My life - An adventure

Disclaimer: All Harry Potter works belong to J.K. Rowling.

AN: This story is an idea I got from "Harry Potter and the Memories of Old" by Snowy123. Some of spells are from the story "Harry Potter and the Unlocked Knowledge" by kmfrank.

Chapter 10

I planned on having a short nap after bath, but it seems that's not to be. I can't get my mind to rest. Sirius took the locket Horcrux to do god knows what.

I count the number of Horcruxs in my head.

Diary – Destroyed

My scar – Destroyed

Lady Rowena's Diadem – Destroyed

Lady Helga's goblet – Lestrange's vault

Lord Slytherin's locket - Missing

Gaunt Ring – At the shack

Voldemort – Spirit

I wonder if something similar to the locket happened to the goblet and the ring. Did Voldemort create Horcruxs after that Halloween? Is it possible to create one in wraith like form? Is he still in that form?

These are some of the questions plaguing my mind. And there is one more thing. Voldemort willingly had his memories of 2 years oblivated from his life. Why?

I pause in my thought as I hear someone entering the sound. I race from the library to the hallway to see Sirius hanging up his coat. He sees me and waves cheerily.

"Hey godson. What's up?"

"Sirius, do you remember a gold locket with a snake symbol on it when you cleaned the house?"

He thinks about it? "I'm not too sure, Harry… There were many things like that."

I want to punch someone. Then I get an idea. I rake my memory to get the exact image of locket and then conjure a tin version of it. "This is what it would look like."

He examines it closely. "Huh! Yeah, I did see it and got rid of it. Why?"

"How Sirius? How did you get rid of it?"

Hearing the urgency in my voice he answers carefully. "I had the Black account manager, Drumboar, check the items for curses and sell them."

"When was this?"

"About three months back. What's the matter Harry? What's so important about this locket?"

"Are you sure he sold it?"

"Yes, he already deposited the money in my personal account. Now will you tell me what the matter is?"

My shoulders slump in resignation. We lost the Horcrux. I knew I had to tell Sirius about my memories, which I planned to anyways. But not this soon.

"Let's go to the library, Sirius. There is much to talk about."

We settle down in the library and I raise a couple of powerful privacy wards.

"Do you have any skill Occlumency, Sirius?"

He nods. "One of the few good things, which came from being part of the Black family. We were thought to protect our mind and the family secrets at a very young age. It helped a lot keeping me sane in Azkaban."

"Do you mind if I test them?"

He shakes his head. "I don't know how you know all these magics, Harry, but go ahead."

"You will know soon enough, but I need to make sure your mind is secure."

He nods and I point my wand at him. "Leglimens."

I put quite a bit of my power in trying to break them, to no avail. I let go of the curse when we both start to sweat from the exertion.

"Great shields, Sirius."

"Thanks and now I have a headache."

He closes his eyes for a minute to get rid of the headache. He opens his eyes and nods, asking me to lead.

"Alright. Now, do you know what a Horcrux is?"

He shakes his head no and I explain to him how Voldemort split his soul at least 6 times and put them in different containers. I tell him that for him to die, all the 6 containers have to be destroyed. I leave my doubts aside for now.

He looks shocked. "And this locket is a Horcrux?"

Seeing me nod, he looks anguished. "But how did a Horcrux get here?"

His eyes widen as he realizes the answer. "Regulus?"

I nod and tell him what happened as relayed to me by Kreacher.

He holds his head in dismay. "Regulus, my poor brother. He sacrificed himself for that filthy jewel and here I lost it."

I put a hand on his shoulder. "You didn't know Sirius. You never expected something belonging to Voldemort in your house."

He nods slowly and looks me in the eyes. "How do you know all this, Harry?"

"As I told you there are seven pieces of Voldemort's soul. At least that last I know of. Slytherin's locket, Huffelpuff's cup, Ravenclaw's diadem, Gaunt's ring, Riddle's diary, The soul within Voldemort's wraith and finally…"

I point to my scar. "My scar… Which he made into an Horcrux accidentally."

Sirius looks stricken. He shakes his head continuously. "No… No… It can't be."

"Sirius…"

He doesn't hear me. I slap him hard on the face. "Sirius."

That gets his attention. "There's more to it. I destroyed three of these Horcruxs. My scar, the diary and the diadem."

"You destroyed them?"

I nod.

He smiles in relief. "That's great."

I smile back. "Yes, it is. But when I destroyed it, I got the magic attached to the soul piece. That's the reason why I am able to speak parseltongue and also learn spells faster. Most of the spells I am performing, Voldemort already did and they leave an imprint on your magic. That was transferred to me as well. Are you with me so far?"

"Yeah. So you got rid of the soul, but kept his magic?"

"Yes. But I also got all his memories up to the time he fired the killing curse at me."

"All his memories?"

"All of them."

"Then, you saw him killing…"

"My parents? Yes."

