A/N: So sorry for the super slow update! I'll try to be quicker but I can't make promises since I've been quite busy.

Chapter Five

Harriet wrote the letter to the head healer at St Mungo's before she went to bed that evening, sending it off with Newt's owl. As she fell to sleep that night she had strange dreams of a red eyed baby opening its mouth and swallowing her whole. When she woke up, Harry found that she was drenched in sweat from her nightmare which renewed her determination to find a way to stop Tom from becoming a Monster.

As she waited for a response from the magical hospital, she threw herself into helping Newt with his animals and did some more parseltongue translation for Newt with his occamy. At some point during the day, she found herself chasing after a group of wild jarveys, the ferret like creatures seemingly mocking her as they sped towards the wooded area of the menagerie.

"Get back here you little pests!" she yelled, narrowly avoiding stray branches and other obstacles in the grass as she ran after them. Harriet had volunteered to feed and exercise them as Newt cared for the Hippogriffs and now she was regretting her decision immensely. As soon as she'd opened their cage to feed them, the large ferrets ran out and squealed out insults at her as they went.

Harriet was just beginning to catch up to them, her speed and agility thanks to years with the Dursleys and the war, when all of a sudden her leg caught on her skirt (why, oh why had she decided to run in a long skirt?) and she began to fly towards the ground. Before her body made contact with the grass, a pair of strong arms wrapped around her and kept her from slamming into the floor.

Harry was spun around and she found herself looking into a pair of concerned blue eyes. "Harry, what in Merlin's name were you doing?"

"I was…I was just", she turned to point in the direction of the Jarvey and realised the little sods had vanished. "I was trying to run after your jarvey. They obviously managed to outrun me".

"Dear Merlin, you could have hurt yourself. What were you thinking running about in that skirt?" Newt questioned her, looking as though he was worried for her sanity.

"I forgot I was wearing a bloody skirt. In my time, I hardly ever wore them", the black haired woman sulked. "But thanks for catching me. How did you catch up to me by the way? I thought you were feeding the hippogriffs".

Newt blushed which caused her to raise an eyebrow in curiosity. "I was watching you".

"You were…what?"

"I was watching you. I didn't mean to spy, I just…anyway I saw them speed past you. Sorry about that by the way, I should have warned you they have a tendency to do that. And I saw you run after them and realised that you would probably have done some harm to yourself running about in a long skirt especially when they can be slippery little sods. And rude too. Don't take their insults to heart, they're just cheeky".

"You babble when you're nervous don't you?" Harry smiled and found herself taking a step closer to him although she was already standing almost chest to chest with him. Newt found himself swallowing when she came so close that he could feel her breath on his face.

"Maybe…a little…" he admitted, his mind turning into a complete blank as his eyes met hers.

Harriet didn't know what she was doing. This was a bad idea, her mind was screaming at her but as though someone else had taken control of her body she leant up to touch her mouth against Newts. However before she had chance, a high pitched voice chanted out obnoxiously: "EWW, GIRL HAS GERMS, GIRL HAS GERMS". They broke away to see one of the Jarveys staring at them, effectively managing to ruin the moment.

It was the next morning when an owl swooped in through Newt's open kitchen window and dropped a letter in front of Harry's plate. Putting aside her bowl of cereal, Harry ripped open the ivory envelope that was closed with the official seal of St Mungos. It looked as though the healer had responded. She pulled the parchment out and immediately scanned it, her heart sinking with every word.

Newt that could tell from the look on her face that whatever the healer had said was not good news for Tom. Wordlessly, she handed over the parchment to Newt so that he could read it and he instantly understood why she looked so grim.

Dear Miss Grey (she decided to use a fake name so that they would not connect her with the current Potter family).

In all of our recorded documents on the subject of love potions, a child born from such a potion will have it embedded into their very DNA, as discovered through the testing of various children who were a result of such a conception. There is no existing cure for it as we know of currently.

A child that is conceived from a love potion is doomed to live a cursed life with some kind of deformity, be it physical, magical or mental and emotional. Additionally, all children born of love potions have never been recorded to live past 30 years of age at most. The love potion embedded in their DNA slowly corrupts their magic so that it will start eating away at the person's body and soul.

I'm sorry that I could not give you any better information on the subject.

Sincerely,

M.L Perkins

Head Healer, St Mungos

"Just because St Mungos have yet to discover a cure for it, doesn't mean there isn't one", Newt told her as he put the paper aside. "There can't have been that many babies born with such a condition which means they can only have so many on record. For all we know, there's someone out there that was born from a love potion and they have turned out perfectly fine".

"I don't think so, Newt", Harriet disagreed, shaking her head. "All of the children that they did test apparently had some sort of ailment and all of them were recorded to have died within 30 years. That would explain why Tom was so obsessed with immortality in my time and with his lack of conscience it didn't bother him to do whatever he had to, to get it".

Seeing the despondent look on his friend's face, he reached out and put his hand over hers. "I promise that we'll find something" Newt swore and she felt herself begin to smile at his confidence. "I'll write to some of my contacts in America. They might be able to help us".

