He ought to comfort it, but it repulsed himAlbus Dumbledore was walking toward him, sprightly and upright, wearing sweeping robes of midnight blue He spread his arms wide, and his hands were both whole and white and undamaged
Stunned, Harry followed as Dumbledore strode away from where the flayed child lay whimpering, leading him to two seats that Harry had not previously noticed, set some distance away under that high, sparkling ceilingDumbledore sat down in one of them, and Harry fell into the other, staring at his old headmaster's faceDumbledore's long silver hair and beard, the piercingly blue eyes behind half-moon spectacles, the crooked nose: Everything was as he had remembered it
"But you're dead," said Harry
"Oh yes," said Dumbledore matter-of-factlyI'm dead http://www.ooluxury.com/scategory_28_Omega-Watches.html" target="_blank too?"
"Ah," said Dumbledore, smiling still more broadly"That is the question, isn't it? On the whole, dear boy, I think not
They looked at each other, the old man still beaming
"Not?" repeated Harry
"Not," said Dumbledore Harry raised his hand instinctively toward the lightning scarIt did not seem to be there"But I should have died - I didn't defend myself! I meant to let him kill me!"
"And that," said Dumbledore, "will, I think, have made all the difference
Happiness seemed to radiate from Dumbledore like light; like fire: Harry had never seen the man so utterly, so palpably content
"Explain," said Harry
"But you already know," said DumbledoreHe twiddled his thumbs together
"I let him kill me," said Harry"Didn't I?"
"You did," said Dumbledore, nodding"Go on!"
"So the part of his soul http://www.enluxury.com/category_20_Miu-Miu_1.html" target="_blank that was in me
Dumbledore nodded still more enthusiastically, urging Harry onward, a broad smile of encouragement on his facehas it gone?"
"Oh yes!" said Dumbledore"Yes, he destroyed itYour soul is whole, and completely your own, Harry
Harry trembled over his shoulder to where the small, maimed creature trembled under the chair
"What is that, Professor?"
"something that is beyond either of our help," said Dumbledore
"But if Voldemort used the Killing Curse," Harry started again, "and nobody died for me this time - how can I be alive?"
"I think you know," said DumbledoreRemember what he did, in his ignorance, in his greed and his crueltyHe let his gaze drift over his surroundingsIf it was indeed a palace in which they sat, it was an odd one, with chairs set in little rows http://www.ualuxury.com/category_3_Chloe_1.html" target="_blank and bits of railing here and there, and still, he and Dumbledore and the stunted creatures under the chair were the only beings thereThen the answer rose to his lips easily, without effort
"He took my blood," said Harry
"Precisely!" said Dumbledore"He took your blood and rebuilt his living body with it! Your blood in his veins, Harry, Lily's protection inside both of you! He thethered you to life while he lives!"
"I live while he lives? But I thought I thought it was the other way around! I thought we both had to die? Or is it the same thing?"
He was distracted by the whimpering and thumping of the agonized creature behind them and glanced back at it yet again
"Are you sure we can't do anything?"
"There is no help possiblemore," said Harry, and Dumbledore smiled
"You were the http://www.culuxury.com/categorys_95_Gucci-Boston-Bag_1.html" target="_blank seventh Horcrux, Harry, the Horcrux he never meant to makeHe had rendered his soul so unstable that it broke apart when he committed those acts of unspeakable evil, the murder of your parents, the attempted killing of a childBut what escaped from that room was even less than he knewHe left more than his body behindHe left part of himself latched to you, the would-be victim who had survived
"And his knowledge remained woefully incomplete, Harry! That which Voldemort does not value, he takes no trouble to comprehendOf house-elves and children's tales, of love, loyalty, and innocence, Voldemort knows and understands nothingThat they all have a power beyond his own, a power beyond the reach of any magic, is a truth he has never grasped
"He took your blood believing it would strengthen http://www.ooluxury.com/scategory_28_Omega-Watches.html" target="_blank