I add softly as the memory floats into my mind. "One of the only clear memories I have of them."

He closes his eyes and shakes his head. "I am sorry you had to see that, Harry."

"Don't be. I am rather proud of the fight dad gave him."

Sirius smiles proudly. "He was one of the best duelists in the force."

We sit their silently reminiscing the past.

"So, what now?"

I am kind of lost. "I don't know, Sirius. We need destroy the remaining three Horcruxs. One is missing now. One is in a high security Gringotts vault. The last Horcrux has a dangerous curse on it, one that can't be dispelled or countered. If we do go to get it, we need to be very careful.

He nods in thought. "First things first. I will try to get information on who bought the locket and the status of the Lestrange vault. Maybe as Lord Black I can access it."

I nod to his suggestions and he looks shrewdly at me. "So you have all his knowledge, huh?"

I smile and nod. "All of it."

He claps his hands and rubs them eagerly. "Brilliant."

In a way, I released some of my burden by telling Sirius. I have at least one adult helping me. After lunch I slept for a few hours to recover from the final. The worldcup was one hell of ride with a perfect ending.

I get to the dueling room and do some target practice. The target range is similar to shooting range where one unloads their guns.

There are two parts to the range. One where you can measure how effective a spell is. That is, will your cutter scratch the opponent or will it take their head off. The count is from 1 to 10, with 10 being the most effective.

The second part is where you practice your accuracy. The targets vary between human sized targets which, move about in varied directions and spell balls which the range conjures every few seconds.

The dodging circle is a 12-foot circular area, which once activated will provide a wooden target in the shape of dueling wizard for a period of time before it vanishes and appears somewhere else within the circle. The moment it appears, it shoots paint balls in different colors, which represent different spells, like green represents the Killing Curse, Dark red, Cruciatus and so on. My job is to not get hit with any of the paint spells and then in turn fire back and hit the target.

Voldemort of course didn't go through this kind of training. His tutors mostly hit him with a Cruciatus if he failed. Of course once he learned everything he can, and once he was sure he can do it, he killed them all.

I play around for a couple of hours to get used to the kind of training I will be going through for the next 3 weeks or so. By the time I am finished, I am covered with all kinds of colors. I turn around to see Sirius laughing his head off. The range has a silencing charm around it and hence I can't hear a thing.

I step out of it to hear his bark like laughter.

"Ha ha, laugh it up."

"You look colorful, Harry."

I roll my eyes. "Do you really make up such witty comments, Sirius?"

"Whatever kid, I am not the one who looks like a Rainbow."

That does it. I launch an Augumenti at him, drenching him in water.

As he splutters, I walk out of the room with a smirk on my face. I quickly change out of my paint covered clothes and meet Sirius for dinner.

I take a bite out of my chicken and look up at Sirius. "So, what happened at Gringotts?"

"Not much. It seems he sold most of the stuff including the locket to a wandering merchant. And there is no way to contact the merchant until he comes back for a visit. At that time, Drumboar promised to put us in touch with him. As for Lestrange vault, unless the three Lestranges and the Malfoys die, I will not be able to confiscate the vault."

"So there is nothing we can do about it?"

"Not unless you want to break in."

I shake my head. "No. That has to be the last option. Let's wait and see what happens."

He nods. "I agree. So that leaves the ring as the only Horcrux we can get."

"Yes, but as I said, it has a powerful curse attached to it. The curse of Withering. There is no known counter to it. It will kill your body piece by piece, slowly over a period of 2 to 12 hours depending on how powerful that person is."

He nods and thinks about it. "I have a suggestion, Harry and I want you to think about it before you answer."

I nod.

"As you probably guessed, things are heating up again. The signs are there. The attack on Crouch manor, Crouch missing, the death eater attack yesterday, the dark mark and now I learned that another ministry employee, Bertha Jorkins has gone missing as well. All these point to Voldemort either being active or close to it. Once he comes back, he's going to come after you. You after all are the reason for his banishment."

I close my eyes and reply softly. "And there's the prophecy."

"What prophecy?"

"The one to vanquish the dark lord approaches. Born to those thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies… There's more to it of course, but only the headmaster knows the full version. It's the reason he came after me…"

Sirius shakes his head. "This is too much information is one day." He stares at the table for a moment before he shakes his head again and continues. "Well, then you know he's going to come after you. So my point is, that you need more than me to help you. If this turns out like the previous war, it will be bloody, it will be nasty and there will be death. We will need help, Harry."

"I know that, Sirius. More than you know. Voldemort didn't even use his best forces in the war and he was already winning."

"What forces?"

"Demons."

He whispers in dread. "Demons?"

"Demons. Voldemort and through him I, have the knowledge to summon demons. He actually succeeded in calling out one and then banished it. It was his plan to use them, if the war didn't go his way."

"You can summon demons?"

