{Chapter 8: One night and One more story, a horcrux and a hollow}
Harry and Dumbledore crawled out of the water onto the rock ledge inside of the dank seaside cave.
"You know I am rapidly growing to dislike Riddle the more we search around these idiotic soul fragments." Harry grumbled.
"It's an adventure Harry. Or would you have rather we had stayed at school and studied more memories of Tom's life?" Dumbledore asked as they quickly cast drying charms.
"Doesn't mean I enjoy getting seaweed inside my pants on brisk autumn evenings." Harry replied as they approached a wall. After a second of looking at it Harry growled.
"Blood! Blood as the key!"
Dumbledore sliced the grumbling teen's arm and smeared the blood over the necessary piece of stone as the 'donor' healed the cut.
"When I find him I'm going to slice off both his arms, give him a tongue piercing, shove a pike right up his-"
"You really are over thinking this you know?" Albus cut in as the wall opened and they entered the main cavern, which was complete with underground saltwater lake. Looking into the depths Harry chuckled.
"Inferi, Albus. He must be insane to think that's a deterrent." The ebony haired teen pulled out his wand from a holster on his belt and began chanting. After a few moments Harry's wand tip glowed white and snowflakes fell from the air. Stepping up to the water's edge Harry thrust the tip into the lake just as an inferius reached up to grab its 'victim'. The poor meat puppet didn't stand a chance.
The moment the tip of Harry's wand touched the lake, the body of water began freezing. Within a few seconds the whole lake was a giant ice rink and the poor undead monsters were trapped below the surface.
Without a word both Harry and Albus transfigured their boots into ice skates and skated out to the island in the center of the cave.
Once there the two walked up to the podium in center of the island holding a stone basin, which held a clear potion that glowed eerily. At the bottom lay a simple locket. Harry raised a single eyebrow.
"Well, that is 5 points to Slytherin for special effects"
Looking at the potion Dumbledore did a quick analysis charm.
"Looks like one of us has to drink it" Dumbledore muttered darkly. Harry frowned and pointed his wand at the bottom of the potion. Suddenly a locket flew out of the potion into his hand.
"I didn't think Tom would be so careless" Dumbledore said in disbelief.
"He wasn't" Harry growled "It's a fake!" Albus' expression darkened as he took the locket from Harry. Quickly opening the piece of jewelry a piece of parchment fluttered out.
"What's it say" Dumbledore ignored the younger wizards question for a second.
"It says that Regulus Arcturus Black wasn't such a loyal Death Eater." Harry summoned the peace of parchment to his hand and read it.
".." Harry's voice staccatoed each syllable.
"Quite"
"We spent two weeks trying to get something we already had!" The teen's voice was a hiss.
The two stood in silence for a moment then Harry walked up to a rock and tapped it with his wand.
"What are you doing Harry?" Albus asked clearly bewildered.
"I'm making a present for Tom" Harry spat as he transfigured the rock he'd tapped into it's base elements.
"A bomb?" Albus' voice held clear amusement.
"Not just any bomb. This thing will take out the cave, the cliff outside, the ground above us, and hopefully a few square kilometers of the landscape. Now, help me transmutate a few tons on magnesium and lets paint it on the walls. If Tom tries to check on his soul piece I want to hear a boom." Harry said with a maniacal grin.
One hour later the entire cave was a shining death trap. Elemental magnesium plated the walls, the ceiling was totally covered in Potassium. All the water that had made up the lake was now in the form of pure hydrogen and oxygen, all the atmospheric nitrogen and the inferi in the lake had been converted into the various explosive compounds which lined the room. The lake was now filled halfway with nitroglycerin and the entrance to the cave was equipped with an alarm that would release the three ward charged magma-erupting runic summons AND the stasis charm that held the whole room in total inactivity.
"It's a work of art" Harry said as they sealed up the door and removed any signs of their presence.
"It'll do Harry, it'll do." Dumbledore replied in a subdued tone as they apparated to Hogsmeade. Entering the Hogs Head (At Harry's insistence the two brothers had started to work on their strained relationship. Actually after Harry chewed both of the aged wizards out for being idiots they had united for the first time in ten years to shot him with a duel bludgeoning hex and shut him up. It was one of the many occasions Harry wished he had not progressed to the point where he was immune to the stunning spell.) Albus and Harry quickly traveled Aberforth's secret passage into the school, and changed into their 'school clothes'.