"You really think so?"

"It's worth a shot", Newt pointed out and Harry felt some hope return to her, deciding to ignore the part of her that was sceptical that anything was going to come of this and that maybe Dumbledore was right. Maybe there wasn't anything for it. "Also we should pick up some books on blood magic. There may not be a cure but there might be something that can help with Tom's 'ailment'".

Harry was on board with anything that might be able to help. Deciding she needed to feel like she was doing something, anything other than waiting here for fate to do its thing, she told Newt she'd go down to Flourish and Blotts and see if there was anything there that might be of interest. She left Newt to write his letters and send them with his owl and grabbed her cloak from the hanger in the living room. Harry made her way to a quiet side street before apparating to Diagon Alley.

She was passing the Quidditch supply shop when a random memory of arguing with Ron over the selection of snitches slammed into her brain and making a wave of homesickness hit her like never before. Harriet had done well up to now ignoring all of the things and people she'd left behind in her own time but apparently her brain and heart weren't going to let her get away with it forever. Harry hoped that whenever she'd manage to meet the terms of her wish, she'd be sent back to her friends even though her heart felt an ache at the thought of leaving Newt behind. She didn't want to admit to herself but she was beginning to feel things for Newt, things that she'd swore she'd never feel again after Fred…

Shaking herself out of her thoughts – now was not the time or place to brood on things – Harriet made her way into Flourish and Blotts and headed towards the back end of the shop where the more serious magical subjects where kept. She searched all of their shelves on books that related to blood and magic but there was nothing in any of them that would be of any help to her or Newt in their mission to save Tom.

A sneaking thought entered her head that maybe what she was looking for was something a little darker than what Flourish and Blotts would ever consider stocking up on in their shop. Maybe what she wanted couldn't be found in Diagon Alley but maybe there was somewhere in Knockturn Alley that would provide her with what she was searching for. Even though she wasn't too keen on the idea of slinking through the shadowy streets with its robed hags and dark wizards, Harry refused to turn her back on something that could potentially save Tom by being a wimp. She was a Gryffindor for hell's sake.

Pushing up the purple hood of her cloak so that it masked her face, she stepped over the line that divided Diagon and Knockturn from each other and began to quietly walk through the dark streets until she saw what seemed to be a bookshop…of dark magic and other related subjects. Quills and Curses was the aptly named shop and she quickly pushed open the wooden door, stepping inside the dimly lit bookshop that was filled with shelves upon shelves of thick tombs and old looking texts.

Harry quickly found a section entitled "Blood magic and Rituals". Among that particular shelf one book stood out to her. It was a thick crimson tomb and its name "Magic of the Blood" was engraved in gold calligraphy. She flicked through the index and saw that there were various sections and different subjects of blood magic. If anything could potentially help her then she was sure that this book was it. She carried the book to the front desk and was greeted by a gaunt looking woman with ratty mousy brown hair.

"Fifty galleons", she croaked and Harry wasn't surprised by the high price of the book. They seemed to be one of a kind or rare finds that were either donated, stolen or discovered by the owners of the shop and were certainly nothing that could be found in a normal magical bookshop. She dug into the leather pouch that Newt had given to her to keep her money in and pulled out the correct amount of payment. After taking the galleons, the witch placed the book in a tatty cotton bag and handed it to Harry who slipped out of their as soon as she'd grabbed the book.

She was nearing the line between Knockturn and Diagon, feeling a rush of relief that she'd managed to make it without running into any trouble, when she heard someone coming up from behind her. On instinct, Harriet turned and shot a stunning spell at the person, knocking them to the floor. She knelt down and yanked down their hood and realised it was just a teenager but was probably looking to rob someone, in this instance, her. Harry sighed and was about to get up when a cutting spell suddenly hit her in the shoulder and the pain knocked her off her feet, landing her on the cold cobbled floor.

She glanced up to see a hideous looking hag and a couple of hooded figures beginning to circle her like a flock of vultures. The hag sneered at her, flashing her hideously croaked, yellow teeth. "You're not from around here, sweetie. What's a girl like you doing in a place like this?"

"You don't want to do this", Harry spoke calmly as they began to close in on her. Apparently the residents of Knockturn didn't like anyone that stood out as being not a typical visitor.

"Oh I think we do", the hag cackled and Harry saw their wands begin to light up, reminding that her own wand was in her pocket but she'd never get it out in time to defend herself. She wondered how the hell she was supposed to get out of there when a yell of 'expelliarmous' distracted the group and sent the hag flying into a wall. Harry glanced up and was both surprised and relieved to see Newt rushing towards her with a worried look on his face.

"Harry!"

"Newt, how did you know I was here?" she asked as he helped her to her feet and forced her across the line into Diagon Alley.

"I felt like you were in trouble. When I didn't see you in Flourish and Blotts I realised that you probably decided to visit Knockturn Alley for their more…varied selection of books".

"You're smart", Harry told him as they stopped once they were a safe distance away from Knockturn.