I shake my head. "No. I said I have the knowledge to summon a demon, but I can't. For the simple reason that I am not qualified. To summon such beasts, you cannot have a complete soul."

He sighs in desperation. "We need to make a list of people who we want involved. There are quite a few good people I know through my Auror career and the order… you know what the order is?"

"I know what the order of Phoenix is. How about we each make a list and compare and then decide?"

"Good idea."

"But one thing Sirius. I am not comfortable with everyone knowing I have Voldemort's memories."

His face darkens. "Good. We never know when one of them might turn into a rat."

The next couple of days went by slowly. Sirius was in and out of the house trying to find other sources of information. I mostly spent my time in the dueling room and on my rune schemes.

I made a list of names I am interested in bringing in. These are the people I trust to fight by my side when things get nasty.

Sirius falls down into a chair beside me in an undignified heap.

"Kreacher."

The old elf pops in and bows. "Yes, master?"

"Get me something to eat please."

He bows and pops away. He glances at me. "I still can't believe that you changed him."

I shrug as I continue to work on my arthemancy. "All he needed was someone to hear him out. He knows we are trying to do what Regulus wants."

"What is that you are working on?"

"A surprise. Did you find any books on the Fidelius?"

He shakes his head. "I couldn't find any."

"Damn. Why is it so hard to find?"

He shrugs as Kreacher pops in along with Dobby carrying a whole lot of food.

"So do you have the list of people who you would like be party of our band?"

He nods. "A band. Nice. I like it. And yeah I have a few names."

"Well, don't let me stop you old man. Spit it out."

He looks outraged. "Old? Who are you calling Old?"

"The man sitting beside me."

He looks around and smirks. "I don't see anyone."

I roll my eyes. "So who do you have?"

He takes out a piece of parchment. "Lets see… I have the obvious choices, Dumbledore, Moody & Remus. I also have Tonks, Aurors Kingsley Shackebolt, Hestia Jones and James Proudfoot. Head of DMLE Amelia Bones. I think you know most of these people. And then there are Dorean Nicotomus, Septimus Smith and Archadeus Rambart. These three are hit wizards who worked on our side in the last war. I don't know what happened to them. But they are some of the best fighters I have seen."

I nod. "I have Dumbledore, Moody & Remus as well. I want to bring in Filius and Minerva McGonagall. They are both capable and we need everyone we can get. Then my friends, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville and Luna. I already taught them and they did well during the worldcup. With further training they have the potential to become the best and I trust them.

He nods. "18. Good number to start with. I am sure other people can suggest more people."

"I don't want this to be like the Order, Sirius. I gathered from Voldemort's memories how ineffective the order was last time. If we are going to do this, if we are to win the next war, we must be ready to do everything necessary."

"You don't need to convince me, Harry. We lost many good people because we were not ready or willing to cause serious harm in our duels."

I nod back in slight relief. At least one adult has some sense to them.

"Who do you want to tell about the memories?"

I think about it. "I will eventually tell my friends, when they are good at Occlumency. Other than that, for now just Dumbledore."

"I suggest you add Remus to that list. Not just because he's a marauder, but because he's also a brilliant researcher who can really help you."

"Alright.

We spend the next couple of hours formulating a plan. We are going to meet with Albus and Remus tomorrow to talk about memories and the agenda going forward.

And tomorrow came too early for my liking. I am not comfortable discussing this secret with anyone else. Sirius is family and Ginny, well I know her secret as well and it's of similar nature. But it has to be done.

I pace around in my room thinking of how to start the conversation, when I someone knocks on the door. It opens to show Sirius. "They are here."

I nod and follow him downstairs to the living room where I see Dumbledore and Remus chatting. I greet them with a smile. "Hello professor. Remus."

"Good evening, Harry. You are looking well."

I nod and we proceed to a pleasant dinner where we chat about the merits of using transfiguration in dueling.

We settle down in the library and I start pacing nervously, which Remus interrupts. "Harry, what ever you want to talk to us about, we are all friends here."

I pause and stare at him piercingly. "Friends, Remus? Wasn't Peter a friend few years back?"

He blanches at that and Sirius opens his mouth, but I interrupt him. "I'm sorry, that was uncalled for. But it's something to think about. Before I utter a word, I want 2 oaths from all three of you. One that you are who you claim to be and second that you have never supported Voldemort before and will not do so in the future."

I pause at their surprised looks. "In fact I will start it off. I Harry James Potter swear on my magic that I am whom I claim to be." A flash of light signals the sealing of the oath.

I continue. "I Harry James Potter, swear on my magic that I never supported Voldemort, also known as Tom Marvolo Riddle, in my life and will not do so in the future." Another flash signals the sealing of the second oath.

Sirius follows immediately and so does Remus. The three of us turn to face Dumbledore who stares at us amused while stroking his beard. "I never thought there would come a day when I had to swear an oath that I will not support Tom. I think you already learned something from Alastor, Harry. Very well."