School had reached a sort of cycle now. Classes where Harry now slept with his eyes open and a locomotion charm on himself so that he appeared to be awake and taking notes. Every time the teacher called on him he would wake up, use Legilimency to get the question from a classmate, answer, and then go back to sleep. After the first week or so the teachers gave up trying to catch him zoning out, since whenever they accused him of it he could explain in detail everything the teacher had covered so far that class. In Potions Snape would: 'tutor' Harry via legilimency, occasionally engaging in a mental assault as Harry approached the crucial part of the potion he was brewing, and find a way to give him detention every class. Snape was aware that detention meant that he and Potter would be dueling, an activity Snape took great pleasure in, ironically these duels had become Harry's preferred evening exercise. After classes Harry would hang out with his friends make sure that everyone knew he was a perfectly sane and healthy individual. Usually making a show of demonstrating his skill at defensive spells and helping some of the other students with their assignments. At five every morning he would sneak into Dumbledore's office and the two wizards would use the time turner to travel, train, and tutor for fifteen hours. Originally it had only been for seven hours but a week into the semester the duo broke into the Department of Mysteries a second time and 'borrowed' another timeturner, one capable of traveling back eight hours. They would appear at seven for breakfast in the great hall and the cycle repeated.
At Dumbledore's suggestion Harry took turns sitting with all four house tables at the meals and encouraged his friends to do the same. That drastically improved his relationship with the other students. The Slytherin table always refused his offer but he asked periodically just to bother them. Hagrid had returned in mid October. Ron was turning out to be an excellent keeper, he'd won the spot with little opposition. At Harry's insistence Angelina had made a reserve team so that they could all scrimmage. Umbridge was appointed High Inquisitor by Fudge and most of the school was officially sick of her. Despite her best attempts, she failed to find a way to get Harry to attend classes. Since there was nothing barring his ability to formally withdrawal so long as he had a letter of authorization from his legal guardian, which Sirius had eagerly provided, she couldn't do anything.
"So what's next?" Harry asked telepathically as the two disillusioned men made their way to the Room of Requirement.
"It is only midnight. So, we have plenty of time to work on your apparition." Albus was definitely an exacting man. Some would be impressed that a wizard Harry's age was even capable of apparating. Many would be amazed that the same wizard was capable of silentapparition. Most would be dumbfounded when the discovered the same wizard could silently apparate without a wand, but Albus wanted more. For the past week the Sorcerer had been working on teaching his apprentice how to apparate while inside wards. It had started with him apparating a few paces distance while inside an anti-apparition ward. Line of sight apparition being the easiest method of apparating, and anti-apparition wards being all but impervious when attached to physical structures, the only real apparition that could be accomplished within Hogwart's was short near-instantaneos trips through open space. After countless painful accidents Harry finally mastered the task. He was then forced to do the same task silently, then wandlessly, then silently and wandlessly and finally wandlessly silently and blindfolded. After he had succeeded in doing that the next step had been doing the same task once every two seconds for a minute. Harry had splinched off his legs, arms, and half his stomach before succeeding on his last attempt.
"Great, so what insane exercise do you have now?" apprehension accompanied Harry's mental message. Instead of responding Dumbledore just walked into the Room of Requirement. Harry followed into the room and the door vanished from behind him.
"Why?" Harry didn't even hide his despair as he looked at the room. It was filled with pillars with small protruding ledges at random intervals, the walls were now mirrors, ropes dangling from the ceiling, massive perpetually spinning blades levitating about a meter off the ground whizzed around the room with no noticeable pattern, once every five seconds massive sharpened railroad spikes came up through the floor before merging into the ground, and hundreds of doxies flitted around the room not yet aware of his presence.
Without warning a bludgeoning hex whizzed toward Harry's head from above. Instinctively sidestepping the spell and looking up towards the area of his attacker Harry growled at the silver haired man grinning in amusement from atop his flying carpet.
"Think fast Harry" Heeding the old man's words, Harry apparated up to the nearest rope just as a spinning blade whipped past where he had been standing.
"Are you trying to kill me?" Harry shouted angrily. Dumbledore's smile grew wider and Harry let go of the rope just as a doxy was about to bite his hand. 'I am NOT doing this poisoned!' Harry landed on the floor without breaking anything (courtesy of the cushioning charm he was now casting almost instinctively) and rolled to a standing position. Firing a several splintering stunners which expanded outwards like buckshot. Before Harry could attack the doxies further Albus struck him with a vicious pain hex, causing the boy to stumble and cut his leg on one of the spikes on the ground.
"Keep Moving Harry" the old man's voice ordered.
Growling Harry rolled to the side avoiding the older man's various hexes. Once behind one of the pillars Harry quickly healed his cut and apparated to behind another pillar.