"And you're reckless. Do you know what could have happened to you alone down there? Knockturn is known to be full of dark witches and wizards for a reason you know!"

"I just wanted to find something to help Tom. I didn't think anyone would pay me any attention if I kept my head down". Saying that out loud to Newt, Harry cringed internally seeing how it made her sound like a naïve child. "And besides, I'm capable of taking care of myself".

"You were ambushed by a hag and more than a couple of dark wizards", Newt retorted, his face clearly expressing the distress he was feeling at the idea of her almost coming to harm. It warmed her heart that he cared but it also reminded her that if Hermione had been around then she'd most certainly be receiving the lecture of a lifetime. "I just don't want to see anything happen to you. I realise we haven't known each other for long but you've come to mean a great deal to me, Harriet".

"Newt", she gave him a look that stopped his heart in his chest for a moment. "Thank you". She pressed her lips against his cheek - causing Newt's cheeks to fill with red - and glanced away with a shy smile as they continued walking. They took the floo back to Newt's flat using the fireplace in the Leaky Cauldron and as soon as they had taken off their travelling cloaks, Harriet didn't waste a moment before sitting herself down on the sofa and opening the thick tomb that she had purchased.

INDEX

Introduction by Author…..2-6

Ancient Blood Magic

Sacrificial love….7-12

Blood of the enemy….13-20

Blood Bonds…21-28 Blood Uses In Marriage Rites…..29-35 Blood Purity & How It Affects Blood Magic….36-48 The Benefits To Blood Magic….48-54 Famous Examples Of Blood Magic In Action…54-61

Blood Rituals

Blood Brothers Ritual…..62-70

Warding & Blood…71-85

Fertility Rites Using Blood…86-102

Blood & Curses…..103-124

Protection for Bloodlines…125-130

Blood Adoption…..131-140

Magic & Blood Rituals…141-164

Blood Protection Rituals…..165-190

Other Rituals That Benefit From Blood Usage….191-200

Blood Magic Potions

Fertility & Impregnation Potions…..201-211

Cursing Bloodlines Using Potions….212-230

Genetic and DNA Testing Potions…..231-241

Blood Purity Potions…242-260

Love Potions Using Blood…261-280

The Use of the Blood of Magical & Dark Creatures In Potions…281-300

Other Potions That Require Blood…281-300

Magical Objects Requiring Blood

Ward Stones…..301-318

Family Heirlooms & Artefacts….319-330

The Objects of the Four Founders…..331-367

Family Vaults….368-380

Blood Quills and Their Many Uses…...381-400

Other Objects, Speculation & Rumours…401-410.

Conclusion by Author…411-425.

Harry groaned at the sheer amount of topics and chapters within each one. "How am I supposed to read through all of this?"

"Maybe we should start with the Love Potion chapter since that is essentially what we're looking for a cure for", Newt suggested and with a flick of his wand, the book opened to the first chapter on love potions. After spending the next twenty minutes reading it, Harry came to realise that there was nothing about how to cure someone cursed from conception by a love potion, it was all more about how to use blood to key a potion to the drinker and brewer or how to make two potions be specifically keyed to two different people to make them fall for each other, not necessarily the brewer or person wanting to create a love potion.

"Hopefully one of my contacts will be able to come up with something more relevant to our search", the former Hufflepuff tried to reassure the ebony haired witch but judging from the despondent expression on her face, he could see that he was unsuccessful. "Just because nothing has been discovered yet, doesn't mean that there isn't a way".

Harry tossed the book down onto the coffee table, giving up on finding anything in there. She had really thought that dark magic would be able to help her in her quest but even that was failing her. She was about to ask Newt when they could expect to hear from his American friends when her eyes landed on the mirror that was lay down on the coffee table, just a few inches away from the book she'd put down there.

"Hold on", she leaned over and picked the mirror up, eyeing it carefully. "What about the mirror? Why did we not think of this?!"

Newt looked at her and hesitated before speaking. "The mirror? Harry, we already tried using it remember?"

"We tried using it to wish me back to my own time and it didn't work because my wish needed fulfilling first", she corrected him, a hopeful glimmer reappearing in her green eyes. "But what if we didn't wish for that? What if we wished for a way to save Tom? It grants only wishes that your heart deeply desires and cannot be reversed until or if the grant is fulfilled. We've got nothing to lose from trying".

"You are quite right", he agreed, also cautiously feeling a bit more optimistic from what she was suggesting. "If you're right then this might be the impossible answer we were looking for".

"I just feel bad for all the other children that didn't have a magic wishing mirror".

Newt felt his heart warm towards the woman beside him and her seemingly endless supply of compassion. "Well maybe we can still look into other cures but for now this will work as an immediate answer for Tom".

"Hopefully", Harry agreed and took a deep breath before looking directly into the mirror and at her own, pale faced complexion. "I wish that Tom Riddle was free from the circumstances of his conception and not cursed as a child of love potion. I was that there was a way to heal him". The mirror then began glowing and the dark haired witch felt the room go blindingly white in front of her before falling unconscious, not hearing Newt shouting her name frantically.