He takes out his wand. "I Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, swear on my magic that I am whom I claim to be." The oath seals and he continues. "I Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, swear on my magic that I never supported Voldemort, also known as Tom Marvolo Riddle, in my life and will not do so in the future." And the final oath seals.

I sit down beside Sirius to face Remus and Albus. "Thank you Remus and Headmaster. I thought for a long time on how to tell you my story. Most of which, even you don't know Sirius. And as the saying goes, there is no place like the beginning."

I look up at the ceiling as memories play in my head. "It's a story of an orphan, who grew up in an orphanage bullied by kids older than him. Beaten by adults who were supposed to care for him. He grew up knowing nothing but hate and ridicule. In his anger he manifested his magic. He learned to control the power within him to get what he wants. To harm those children who snubbed him. He stole small tokens as things to remember his victims by. See, he always knew he was different and it was proved when a man came bearing news of how different he is. He was a wizard."

Here I look up at Dumbledore to see him pale slightly. I nod to him. "You know of whom I speak of Professor. After all, a long time back, he was your student with the name Tom Marvolo Riddle."

We stare at each other for a moment and I close my eyes. I whisper to myself. "So much pain. So much hate."

I shake my head to get back on track. "So dear old Tom went to Hogwarts wearing second hand clothes and bearing second hand books. The only thing he could call his own was his wand. He decided then and there that he would become the most powerful wizard ever. No one will ever beat him again. He will have what he wants. No one will stop him. He was sorted into Slytherin, where he was ridiculed for being a muggle born. But he was the most brilliant student Hogwarts has seen in many years and soon the very people who ridiculed him came to him for help. But he knew that kind of fame wouldn't get him anywhere fast. It won't open the right doors. He searched and searched and finally the answer came to him from the most unlikely source. His History of Magic class in third year, where he learnt that Slytherin descendants are famous for being Parselmouths."

I point my wand up in the air and conjure a snake. I catch it as it falls down and hiss to it. "Curl around my hand." And it follows my instructions.

I continue with my history lesson as I pet the snake. "So Tom found a way to open the doors that were closed to him. He hatched a plan to show his ability as Parselmouth to his fellow housemates and thus started his legend as the last descendent of Salazar Slytherin. He slowly started gathering followers from Slytherin and other houses. They would in turn become his first Inner Circle members. Only one of those members is still alive now. Lord Avery."

I look at the three of them and see they are absorbing the information well so far. "He was a true genius. A homicidal psychopath, true. But a genius. Going into his fourth year as a 14 year old he knew enough to achieve O's in Transfiguration, Charms, DADA, Potions, Runes, Arthemancy, Astronomy, History & Magical creatures NEWTs. He impressed many of the professors to impart him with special privileges. Except one."

Here I look at Professor Dumbledore. "He never got to you, did he professor?"

He looks back at me somberly. "No Harry, he didn't."

"Not for lack of trying I can tell you. But going forward, he entered his fifth year knowing how to perform the unforgivables. After searching for it since his third year, he finally found the chamber of secrets during the final term of his fifth year. It gave him access to the Basilisk, which I killed last year. But the most important find was a whole slew of literary work not seen by humanity in over thousand years, which he found in the Basilisk chamber. The collection of Salazar Slytherin. Through those books he learned high level Ritual magic including magic, which only a handful of wizards were ever able to practice. Parselmagic."

I see Sirius and Remus looked aggrieved. "I assure you, Parselmagic is grossly miscategorized by today's wizards. The biggest advantage of using Parselmagic is in warding, healing and rituals."

I continue after they somewhat settle down. "But he learned something, which he considered the most important piece of knowledge. It's the reason we are having this discussion today. He learned how to create a Horcrux."

Here Albus looks resigned and Remus confused. "A Horcrux is a piece of someone's soul captured within another object or entity. The ritual consists of killing someone in cold blood and using that murder to tear the soul and encase it within an object or entity."

Remus looks flabbergasted. "He split his soul?"

"Yes. But we will get back to that. During the summer after his fifth year, he found out that, he, as the last known heir of Slytherin can access the family vault. He stepped inside thinking of the riches and all he found was a family tree. As he followed Salazar's name down the tree, he saw the name shift to 'Gaunt'. At the end of the tree he saw his mother's name. Merope Gaunt, who went on to marry Thomas Riddle, who was denoted by a white line to signify a muggle. Tom raged in terrible anger at the revelation. That's when he realized only three members are left alive in the tree. Himself. His muggle father. And finally an uncle on his mother's side. Morfin Gaunt."

I continue after drinking a glass of water. "From the public archives he found out where the Gaunts lived. He visited his insane uncle and found out about his rich muggle father and his family. He killed them all and modified Morfin's mind to think he murdered the Riddles. He used his father's death to create his first horcrux. His family ring which he took from his uncle. And thus lord Voldemort was born."