To his surprise, Albus appeared next to him and delivered a magically enhanced kick to the younger man's gut simultaneously hitting him with a powerful disarmer. Harry watched in horror as Dumbledore apparated away with his wand. 'The Mirrors! They weren't to confuse me they were so that I couldn't hide!' Harry apparated up to one of the stone ledges near the ceiling of the room and had to leap away from the wall as a conjured fireball crashed into the stone ledge. Harry grabbed one of the ropes hanging from the ceiling and swung across the room with as much agility as he could. As per usual Albus predicted his apprentice's move and transfigured one of the ropes several animated strands of bailing wire that quickly began wrapping around the younger man. Harry apparated to the ground to avoid being hit with the bolt of lightning Albus fired at his apprentice. 'Figures he would come up with a way to turn apparition training into a duel!' The irate teen leapt to the side as another of the perpetually spinning blades made a pass in an attempt to cut open his stomach. Albus decided to make their match a little more fun by conjuring an enormous amount of water in the form of several thousand orbs the size of bowling balls, freezing the orbs and firing his newly formed projectiles at the ebony haired boy. Upon seeing the attack Harry dodged, ducked, and disapparated out of the way as quickly as possible running and dodging along the mirrored walls causing the walls and the icy projectiles to crack and shatter on impact. After the first few dozen balls cracked Harry found that the orbs began acting like homing missiles, changing direction to hit their target. In order to avoid being crushed by a trio of incoming icy projectiles Harry apparated into a group of doxies. Acting quickly he wandlessly banished the little monsters at Dumbledore and watched with satisfaction as the older wizard instinctively incinerated them. Unfortunatly his moment of satisfaction resulted in him being clipped by one of the ice balls. Angrily, Harry whipped out a boot knife he had taken to carrying and sliced the offending object in half by focusing his magic through the blade. Upon doing so the orb exploded outwards firing bits of icy shrapnel into his skin. Harry disapparated onto the ground and rolled sideways, barely avoiding a dozen icy projectiles which crashed down on him. His movements caused him to almost be impaled by a railroad spike which flew out of the ground like a bullet and cut through his robes. With a magically enhanced jump Harry lept up onto a ledge three meters above him. Upon landing he had to apparate across the room to avoid a salvo of piercing spells, which cut through the stone pillars like tissue paper. Landing amongst a group of doxies Harry used his knife to vivisect the poisonous irritations. Once again Harry disapparated away to avoid a series of the icy balls which shattered against the stone floor and wall. He reappeared flush against the edge of the doomed ceiling trying to remain inconspicuous for a momentary rest. Dumbledore had other plans and Harry had to disapparate to avoid a massive stone fist that blasted through the ceiling, causing large rocks to fall to the ground leaving a gaping hole to the outer world. Harry apparated up to the ledge nearest to his mentor and threw the knife at Albus, who summoned one of the ice orbs block the blade, Harry wandlessly banished the ball of ice at the older wizard.
With great surprise Harry watched the orb collide with the older wizard. Apparating next to the older man Harry snatched his wand away from the older man's slackened grasp just as five of the ice orbs hit his back, his left shoulder, his right hip, and his right elbow with sickening crunches. Harry let out a loud shout of anguish just as Dumbledore hit him with a variant of Snape's sectumsempra. Unfortunately, Harry wasn't wearing (nor was he allowed to wear) his armor during training and his hastily cast shield didn't completely block the invisible blade as it cut through his chest and shoulder leaving a long bleeding wound. Apparating to the ground below he conjured a dome of iron around him and began quickly wrote a few anti-magic runes on the structure with his own blood as Albus' first attack hit the barrier.
BANG!
Harry healed the wound from Albus' sectumsempra.
BANG!
The first crack began to form as Harry quickly cast his favorite bone-mending spells on his recent injuries.
BANG! CRAAAACK!
Harry apparated five paces to the left of where he had been just as the iron was reduced to a piece of rusted red-hot scrap metal.
Not wasting a second Harry conjured on million needles of sharpened glass and banished them at his mentor. Rather than try and block the attack Albus apparated to the ground just as Harry let loose a jet of flames, which incinerated the flying carpet where the older man had been standing. Harry apparated to the farthest corner of the room as about twenty of the icy orbs that had been whizzing around the room crashed into the ground where he had been standing. Unfortunately, Albus once again predicted his pupil's destination and banished all of the remaining ice orbs at his apprentice. Harry disapparated away from the position quickly but not before having his jaw, two ribs and his left hand broken. Casting a sticking charm on the soles of his shoes he apparated so that he was hanging from the ceiling upside down above his mentor.
