Harry Potter and the Order Of the Phoenix [149]
Harry squinted his eyes, to see if he could see anyone. He didn’t see someone, but he did seem something. It looked as though it was a small puddle, only it was hovering above the ground, and it was moving towards him, flowing and changing shape as it did so.
As it moved closer, Harry thought he saw it begin to change shape. The liquid appeared to be hardening, like liquid cement becoming stiff. The hovering blob also started to grow limbs: two stubby arms and legs, and a small round head. The closer it got to Harry, the more and more human it looked. Fingers and toes started taking shape, and what looked like hair was growing out of the scalp of the head. Harry also saw eyes, lips, a nose, mouth and ears pop out of the head.
The figure was morphing even faster now. The colorless blob was now a light peach, and the hair was turning very red, like Ron’s. The arms grew elbows, and the legs grew knees, and then Harry saw the eyes take a color. They became a green… just like his. Once the figure was but a foot away from Harry, it looked perfectly human, and Harry recognized who it was.
“Mom…” said Harry, with a dazed look. The person before him looked exactly like he had seen her in the pictures. The only difference between what was before him now, and what he had seen was this one seemed to have something more to it… something alive, electric almost… a soul. Harry’s mom put her arm on his shoulder.
“Harry…” she said, trailing off. It was the most beautiful voice Harry had ever heard. It flowed through him, all throughout his entire body. It made every cell in his body feel alive, as they had never felt before.
Full of immeasurable joy, Harry threw his arms up to his mother. Just when his fingers were about to touch her, he felt as though he had been caught by a fishing rod around his navel. He stopped right in midair, as if frozen.
“Harry…” said his mother again. There was another tug at Harry, and he felt himself being yanked back, at what felt like hundreds of miles per hour. His mother quickly disappeared over the invisible horizon, and Mrs. Figg’s room came back into focus. It rapidly changed from a dull gray to its full color again. Harry covered his eyes from the sudden flood of light. Then, just as his vision came back, so did his nerves.
“AAAHHH!” yelled Harry, collapsing onto the floor. It was pain as he had never experience before. It was as if millions of wizards were putting the Cruciatus Curse on him, each concentrating on a specific place on his body, strengthening its painful power over him. He was slowly being stretched to death on meat hooks while being burned to a crisp and acid poured all over his body.
Harry felt his eyes roll back into his head, and felt drool coming from his mouth. The pain was taking over his body and his mind. He couldn’t even think of thinking a happy thought, it was impossible.
Then, just as quickly as the pain had come, it left. The green cloud around Harry disappeared, and his quavering arms fell from wriggling into the air, right onto the floor. Harry took several deep breaths, and wiped the drool from his mouth. He just noticed that everyone in the class was circled around him.
“Amazing!” said Mrs. Figg, looking at her watch. “Harry, I think you may have set a new record! Barely anyone’s ever prevented pain for that long! How did you do it?” Harry stood up, and shook himself, trying to get fully back into this world.
“My mom… she helped me,” said Harry. Everyone in the room gave him an expression of confusion, but the bell rang, saving Harry from having to make any other statements. Everyone except for Harry, Ron, Hermione and Mrs. Figg bolted out of the room.
“Harry, how did you do it?” said Mrs. Figg, still looking amazed. “You put off that curse for an hour!”
“Like I said,” said Harry, grabbing his books, “my mom helped me.”
“Well, she’ll be happy to hear that tomorrow…” said Mrs. Figg, smiling. “Speaking of which, I need you to come here, as early