I stop here. "Any questions so far?"

"How do you know all this, Harry?" asks Remus.

"We will get to that in a bit. How about you professor?"

"This is intriguing story Harry. Please go on. I am sure we can cover the questions at the end."

I nod and continue. "So Tom came back to Hogwarts with a new name, which he established among those who eventually became the first of his inner circle. He released the Basilisk at the end of his sixth year, which resulted in Myrtle's death, which he used to create his second horcrux. The diary. He wasn't able to release the Basilisk again after that incident. He however did go into the chamber one last time to gather all the books he wanted. Dear old Tom was a charmer. He can even charm a ghost to part with her dearest secret. The gray lady of Ravenclaw, Lady Rowena's daughter who stole the diadem from her mother told him where she hid it. It became one his Horcruxs"

I continue. "After Hogwarts he worked for Borgin and Burkes for a couple of years. He used his job to develop contacts inside the traditional pure blood families. One of who was Hepzibah Smith. He befriended her. He stole Lady Helga Hufflepuff's cup and the Slytherin locket from her after poisoning her to death. And they became his final Horcruxs."

I look around to see all three captivated by the story. "He left England and traveled far and wide. He initially joined a curse breaking team from Gringotts and learned about warding and curse breaking for 3 years. After that he spent around 7 years traveling and training under the harshest taskmasters to learn the deadliest of dark arts. Many of his masters and colleagues were impressed by his power and the knowledge he had from Slytherin's library. During this time, he also participated in many underground dueling tournaments to further gain experience. By the time he was 30, he was a fearsome warrior, nearly unmatched in power and skill with the security of Horcruxs. At the end of that period was when he met with you Professor, to ask for the defense position. Of course as you guessed precisely in that meeting, his real motive was not that."

"During the next 7 years he spent plundering tomb after tomb, finding hidden treasure and lost knowledge, killing anyone who tried to stop him, while his followers conducted minor raids. The last he estimated, his personal treasure amounted to several hundred million galleons and all of it is protected by the strongest of blood wards. Then he learned necromancy and demonology from a Necromancer in Peru. He successfully summoned a demon and banished it back. That was his final gambit if he failed to rise to power using more… traditional means. And then before he returned back to England, he traced back his steps killing every one of his masters."

The memories of those years keep playing in my mind. "In 1970 he came back to the place of his birth. He regrouped with his faithful, who already killed many Aurors and muggleborn in his brief absence. To those he added many a hired hand, some of the most skilled mercenaries. Some nearly as skilled as him. So started his first bid to gain power. His goal was to capture Britain within a decade and then slowly expand beyond that. And he was well on his way to accomplishing that goal. Then in the year 1980 he heard of a prophecy. A prophecy, which predicts the birth of the one who can vanquish him, of someone born to those thrice defied him and born as the seventh month dies… This prophecy was heard by a lowly death eater and relayed to Voldemort."

Here I look at the professor. "You have some explaining to do, Professor."

He nods. "So it seems."

I continue. "Then in 1981, he chose one of the two only choices as the child of prophecy. He chose me. One because I was a half-blood like himself and the second because there were always rumors of Potter's ancestry being of powerful origins."

I close my eyes as the murder of my parents plays back in my mind. "Peter gave him the secret. He prepared himself to make his seventh and final Horcrux using my murder. He came to our house on all hallows eve. Dad put up a good fight. He was powerful in his own rights, but nowhere as powerful as Voldemort. After killing him, Voldemort walked up the stairs into my room. My mom… My beautiful mom was standing in front of my crib protecting me. He gave her a choice to step aside. He told her she needn't die. But she wouldn't listen. He killed her. Then, he stepped over her and looked down into the crib. He stared into my eyes and raised his wand. He couldn't believe that an infant has the power to bring him down. He, who traveled the path of immortality more than anyone has ever done before. But he knew magic could be tricky. He didn't want to take a chance. He uttered the killing curse. The story should have ended there with him eventually becoming the indirect ruler of Britain. But that didn't happen. All because of a mother's love for her child. My mom died for me even though she was given a choice and hence gave me an ancient blood protection. This protected me from the killing curse and it was redirected back to him, destroying his body."

I open my eyes. "And there ends the history lesson."

I look around to see all three somewhat dazed. Remus again asks me the question. "How do you know all this, Harry?"

I nod toward the professor. "I think I will let the headmaster answer this."

Albus strokes his beard in thought. "I can think of one possible answer. Your scar was a Horcrux, Harry?"

I nod. "Yes. It was. But last year, when I destroyed the diary, something happened. When I used the Basilisk fang already drenched in my blood to stab the diary, it formed a magical connection between Tom and myself anchored in my blood. Then, when Tom attacked me, his incorporeal hand went through my scar forming a second connection between the 2 soul pieces. But because of the way the horcrux in my head was tied with my own mental and magical essence, it was forced to breakdown into its core components. The soul, the mind and the magic. The mind and the magic, which were respectively linked to mine, remained and were fully released within me. But the soul never came close to being attached to mine because of my mother's sacrifice. It provided a barrier, which saved me. The soul escaped to join its counterpart and was destroyed. I was lucky."