Dumbledore looked around the room quickly for a few moments before he heard the crack of Harrys' bones snapping into place. If he was fazed by his apprentice's location, it didn't show. Not waiting for a second he fired a bolt of lightning at his apprentice, who disapparated just as the bolt of lightning vaporized a segment of the ceiling with a bang. Not stopping Albus unleashed several waves of fire turning the room into one massive inferno, killing the remaining doxies, and ruining the mirrored walls. Both Harry and Albus cast Bubble-head and flame retardent charms on themsemselves. The fire, which was rapidly dissipating, wasn't worth extinguishing, as it would be gone in a few minutes. Instead Dumbledore pulverized the already melting orbs of ice and formed them into a massive golem, which Harry opted to avoid rather than destroy. Apparating close to his master he cast a piercing hex at the older man's chest, Albus, having cast a dueling shield on his hand, blocked the spell with it and returned the attack with a conjured flame whip. Harry stumbled backwards to avoid the concentrated flames just as one of the floors spikes flew out of the ground cutting his calf open. Harry fell into the flames and quickly apparated away before the flames could do any real damage. Hiding behind one of the stone pillars Harry healed his leg. Not a moment after he finished he had to dodge the fist of Dumbledore's ice golem, which seemed unaffected by the stifling heat.
Harry apparated up to the highest of the ledges in the room and began conjuring as much water as he could and watched at the room filled with water so that the ledge he stood on just barely remained above the surface. The Ice Golem was now floating on the surface thrashing in vain as it tried to reach it's target. With a quick grin Harry, Bubble-charm intact, apparated to the bottom of the room. To his surprise Dumbledore was not there.
'Where did he…?' Harry looked up at the surface of the water through the blurry surface he could see Dumbledore hanging from the ceiling, high and dry.
'no, No, NO!'
Harry tried to apparate, but he wasn't fast enough. Dumbledore shot a bolt of lightning into the water and Harry felt pure pain as he almost blacked out. Luckily his apparition landed him on the dry roof of the room. Harry quickly healed himself and gasped in pain as he magically repaired his palpitating body.
"To predictable Harry" Albus's voice struck fear into Harry's heart. The last thing Harry felt was pain.
"Get. Up."
Harry blinked his eyes open and looked up at his antagonist. The pair where at the bottom of the destroyed room the majority of the ceiling lay in pieces around them and the majority of the water was gone from the room.
"I suppose I deserved that for returning fire during an apparition practice?" The teen asked groggily as he pulled himself to a standing position.
"No I just wanted to judge your practical progress" Dumbledore replied calmly as he began fixing the ceiling above them.
"So how long did it take for you to set up this deathtrap?" Harry mumbled, clearing his head and casting drying and mending charms on his recently ruined school clothes.
"About five minutes last night."
"I wonder if anyone heard us." Harry wondered aloud, conjuring a mirror and looking over his school robes to make sure they were fixed.
"Peeves will be more than willing to take the blame as usual." Dumbledore's blasé attitude had a soothing effect on Harry's personality. A few months ago this sort of evening activity had left the teen in crippling state of perpetual angst.
"Maybe so, but I can't help wondering how much longer we'll have to wait before Umbridge finally figures something out." Dumbledore nodded absently as he looked over the recently repaired ceiling with a critical eye.
"What's next?" Harry asked stretching his back causing it to emit several loud cracks.
"You are still to predictable, an opponent with more power than me could easily dispatch you." Dumbledore said a trace of exasperation hidden in his voice.
"Then what are we worried about? You're the strongest wizard alive." Harry's reply caused Dumbledore's eyes to flash with annoyance.
"You are still such a foolish boy!" The older man said darkly. Harry frowned.
"Pardon?"
"How can you truly not understand the situation? I am a weak decrepit has-been Harry!" Dumbledore's voice was full of barely contained anger.
"You're being modest again. I've seen some of your fights in pensive memories. You and Grindelwald make Riddle look like a child by comparison!" Harry said with a smile.
"Exactly I used to be that powerful! Now Tom is infinitely more powerful than me!" Dumbledore's voice came out as a growl. "Do you think honestly think I would let Tom draw another breath if I had the power to stop him?"
"Of course not" Harry said quietly as comprehension dawned on him. "But you? You are more powerful-" Harry said quickly.
"NO! I'm strong, stronger than any wizard in the British Isles! But the weakest of your classmates has more raw power than I do now!"
"What are you talking about?" Harry shouted back. "You're THE Albus Dumbledore you are the closest thing to Merlin that…" Dumbledore cut him off.
"YOU FOOL! I WAS THE MOST POWERFUL! I HAVE NOTHING! MY STRENGTH IS GONE! I LOST IT THE DAY I FOUGHT GRINDELWALD!" Harry looked dumbfounded.
"w-what?" Dumbledore's eyes shined with years of pent-up rage.
