Author's Notes: Welcome to year 4! Exciting things up ahead! Be warned I have had some trouble saving this chapter and it took a long copying and pasting process to get the full chapter in. If you come across a sentence that doesn't make sense please leave a comment as I can't always pick up on these things. Thanks!
Hello - Normal Text
"Hello" - Speech
Hello - Dream or Flashback
'hello' - Thoughts
$hello$ - Parseltongue
Chapter 10
A gust of wind swept soundly down the streets of Little Hangleton as the lights began to flicker on and off and on before the street was plunged into darkness. From the shadows emerged two figures cloaked in black, their faces shrouded from view. As they walked quickly down the street on drew a stick from their pocket and placed it on their hand, mumbling quietly, "It says left".
Emerald green eyes glinted in the darkness as they surveyed the scene before them. "I definitely recognise that building", he said whilst pointing towards a semi-detached house just in the distance. "Just keep walking. Don't stop no matter what you hear".
The blond shivered beside him. "Don't worry. I'll run very quickly if it comes to it". He lifted his hand if in the air and ran it through in a combing motion, "I can feel it. The dark magic in the air. He's here".
Harry nodded in agreement, "He should be here around this time. I don't know whether Bertha Jorkins is alive but the chances are they've already drained her of all of her information and are preparing to dispose of her."
"What do we do?" Draco asked inquisitively.
"Unfortunately nothing. We're not quite prepared to walk straight into Voldemort's Headquarters just yet".
Draco snorted sightly and smirked, "Imagine how easy it would be to walk in there now and throw a killing curse at his head."
Harry pinched the bridge of his nose, "Yes and then we'd have two very angry Death Eaters on us and a pissed of Dark Lord to deal with once he's actually been resurrected. I know Wormtail may be a bit useless but Crouch certainly knows what he's doing and we'd be in a shitload of trouble. Today we only have two jobs".
They carried on walking through the streets, keeping a close eye on the rows of houses until they reached the cemetery. Harry recognised it instantly from his memories of his fourth year. He shuddered at the memory of Cedric's death and the resulting events. He led Draco over to where Tom Riddle Sr's grave was, standing tall and proud unaware of what it would be witness to less than a year from now. Harry pointed towards a large patch of grass, "The cauldron was right there. I was tied to the statue when he took my blood."
Draco nodded in understanding and began to circle the area, "Can you give me a general location of where the cup dropped you".
Harry walked towards a point about 10 metres away from the statue and stamped his foot, "Somewhere around here."
"You better be right, the spell only works in a 5 metre radius." Harry looked around again and he spotted another headstone and pointed towards it, "I definitely remember seeing that one when I first crashed into the ground. This should work."
Draco lifted his wand "Detatera". A long stream of blue light extended from his wand and begin to swirl in a circle around Harry until it had surrounded him, then it joined the man himself and disappeared. "That should do it". Draco pulled a small silver pocket watch from inside his cloak and tapped it once, it was surrounded by the same blue fire before it turned to normal. He put the watch and his wand back in his pocket once more.
"Task 1 done. You ready?"
Draco smiled, "Ready as I'll ever be".
Without further warning Harry grasped Draco's hand, then they were spinning as if they were being turned inside out by the navel. Draco landed roughly on the pavement and stumbled whilst his legs tried to recalibrate, "Why couldn't we have just walked?"
Harry smiled, "Because unlike the graveyard I could remember this place completely clearly so I decided to be quicker."
"Well you could've asked me too", Draco mumbled as he dusted his robes off. "Wands out again and keep a look out for any movement".
Harry started walking slowly to the dilapidated shack in front of them, his wand level in front of him and his eyes trained on the door. Suddenly he stopped, "You hear that?" Draco stood completely still and listened out, there was a tiny hum coming from the area around them but he just couldn't pinpoint the area. Harry raised his wand and drew a single line in the air in front of them. Suddenly the area where his wand just was burst into a bright red light and began to open up like tear. A large silvery globe appeared around the house and it started to retreat as the wild red spell began to tear its way through it until there was nothing left but a single bubble of silver in front of him. Harry reached out a plucked it from the air, studying it slowly, "It's like a ward stone...". He passed it to Draco who studied it more intensely, being more proficient in ward spells due to his work in the department of mysteries.