All three nod agreeing to the fact. Albus simplified the explanation. "So you have his memories?"

"Up to the point the killing curse hit me."

He nods, thinking fast and serious. "Don't worry, Professor. I know how certain magic can corrupt one's sole. I am not at all inclined to use such curses. But I also know their counters, which should help. Besides, there are far too many curses which do not require soul magic, and which are just as powerful and deadly as any true dark arts."

He looks at me with no twinkle in his eyes. "The dark arts can be very seductive, Harry. I trust you enough to not try them out. But remember this, even the best of us can be tempted given the right incentive. Be careful. Be very careful."

"I promise, I will."

He smiles at that and the bursts out laughing. "My my, Harry. What will Ms. Granger say when you tell her that you have 50 years of knowledge floating in your head?"

I smile at him sheepishly. "Ahh… She and the rest of my friends know something happened, Professor. But not exactly what. I did after all top all the subjects this year."

He nods and continues. "Thanks for trusting us with this information. I think the first step in eliminating Voldemort forever is destroying the Horcruxes."

I sigh. "It's not going to be that easy Professor. To my knowledge there are 6 Horcruxes. I destroyed 3 of them. The diary and my scar in the chamber. And third was Lady Rowena's diadem, which was hidden inside the room of requirements. Incidentally that was the reason Voldemort came to Hogwarts that year to ask for a job. To store the Horcrux under your very nose."

He nods. "A clever tactic."

"Yes, except he thought he was the only person to know of that room and so stored it with no additional protections. It was fairly easy to destroy it with a Basilisk fang."

"That means there are 3 more which needs to be destroyed."

"Yes. The cup is in a high security Gringotts vault, Lestrange's Vault to be precise. The locket was stolen by Regulus Black just before his death and was stored here. Unfortunately Sirius sold it off with rest of the junk when he cleaned the house. The last we know, it's with a wandering merchant. Sirius will be notified the moment he returns back to England. And the third and final Horcrux is in the Gaunt shack, and has a horrible curse, the curse of withering, attached to it. It cannot be dispelled and has no known counter to my knowledge. If we are to get it, we need to be careful. Even though I know what curses Voldemort placed in the hut and on the ring, getting past them is something else."

Albus thinks about and finally answers. "You have given us much to think about, Harry."

I agree with Albus. "Thank you all for listening. But before we leave for tonight, there are two more pieces of information I want you to know. After learning demonology and before coming to England, Voldemort spent 2 years doing something that has to do with his quest for immortality. All I have is a memory stating that he willingly got oblivated of the two years he took to spent doing whatever he did."

Everyone looks troubled and rightfully so. "The last piece of information is about his life long quest. A quest for fortune untold of, and magic old and great. A quest for Atlantis, the land of old magic. He first came across it while looting an ancient Mayan temple and was obsessed by it. When he comes back, he will start that search again, more vigorously than before. I am sure of it."

Dumbledore looking very troubling. "This is very troubling, Harry. The old world is best left forgotten. There are powers beyond our comprehension."

"And if Voldemort finds it?"

He is lost in thought. "Yes… Yes…"

I interrupt his thoughts again. "Do you know much of Atlantis, professor?"

"A little bit of this and a little bit of that. One tends to pick up a few pieces of knowledge if you end up living as long as I did." He replies sagely.

"Fare enough. But Professor, I want some answers tomorrow. The full prophecy and the reason why you trust the man who gave that to Voldemort."

"I'll do my best."

And with that Dumbledore bids us good night.

"How can I help, Harry?" asks Remus.

"Sirius tells me you are a great researcher, Remus. We need to find whatever information we can regard to Atlantis. I have a feeling that the fate of this world will very much depend on the old world."

Sirius pitches in. "Consider this your official job, Remus, and it comes with boarding. I am setting up a fund to support our group. It's high time some of the Black money is used for a good cause."

Remus shakes his head. "Come on Sirius. That's too much…"

"Nonsense, you are hired Mooney. Don't worry we will put you to good use."

After much haggling, Remus agrees to stay here and become the first paid employee of the group.

"It's late Remus, but tomorrow remind me to give you a parchment, which might point you in the right direction."

He agrees to that and we break up the meeting for the night.

The next morning I woke up early, as is my habit these days. I apply a glamour and go for a run around the block. After the run, I step into the dueling chamber and practice my speed casting as well as spell chaining. The first spell chain I'm practicing is a simple, cutter, blaster, banisher and back to cutter.