"Before we fought Grindelwald prepared a curse. A curse that would take away the life and magic of any man who defeated him. He sacrificed one hundred thousand human beings, killed for no reason other than senseless hate. The day I beat him I lost almost all of my magic. I couldn't kill him or I would die. Did you really think I locked him away out of some moral code? Did you really think I would risk him escaping back into the world over something so abstract? I locked him up so that I could survive and ensure his followers didn't rise up again. It was a BLUFF! I wanted everyone to believe that I was still strong enough to defeat him if he did escape. I wanted to play the pacifist to make sure everyone saw me as larger than life. I made the wizarding world believe I was powerful, so powerful that no one would even think to rise up and take his place. But, I have the same amount of raw magic as Argus Filch." Dumbledore finished.
"B-but you use magic constantly. You are a Master of magic" Objected Harry. Dumbledore sighed and gave Harry a tired look.
"Yes that is why I can still use magic at all. I mastered magic well enough that I can use the ambient magic around me to perform spells. Alchemy, transfiguration, most charms, potions, and elemental spells all allow me to draw on the ambient magic around me. My magical core is hollow now, so I can use it to gather magic around me and cast spells."
"So you have an infinite supply of magic?" Harry couldn't keep the incredulousness out of his tone.
"Far from it. I can't draw the large quantities of magic necessary to use the spells I had in my arsenal against Grindelwald. I can't use any curse higher than NEWT level. There is a reason I have you duel Severus. It isn't that I don't want to use high level curses it's that I can't I have had to rely on spells like Severus' Sectumsempra and the like. I can't summon massive sentient dragons from Norway to aid me in battle or use the killing curse because it requires too much raw magic. I have to form spells from the magic around me. I need to perform magic to remain alive. If I didn't cast a spell or if I didn't have one cast on me for a week I would die. Before I fought Gellert, my core was large enough that I could have lived to the age of four hundred easily, as it is my life is almost over I barely have another two years left at best."
Harry just stood there with a look of disbelief on his face.
'He can't be…he-he…'
"You're Dying" It was a statement. But Dumbledore nodded sagely in acknowledgment.
'How? I can't do this alone! I won't do this alone!'
"It's twelve fifty-seven we're leaving." Harry said abruptly. Dumbledore watched in confusion as his apprentice began pulling the acromantula silk/manticore armor out of an infinitely expanded pocket.
"What are you doing?" the older man asked.
"Changing" Harry used a switching spell and shrunk his school robes.
"Why?" Harry turned to face Dumbledore with a slight frown.
"I have two years left. Two bloody years until I am stuck with this mess! WE are going horcrux hunting, we'll turn this whole bloody island upside down! You and I are going to find a Horcrux tonight or die trying. You're going to do the best day's work you've ever done!" Harry stormed out of the room, and an amused Albus followed. The two whipped down the halls, Harry ignoring all pretense of stealth. by the time the duo were at the main hall Harry had stunned two prefects, Mrs. Norris, and a pair of sixth year Hufflepuffs who where trying to sneak into a empty classroom. As the two marched across the school lawn towards Hogsmeade, and the edge of the anti-apparition wards, Albus broke the silence.
"Where do you intend to begin your search?"
"Little Hangleton, His father and mother lived there." Harry's voice held great irritation, stemming from his recently obtained knowledge about his master's looming death.
The two reached the edge of the barrier and Harry side-along apparated them into the Riddle graveyard.
"Now what, Harry? How do you plan to find a needle in a field of haystacks?" Harry twitched his hand in annoyance.
"Now we search for high magic areas. This is a muggle town, a Horcrux will stick out worse than Ludo Bagman at a corporate muggle dinner."
Two hours of scanning later the two wizards stood outside of a rundown shack with a snake nailed to the door.
"Subtle" Harry's sarcasm cut through the quiet night.
"We should probably try and dismantle the wards before-" Harry pointed his wand at the structure and was casting before Albus could finish.
"Mitter Infernus: Consumere cum flamma pila!"
The shack in front of them exploded in a massive pillar of flame. Dumbledore looked at Harry.
"You really do need to learn how to express yourself in grammatically correct sentences. That was atrocious." The older man chastised.
"It worked" Harry shrugged and began walking up to the burning rubble casting bludgeoning hexs and cutting spells at the remains of the building.
"How do you intend to find a Horcrux now Harry? It could be anywhere or nowhere and there are undoubtedly anti-summoning charms on it."
"Of course, but we are wizards. Extinguere! Pruina!" Once the flames vanished and the remains were cooled Harry raised his wand into the air and focused on his magic.
"Accio, object nearest to Horcrux!" Harry and Dumbledore watched as a pebble flew of the ground and whizzed past Harry's head.
"I didn't think I could do that." Harry said surprised by his success.
"Magic surprises us sometimes." Dumbledore said sagely as he walked up to where the pebble had been. Another few attempts, and a great deal of vanishing charms, and the two wizards were looking at a small slightly soot covered ring.
"This must be it." Harry said levitating the object into the air. "Who knows what curses are on this thing."
Dumbledore frowned and cast a scougify on the levitating ring. The dirt fell away and the ring remained there hovering. It's gold band shining in the moonlight.
"Maybe we should destroy it here." When Albus didn't respond Harry glanced at the older man. Albus looked pale his eyes were wide and glazed over.
"The stone!" Dumbledore's voice was a hoarse whisper. "All these years, it was here all these years. Tom was wearing it on his hand at Hogwarts and it was right there, right there, all those years…" Dumbledore reached out to grab the ring but Harry moved faster. He hit Dumbledore with a disarmer and quickly conjured ropes around the crazed man.
"Snap out of it!" He shouted at the old man.
"The stone, Harry! Give me the STONE!" Albus' eyes were wild he thrashed in his bindings. Harry, in fear, did the first thing that came to mind.
"Somnus…" Albus motions slowed, as Harry continued chanting Albus' struggling lessened, and after a few minutes he stilled.
"Fawkes!" Harry shouted out. The phoenix appeared in a burst of flame.
"Hey can you take this ring back to the office?" Harry gestured to the floating ring. Fawkes turned her head towards Albus and back to Harry questioningly.
"It's something about the ring. I can't let him wake up with it here. I'll get him back to Hogwarts. Promise." Casting a final look at Albus, Fawkes snatched the ring and burst into flame.
"Now the fun part" Harry muttered summoning Albus' wand from the ground and leveling his own wand at the older wizard. "Enerverate"
The older man stirred and looked around blearily.
"I am far to old for this sort of thing. I'm sure there are other men closer to your age who would be much more enjoyable." Harry just blinked he didn't flinch at the mental image that now permanently scar his consciousness, nor did he lower his wand from where it was trained.
"Tell me the last thing you remember." Harry's voice was cold and level. Harry watched as comprehension dawned on Dumbledore's features, closely followed by a look of shame. Harry sighed and vanished the older mans bindings.
"Care to tell me why that ring caused you to behave like a lunatic?" Harry said calmly offering the older man a hand up. Albus accepted the offered hand and rose slowly. Without warning the older wizard hit Harry with an uppercut, pulled the younger man forward knee-ed him in the gut, and wandlessly banished him into the ground. Harry tried to roll away and hit the older man with a decapitating curse, but Albus proved faster. The older man dropped to the ground and slammed a hand into the charred earth. Then just before the curse left Harry's wand the ground split apart and a geyser of boiling water launched Harry into the air, knocking the wind out of him and ripping away layers of his skin. The youth's descent was less then graceful and it was only the months of training to roll when falling that saved him from impacting headfirst into the ground with enough force to cause blood and spinal fluid to start leaking out of his ears. As it was he landed roughly and was then banished across the ground causing his already burned and torn skin to rip away from his body in chunks. His violent crash course ended with Albus apparating into his apprentice's flight path and stopping it with a well-positioned kick to the younger mans chest. Dumbledore disarmed his apprentice quickly and cast a few healing spells on his burnt, bloodied, and bruised pupil.
"What the hell was that for?" Harry managed to gasp out as his wounds healed.
"You disarmed me, I needed to return the favor. I can't let my wand forget its master. And my wand does have it's special condition." Albus replied casually.
"Because merely breaking my wrist and taking it wouldn't suffice. You had to remove thirty percent of my epidermis, break my jaw, and bruise a few of my internal organs. " Harry croaked out from his prone position.
"I am also a bit of a sore loser." Dumbledore replied, amusement twinkling in his eyes. Harry just stared at the older man incredulously for a few moments before giving up on trying to understand the insanity that was Albus Dumbledore.
"You going to tell me about the reason I had to put you to sleep now?" Dumbledore looked at Harry and the older man's face aged before the youth's eyes.
"Your cloak, my wand, and that was the stone." Dumbledore said in a sort of grim resolution. Harry's mind raced.
'Elder Wand, Cloak of Invisibility, and...' Harry's lips formed a grin and he began laughing.
"You're kidding? He had the Stone and he left in an old shack? That idiot!" Dumbledore looked pensive for a moment and began smiling.
"Hard to believe he walked around Hogwarts wearing it for two years." The older man added amusement beginning to surface in his voice.
"And they didn't even know what they had! You said my dad knew about the Cloak right?"
