The Necromancer

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

“Harry, remember the plan,” his mother said as she floated in front of him, but Harry barely heard her. All he could do was stare up at Karakas hanging dead from the ceiling while he suddenly felt empty inside and utterly numb.

It was strange that this should affect Harry the way it did, since part of Harry hated the man, but at the same time Karakas was the closest thing Harry had to a living parent since he was four. At the very least the man had been a devoted mentor and Harry experienced a sharp stab of pain in his chest realizing Karakas was well and truly dead and wouldn’t be coming back.

“Rylan,” Harry whispered, because all his mind could come up with was to alert Rylan of what had happened.

“No!” Lily floated even closer to Harry, James not far behind. “You do not owe that monster anything. Remember the plan, Harry!”

“But Rylan – “ Harry was unable to say more because his mother had just slapped her very chilly, non-corporal hand across Harry’s face.

“Harry, snap out of it, now!” Lily looked like she was ready to slap him again if Harry didn’t start acting rationally soon.

Charis moved in front of Harry, all but elbowing James out of the way. “Harry, lower your occlumency shields. All of them.”

“Oh dear,” Dorea said from further inside the room, apparently catching on to what was happening. “Did he accidentally occlude his trauma?”

“Huh,” Harry said, looking between his mother and the rest of the family. His mind felt like it was filled with cotton balls and all it could seem to repeat was the urge to contact Rylan and ask him for help.

“Lower your occlumency shields, Harry, and afterwards we can contact Rylan,” Charis said with an utterly reasonable smile, and finally that seemed to make sense to Harry enough that he followed her orders.

The first layer of mental shields was easy enough to lower, but every layer after that became more and more difficult and painful. With every layer gone, more and more mental anguish and shame and guilt filled Harry’s head until he had to lean a hand against the wall to keep his balance while he bent over and barely refrained from puking.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” Harry muttered, his mind suddenly clearer than it had been in many months. “Fuck, this hurts.”

“Yes, you were right,” Charis said to Dorea. “He definitely has been occluding a little too much, but it probably did make life easier for him over the last year.”

“We’ll deal with the trauma later,” Dorea said with a nod. “Escape first.”

“Harry, sweetheart, you must now remember the plan,” Lily insisted yet again while giving Harry a desperate look.

Right. The plan. Harry knew this, because his family had hammered the many, many plans they’d come up with over the years into his head over and over again. They’d laid out plans for practically every possible scenario, from what to do when an invading army would take over the school, to Harry accidentally finding himself back home in the wizarding world without warning.

“Plan number one,” Harry said, pushing himself upright and finally looking his mum in the eyes. “And using the smuggler’s path to escape.” Plan number one had always been Karakas’ unexpected death.