Of course spell chaining is most useful when going against more than one opponent or non-magical opponents like inferi and goblins. In most wizarding duels, one mostly doesn't get a chance to construct an elaborate spell chain. It's curse, duck, shield, curse, transfigure, animate, curse, duck, shield.

The reason why spell chaining can be so useful is, being able to release 2 or 3 curses in the time it takes to release one is about the easiest way to bring down inexperienced opponents.

After spell chaining for 15 or so minutes, I stand before the target meter and release a reductor. I get a cool 8 for it. The target meter is about the average distance one expects to face their opponents at. The further the target, the less powerful the curse is, or more power it takes to release an effective curse. At twice the distance my number falls down to 6. I scowl at that. I put more power into the spell. It leaves me slightly winded, but I get a nine. I guess I never really worked on controlling the power behind my spells.

"That's some power you put in the spell, Harry."

I turn around to around to see Sirius standing in the doorway along with Remus.

"I came around to call you down for breakfast. When I didn't find you there, I thought you would be here."

I nod to him and clear my head. "That left me slightly winded."

He nods. "Not many can put that much power in a simple reductor, Harry. If you can make every spell that powerful, you can match even the best of Aurors."

I no and he palms his wand. "Now, get into the circle."

Sirius activates the target. I duck, I shield, and send reductors at the target. By the time I am done, I am covered in sweat as well as paint, though not as much as the 3 days before. No one accused me of being a slow learner. Well… Not at least since I got the memories. He he he.

Sirius gives me a towel. "That was good, Harry. That was very good. Except you did get AK's three times."

I scowl at him. "I'd like to see you do better."

"Ahh, my dear godson. Watch and learn."

He steps into the center of the circle and activates the target. And Sirius moves around instinctually. Ducking when needed and shielding the rest. By the time he was done, he hit the target far more times than he missed and was in turn only hit once and by the color of the paint, it was a bone breaking hex, which hit him on his left arm.

"What do you say now, godson?"

"That was very impressive, Sirius."

He takes a bow. "Why, thank you. Thank you. I wasn't one of the best Aurors for nothing you know."

I nod accepting that fact.

"The trick Harry, is to know when to duck, when to move away and when to shield. There are advantages and disadvantages to both."

I nod as we leave the dueling room.

"How about you Remus, how good are you?"

"Well… I am okay. I can handle myself in a fight if that's what you mean. But not good as Sirius is or your dad was."

I do a quick run to my bedroom and fetch the Peverell parchment. I enter the dining room to find the 2 marauders enjoying their breakfast.

I give Remus the parchment. "Here you go, Remus. This was what I was talking about yesterday."

He stares at the rune and frowns. "I never saw such a rune before."

"No one has, except for a shop keeper who said he saw such a rune in Tibet."

Sirius takes the parchment from Remus. He stares at it and shakes his head. "No idea. But what makes you think this has anything to do with Atlantis?"

"Because this was taken from a vault which, is several millennia old."

They raise their eyebrows surprised. "Last year, I tested myself at Gringotts to see if I have any more vaults. It seems that I had three more one of which was last used 2,500 years back. It's the Peverell family vault."

That draws a blank across their faces. "Never heard of them. So what did you find in the vault?"

"I found treasure horde of jewels and hundreds of parchments with runes like these. If you look closely at the rune, you will see that it's made up multiple smaller runes."

They do the same and Remus summarizes their feelings on it. "Incredible."

"Its obviously a dead language, which hasn't been seen in a while. It's at least worth trying to identify its origin I think."

"We should show this to Albus tonight. Other than that I will look in the local libraries to start with."

I get up from the table after stuffing myself with breakfast. "Alright. I am flooing to the Burrow for lunch. Will be back for dinner."

As I leave the room I hear Sirius and Remus discussing something to do with Moody.

At the burrow I, Ron, the Twins, Ginny and Hermione play a couple of games of Quidditch. After the furious pace at which the game was played in the world cup, it was refreshing to play a friendly game.

After, we all sit down for a picnic lunch and insisted that Fred and George join us. They looked at me weird, but agreed.

After we settled down by the lake, I looked at them seriously. "Now I want you guys to think about this before you answer. From our weekly meetings last year you know the kind of magic you can learn."

Here the Twins look confused. "What meetings? You guys doing something without telling us?"

"I will show you later what I taught them."

"So my question to you all is this. If you were say… invited to stay at Sirius' place for the next 3 weeks and receive Auror level training, would you like to? There is of course a reason you will be getting this training. And no Ron, it's not for school yard quarrels with imbeciles like Malfoy."

I glance at each of them before I continue. "War is coming guys. Maybe not this year. Maybe not next year. But Sirius tells me the signs are similar to Voldemort's first rise to power. He will come back. And when he does, he will come after me. So I am getting trained. Nobody expects you to fight, but I have a feeling the fight will come to you and you need to be prepared to handle it."

I turn to face the twins. "You asked me if I could teach you the lightning spell. Well, you will need this kind of training to learn that kind of spells."