"Yes, it took a great deal of effort to get him to lend it to me to study. I still can't believe the Gaunts never realized what they possessed." Harry smirked
"Well, you know they did do that inbreeding thing..."
"You know as well as I do that magic prevents any adverse physical effects in magical families"
"Yeah but by the time they're inbreeding they've already gone off the deep end." Harry quipped as he pulled himself to a standing position.
"Ready to head back to school? I already gave Fawkes the ring. So she'll be there waiting for us." With a nod Dumbledore disapparated, Harry followed and the two landed in an alcove on the farside of Hogwart's lake outside the schools anti-apparition wards. The duo snuck back into the school through a passage, which deposited them at the base of the battlements of the castle's east wing. From there the two slipped in through a spiral staircase hidden inside the fountain in the gardens. Once inside the two disillusioned wizards quickly reached the headmaster's office. Slipping past the Gargoyle and into the office they were greeted by Fawkes' trill of elation. Now that the two wizards were suitably calmed they spent time carefully analyzing the ring.
"Interesting curse, definitely fatal." Dumbledore said abscently viewing the piece of jewelry.
"I can smell his soul on it" Harry grumbled walking over to a case and pulling out Gryffindors' sword.
"So do we hack this thing up or try something else?" He asked unsheathing the blade.
"Let's hold off on utterly destroying thousand year old artifacts for a moment shall we?" Dumbledore replied reaching into his desk and pulling out a few crystal vials filled with clear fluids. "Fetch me the Fairy Blood would you Harry." The teen sheathed the sword, and walked up to one of the portraits of the sleeping headmasters.
"Fudge is an ignoramus." the portrait fell from the wall and Harry caught it in his left hand as he reached through the stone wall, which shimmered like rippling water. After pulling out a golden orb inscribed with runes, he placed the Portrait back on the wall and walked over to where Albus had set up a stone table and was carving a few runes into a shallow marble basin.
"What's the plan?" Albus took a blood quill and drew three circles on the base of the basin.
"I think we should try to dissociate the different properties of the ring." Harry frowned.
"Doesn't a Horcrux resist dissociation?" Dumbledore nodded and took the gold orb from Harry's hand.
"Yes that's why I want to separate the parts of the ring. There are three intangible components in this object: The Horcrux, the Ressurection Stone's magic, and Tom's spellwork. There are also three tangible components in this ring: The stone and the band, which is composed of gold and zinc alloy."
"Real high class workmanship that is." Harry said humorously. "Thousand year old artifact and they didn't even use pure gold!"
"Twenty-four karat gold may have been out of the Gaunt's budget Harry. Not everyone has been as financially gifted as the Potters. Charge those runes Harry, go counter-clockwise skip every other one, and keep charging them until all of them are ready. Now hand me the fairy's blood. Right, place one crystallized acromantula tear on the sigma anchor rune and smear two grams of the aconite ash over the fidelity seal opposite that..." Ten minutes of rapid movement and precise measurements later Harry and Albus looked into the basin at their finished product.
"Did it work?" Harry asked cautiously looking into the glowing basin. Sure enough sitting at the bottom was the small stone of the ring, and two amorphous blobs of metal. Reaching in, Dumbledore pulled out the stone and examined it.
"I believe it did, the stone is free of the Horcrux and the curses."
"Can I dispose of the other byproducts? Riddle's soul is making me nauseas." Albus nodded and Harry pointed his wand into the basin.
"Consumera Malum Spiritus: FiendFyre-DEVORARA!"
A giant flaming gryphon's head exploded out of Harry's wand and vaporized the Basin, the stone table, and the rug beneath it within seconds. The moment Harry finished the invocation, he was already completed chanting the four line sealing spell. Luckily, with the extended invocation and limiting keywords, Harry's control over the spell had improved. So after their initial assault, the flames weakened and only scorched and cracked the stone floor of Dumbledore's office.
After vanishing the deadly flames, Harry collapsed against the wall and looked over at his master.
Dumbledore looked up from his desk where he was using alchemy to form a new band for the stone.
"We trained, destroyed a Horcrux, torched Riddle's family estate, set up enough explosives to destroy a few dozen acres of England, had a little spar and completed the Deathly Hallows all before sunrise. Not bad for a night's work, right?" The older man smiled tiredly.
"Don't forget stunning students and taking dip in the Atlantic ocean Harry." Harry frowned
"Or how you are ditching me in two years for the next great adventure? What am I going to do with you leave? You're the only reason Grindelwald's Lieutenants haven't been out in the open for the past fifty years. They aren't going to sit around with you gone. The only reason they aren't out in force now is they think that would bring you out of retirement." Dumbledore sighed and leaned back in his chair.