"I've only ever seen something like this in texts from the early 600's, before they started restricting dark magic. It's highly likely that the Dark Lord got the spell from Slytherin himself, it certainly shows similar magical patterns to things he's made before. I studied Slytherin's sceptre for a short period of time and there are quite a few similar rune strings in the core".
"So you're saying Voldemort is out there with a book full of Slytherin's spells?" Harry asked seriously.
"Pretty much".
"Well fuck me sideways", Harry groaned loudly. "That can be arranged", Draco grinned lecherously back.
He received an angry glare, "Not now".
Draco placed the bubble in his pocket and they continued their advance on the shack. When they reached the door he grimaced at the sight of the rotting snake corpse nailed to it as well as the ones littered all over the front porch. He kicked one to the side and recoiled as the thing practically disintegrated on his boots. "I liked those shoes", he mumbled under his breath. Harry opened the door slowly and they filed into the 'living room' which was really only a room with a few wooden chairs and clutter littered everywhere. Draco pulled out a little metal device and began scanning the area for places with high dark magic concentration. He reached a floorboard which had been nailed into the floor repeatedly, he raised an eyebrow. "Somebody didn't want that getting loose."
Harry came over and surveyed the floorboard and the scanner slowly before he stepped back and raised his wand to point at it. "Be prepared to attack".
"Expulso".
The floorboard exploded with the a loud bang as splinters were sent flying everywhere. They both pulled up protego's but it soon became evident that it wasn't enough to hold back the oncoming storm. Hundreds upon thousands of snakes began swarming around them, Harry tried to multitask using one hand to hold up a shield made of fire that burnt anything that tried to cross it. With the other he was sending off cutting hexes towards the oncoming mass in an attempt to decapitate them. Draco was in the middle of a smilier effort, focusing all of his energy on killing the snakes.
"There has to be a source!"
Draco re-aimed his wand towards the hole again. "Expulso". Suddenly a dark green light exploded from the centre of the hole and all of the snakes began to disintegrate into dust. He let out a breath and braced his hands on his knees, panting. "Wingardium Leviosa", a ring began to float out of the centre of the hole and stayed stationary in the air in front of them. Instinctively Draco reached his hand out, Harry grabbed his wrist and held it in a bruising grasp.
"Remember Dumbeldore's hand in sixth year?" Draco stared at the ring in shock and understanding, all thoughts of taking it leaving his mind.
"I think the spells in Parseltongue. I won't be able to figure it out until we can get it somewhere where we can break down the spell."
Draco looked at him oddly, "Can't we just destroy it now and get it over with".
Harry flicked his wand and a wooden orb began to form around the ring and encased it fully. "Tell me Draco. Is it possible to turn one of the deathly hallows into a horcrux?"
The man scoffed loudly and took on a superior expression, "Of course not. Certainly if the tales are true it'd be impossible. Imagine the power of death itself concentrated into one ingot, if you tried to stick a soul or any other kind of magic inside it's just be rejected. Magic can only be so concentrated before it starts to tear apart the very fabric of existence".
Harry stared at him blankly for a few seconds before it suddenly clicked in Draco's brain, "The soul is in the ring itself. You want us to extract the stone".
Harry slipped the wooden case into his pocket and raised an eyebrow, "Do you have a problem with that?"
"I trust you Harry, but you better know what you're doing".
"I always have a plan Draco. Always"
"I take it he doesn't want to see me".
Harry Potter and Remus Lupin were sitting outside of a muggle cafe in the middle of a busy shopping centre, sipping their coffee and watching the people mill by with large bags in hand.
Remus just stared at his cup sadly as if trying to form a suitable answer, "He wants to see his Godson. He doesn't want to see the person who put him in a mental ward. Right now he's finding it hard to combine those two things and understand that they are one and the same".
Harry leant back to stare at the man before him. He looked as weary as always after the full moon, bags under his eyes and the telltale scars and scratches up and down his arms. But Harry could tell that he was oddly happy, taking to his struggles with a new found vigour. He supposed that was what happened after spending so many years on your own in virtual solitude and then finally somebody there to lift your spirits, it made Harry smile ever so slightly. Glad that he'd done at least something to help somebody else.
"Do you understand why I did it?"
Remus clasped his mug tightly and pulled it closer to him, "To be honest Harry I understand very little about you. