing the mind to overload, the longer the curse is in the mind before it is activated, the deeper it goes and the more devastating the effect when it is triggered...Cossette was the trigger word and as the curse was placed on him during his kidnapping the result has been devastating."

"Oh my god," exclaimed Tara. "All this time he has been living with it in his brain and he didn't even know."

"James was very clever when he placed the trigger within him and when he got whoever it was to put the spell on him, which I am guessing happened around the same time. He insured that no higher being could enter his mind while the spell was in effect, which is also why the two of you need to go," he said looking to Tara and Hermione. "You might have some of the powers of an immortal, but you are still mortal yourselves."

"How do we go about doing that?" asked the latter.

"We need a lot of magic and the best way to get a lot of magic is form a coven, to be more precise a particular kind of coven."

"Could you elaborate a bit?" asked Remus.

"We need to set up what is called a /Collective Magic Coven/, which is where we collect together as many kinds of magic as we can in the coven and the more powerful and more varied the better, also luckily the coven doesn't have to be just witches, that's just a myth, which is fortunate as many of the people I planned to be a part of it are male."

"Who did you have in mind?" asked Dumbledore.

"Obviously Tara, Hermione and I must be in the group, we represent angelic and higher magic's as well as wiccan magic and some of the elemental skills. As covens require thirteen members that leaves another ten spaces to be filled. Firstly I was hoping Professor Summers would help and bring slayer magic to the coven, also Professor Lupin would bring the power of lycanthropy, Professor McGonagall her animagus abilities, the younger Miss Summers her key magic, Professor Hagrid the power present in his giant DNA, Professor Tonks her metamorphmagus abilities, Comtesse Delacour, her veela abilities and Lord Potter for his elemental skills and his magical ability."

"I don't think there will be any problems with any of those," Dumbledore remarked.

"I was also hoping Lord Potter could convince Dobby to fill one of the gaps, I don't think anyone has ever even considered a House Elf for such a ritual before but his magic is totally different from all the others mentioned."

"That should be easy," commented Harry. "He'd jump off a cliff if I ask him."

There were several chuckles from various corners of the room.

"Lastly, I was hoping the Headmaster would complete the circle as he would represent a powerful source of magic, unaffected by any other form of magic, who is also very skilled at his craft, it is always useful to have someone who is and I hope you will forgive the term a Pureblood wizard with no other magical of blood factors to interfere."

"Is that everyone?" asked Professor Flitwick.

"Almost," answered Charles. "Although all thirteen positions are filled, I want to create an outer ring; it serves a similar purpose to the first; providing the magical power to enter someone's mind, but unlike the inner ring the outer ring will be able to move while the rite is being performed. The inner ring are effectively a ground for Hermione and Tara, the outer ring provide a ground for the inner, in addition they will be able to defend us if any one attacks while the rite is being performed."

"Who do you want to be in this outer ring?" asked Flitwick. "As I would be happy to volunteer."

"I was hoping you would Professor Flitwick, your goblin blood while not in the inner ring would still be routed through the inner into the link as well as your duelling skill if things go wrong."

‘I will help in any way I can, Sir," said the Charms Professor, bowing slightly.

Charles smiled.

"Hey, wait!" cried Ron. "What about us? If my girlfriends going into someone's mind I'm going to be standing by her side."

"Yeah," cried Colette, Draco, Ginny, Neville, the other DA members and close friends of those in the inner ring.

"Do not worry, I had not forgotten you, you are all going to be included in the outer ring as well as the rest of the DA if they will help."

"I'm sure they will," Harry assured them.

"Excellent. Is there anything else?" asked the Headmaster.

"That is everyone we are going to need but the location is also important for such a rite."

"Where would you suggest?" asked Remus.

"As we are entering the mind of someone so powerful, we need as much power as possible to enter the mind and to protect the minds of those inside Adam's mind, we are going to gain a lot of power from the two rings but we need a location that will focus that power, the best place will be Salisbury Plain."

Hermione thought for a moment before realising where he meant.

"Stonehenge?"

"Exactly, it is a focusing point of magical energies; in addition, the henge itself has defences that should protect us for a while. Any questions?"

"When do we do it?" Ron asked.

"We cannot waste any time, the longer that Adam stays like this the harder it will be to get him back, I'd say if possible tomorrow."

"I'll do what I can," said Dumbledore. "For now, I suggest everyone involved gets a good night's rest, we are going to need it."
________________________________________________________________________

TRANSLATION: Estelcyll - Hope Bringer

AUTHORS NOTE: Hi all, how many of you thought I had given up writing this story? Sorry for the long delay since the last update, but I think I jinxed myself sometime around June and since then every conceivable problem I could have had since has occurred; firstly my computer died shortly after the last update (luckily I keep backups) and I then spent 3 months struggling with the company who sold me the parts who insisted that they worked when in fact they didn't, then someone crashed into my car, it got written off, I got whiplash, there were problems with my new car, my workload at work drastically increased when people retired and....I could go on but I don't want to bore you anymore than I already have done. I probably won't be updating much anymore on this story as I have several other projects both writing and non-writing related which I am finding more interesting/challenging but I shall do what I can. Enjoy.
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