"I don't know Harry. I just don't know anymore. I was actually considering spending this spring seeking them out and offering concessions." Harry looked at him in alarm.
"But, recently I've been changing my mind about how to do that. The only way they would agree to restrict their future expansion following my death is if I offered something more advantageous then allowing them to try and re-establish themselves through terrorism." Albus locked eyes with Harry and the teen's eyes widened.
"You don't mean…?" Harry's voice squeaked nervously.
"I get it, this is a joke right? You really scared me there." Harry said forcing a laugh. Dumbledore continued looking directly into Harry's eyes with a blank expression.
"No, NO WAY! You aren't seriously considering…YOU ARE TOTALLY BAT-SHIT INSANE! WE HAVE MORE THAN ENOUGH TROUBLE ALREADY!"
"Calm yourself Harry it will be simple-" Harry cut Albus off.
"Calm down! You are suggesting we try to threaten, kill or blackmail the remaining FIVE! of Grindelwalds' High Command!"
"What better gift than allowing someone to live? And we won't kill all of them. If we did, the remaining forces would schism and break the tentative stability that their covert empires provide resulting in open warfare on three continents."
"So what you're suggesting is that we kill a few of them and make an alliance via unbreakable oath with the remainder?"
"Exactly. With two of the leaders remaining, they will consolidate territories with relative ease. It will be a relatively bloodless transition, and with the oaths we will force them to swear… They will be entirely without the ability to cause a violent upheaval. We aren't dealing with hotheads Harry. Some of these men are upwards of one hundred and twenty years old. They will be much more receptive to our negotiations if we offer them the territories of three of their ex-comrades." Harry was quiet for a moment.
"And what if the two remaining decide they wish to unite under a common flag? What then?" Dumbledore smiled and Harry saw a cold glint in his mentor's eyes.
"They won't unite. The only reason they united under Grindelwald was he had them under his thumb. He put a curseseal on Malvolio after possessing Malvolio's sister and holding her hostage. He defeated Marik, Tizoc, and he hunted down and bested Yefimovich. The only reason Kimball joined them was because he had lost a duel against Malvolio, and Gellert's plans offered a chance for Kimball to expand his own diminuative sphere of influence."
"So we are going after Marik, Tizoc, and Yefimovich. Then, we split up their territory between Malvolio and Kimball and watch them kill each other? How do we even know they will accept our offer?"
"I am almost sixty percent sure that they won't kill each other. I still don't know how to go about this. Tizoc, Marik, and Kimball have assisted in creating horrible living conditions for the majority of those living within their sphere of influence. Malvolio has a very laisez faire way of handling the world around him. His authority is absolute but he chooses not to use it for the most part. Yefimovich magically supported the soviet government and established himself with it. The size, and his control, over the territories he rules has been waning since the fall of the soviet government."
"So with the exception of Malvolio we are dealing with ruthless unyielding forces, with control issues." Harry summarized.
"Indeed, if he were not so disinterested with the plights facing the world I would have sought him out as an ally long ago."
"So Malvolio is safe, but what of Kimball?" Dumbledore frowned.
"I would rather make a treaty with Tom than with Kimball. I don't even have a clue as to how we can handle him." Harry looked pensive.
"What if you didn't die?" Albus started.
"Harry you don't mean-"
"Not a Horcrux or anything like that!" Harry interrupted.
"There are other things which can extend your life. We could infect you with Lycanthropy that would grant you some magic of your own. Or we could obtain some willingly given unicorn and phoenix blood and offer it to Flamel in exchange for some elixer of life. It doesn't need to be much just enough for a few years."
Albus opened his mouth to object but words didn't come out. After a moment of silence Albus found his voice.
"You may have something there Harry! With another two years I could easily get you on fighting level with Yefimovich or Malik. If we then conviced Malvolio to be our ally we might not have to deal with the others."
"Would Malvolio really be willing to ally himself with a dying old man and a punk kid? Against four other Dark Lords?" Doubt was evident in his tone.
"In our current situation? No. But, if you were to prove yourself capable of fighting toe-to-toe alone with one of the other lieutenants, he might be willing to take the risk. Malvolio despised everyone in the old guard excepting Jacques and Malik, he would probably be willing to accept our offer if we showed that you were a competent, intelligent, and powerful individual. He probably wants revenge on all of his old "comrades," a revenge we can give him.'" Harry lips twitched into a smile.
"So I've got to kill Riddle, the Death Eaters, and one of Grindelwald's lieutenants? Piece of cake." Dumbledore's eyes twinkled maniacally.
"We might not even need to do that much. I have a faster method."
Harry's smile spread from ear to ear.
"Do tell"
