Title: Harry Potter and the Master of Death (2/7)
Summary: On May 3, 1715, the fledgling Ministry For Magic sent a small group of Unspeakables to confront the Dark Wizard Mortimer. Unable to kill him, the Unspeakables managed to imprison Mortimer's spirit deep within the ground by tapping into the power provided by the overhead Total Solar Eclipse. Records of the event were immediately sealed by the Ministry, and the knowledge of Mortimer's existence was lost to time.

When the sun and the moon align themselves in the precise same formation three hundred years later, Harry Potter must deal with the consequences of some very old magic in order to prevent the release of the vengeful Dark Wizard.
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Not beta-read.
Prompt: Harry has to deal with old magic.
Author's Notes: Written for Harry's month at helmetfest2008.

Many thanks to knic26 for all of the brainstorming sessions, endless support and for coming up with the name "Mortimer" when I was completed stumped when it came to naming my Dark Wizard.

Also a huge thank you to oncelikeshari for the crash course in British geography and landscapes, and to iamshadow for finding an actual cave with magical history in Cornwall.

Chapter 2: Total Alignment

There was not much visible sunlight left as Harry Potter and Ron Weasley made the hike down the steep track and into the sea cave on the cliffs below Tintagel Castle. They had been sent to discover the source of some unknown magical energy that had been detected by the Ministry. So far, aside from the solar eclipse that dominated the daytime sky, they'd noticed nothing out of the ordinary.

"This," Ron said with a wry grin, "has got to be the most boring assignment that we've ever been sent on."

Harry sighed and answered, "Yeah, but I'm glad we didn't get stuck on street patrol today. The eclipses always bring out the crazies."

"It's too bad Hermione couldn't have come with us for this one though," Ron added. "She would have loved it out here. Did you know that quite a few Muggles believe that this is Merlin's Cave?"

"Well that could have made this hike a hell of a lot more interesting," Harry teased as he smiled at Ron. "We'd come out of here in an hour and discover that hundreds of years had passed."

Ron looked wounded by his insinuation and said, "That's not funny, mate. Hermione and Ginny would have our heads when we finally joined them in the great beyond."

"Well then it's a good thing we've gotten ourselves a nice boring assignment where nothing quite so drastic is about to happen to us." Harry answered as he rolled his eyes.

The eclipse outside grew closer and closer to total alignment, and it grew steadily darker as they proceeded deeper into the belly of the cave toward in their search. Suddenly the earth started to tremor beneath their feet and Ron eyed the protruding stalactites and stalagmites warily as he asked, "Do you think it's safe to be in here right now?"

Harry looked around the cave thoughtfully. "It was only a minor tremor; I think we'd be…" He trailed off and caught Ron's eye, and they both became instantly alert, their Auror's instincts tingling. Ron gave him a short nod and they both spun around to confront the figure behind them. Harry held his wand at the ready as Ron called out, "Lumos!" illuminating a very relieved looking Luna Lovegood.

"Oh good," she said when she saw them. "I'm so glad that I found you."

She was holding a prophecy orb, swirling in a storm of lavender and gold, and Harry looked at her in bewilderment. "What are you doing here, Luna?"

She held the orb out toward him and answered, "I came to bring you…"

A loud cracking sound cut off Luna's words. Outside the eclipse had reached its predicted totality and the ground beneath Harry's feet abruptly split open.

"Harry, look out!" Ron shouted as he threw himself bodily at Harry, shoving him out of the way just as a shock wave of magical energy erupted from deep within the ground.

Thrown off balance, Harry stumbled and crashed full force into Luna. Then he turned back toward where he was standing only moments ago, and watched in horror as his best friend was fully engulfed by the emerging magical red light.