I glance at everyone with a smile. "So what say you?"

"But what about the underage restriction?" Asks Hermione.

I smirk at her. "What the ministry don't know won't hurt it. We will be in a warded wizarding house among qualified adults. The ministry cannot identify who's doing magic under those circumstances."

Ginny jumps right in. "I am in."

And the rest of the others agree even a reluctant Hermione.

"Who will be teaching us?"

"Sirius and Remus among a few others." I reply vaguely. Keep them guessing. He he.

I promise them I will let them know soon on when they will be coming.

I floo to Grimmauld place. "Hey Sirius." I get no response for my shout.

I search the first to top floors and seeing none I head down to the basement. I open the door to the dueling chamber to seeing Sirius in a fierce duel with Alastor 'Mad Eye' Moody.

It's not really a duel is it? It's more like a battle. They are flinging dangerous curses non-verbally. I recognize most of them. Finally Alastor released a quick bone breaker and a banisher. Sirius dodged the breaker and took the banisher to the chest. But just before he was flung across the room, he released a stunner, which nailed Alastor.

Sirius gets to his feet with a groan. "That bloody hurt."

"Man, that was incredible."

He looks like he his pain. "Hey, Harry. Wake up Mad-eye will you?"

I nod and enervate him.

He opens his eyes and quickly rolls away sending a quick rain of stunners all around him.

I had no option but to fall flat on my stomach and escaped being stunned by an inch. I shout to the paranoid man. "EASY Alastor."

His magical eye focuses on me and he straightens. "Potter."

He turns to face Sirius. "You haven't let up Black. But what the hell are you doing losing to an old cripple?"

Sirius just groans in pain. He gets to his feet. He nods toward me as he limps toward the door. "He's yours. Don't damage him too much."

I turn to face the ex-auror in apprehension. "Potter, what are you doing down there. Get up here boy."

Okay…. I climb up on to the platform only to duck instantly to a stunner. He keeps that going making me duck, until I was able to get a hasty Absolvo out.

Moody stops the barrage of spells and stares at me with raised eyebrows. "Your first lesson; never wait until your first curse lands. Keep going at it until you nail your opponent. That's an impressive shield you got there."

"Confringo."

Damn, that's one hell of a blaster. My shield stands, but I slid a couple of feet backwards because of the force.

"Confrigo."

A more powerful blaster and my shield weakens, and I slide back few more feet. I put more power into the shield and grind my legs into the ground.

"Confrigo."

He keeps going at it, increasing the power of his blaster every time. Finally, he releases a blaster that would have left me splattered all over the room. It's so powerful that I see Alastor taking a step back in recoil.

The shield stops the curse, but collapses, while I am flung back a few feet. I look up from ground to see Alastor grinning at me. He looks slightly out of breath.

"Is that all you got, Potter?"

I grit my teeth. I might be down, but I am not out yet. I get back to my feet.

"Not yet, Alastor."

I twirl my wand and slash it across myself. "Imprimis Patrocinor."

A brilliant gold shield with a dragon for a symbol forms in front of me. I was able to cast it after much practice at the end of third year. It still leaves me winded. But it will protect me against most curses except for the unforgivables.

Alastor looks surprised by it. Then he smiles and it's not a pretty sight. "Bravo, Potter. You successfully cast a spell not many Aurors can. But I wonder how many hits it will take. You look winded. Maybe I will keep sending blasters at you until the shield collapses. Then what? You just wasted most of your magic on a spell, which will eventually fail."

I drop the shield and listen to him attentively. "What you should have done, is conjured a marble slab to take the spell. When the spell hits the marble, it will disintegrate into powder, giving you cover to move and cast your own spell back. You only use the Imprimis, when you know that your opponent is of equal power or less. Got it?"

I nod taking a huge breath. "Yeah."

"Now, conjure me some marble."

I do as instructed. He keeps me going until he is satisfied that I can conjure it instantly.

"I think we are done for today. I know your defensive capabilities. Tomorrow we will go through the offensive spells."

Then, he turns around and walks away. He never asks me how I knew these spells, which no 14 year old should. He really doesn't care.

Looking back at the duel I witnessed between Sirius and Alastor, I think it comes down to one's style. Voldemort uses a head on attack. He uses his power and forces his rivals to submission. Dumbledore even though is as powerful if not more than Voldemort uses Transfiguration in his duals. Alastor and Sirius both used direct result spells similar to Voldemort. Alastor is more powerful than Sirius, whereas Sirius is more agile.

I know Voldemort's style. I don't know when I will end up facing him again, but I doubt I will be powerful enough to go head to head with him using direct results spells. I need to develop my own style. Something he will not expect and will give me an edge.

AN: And that's the end of another chapter. Thanks for all the reviews. The next chapter will cover the training our beloved heroes will get. Check out my new story "Come What May". You can find it on my Author's page. Thanks.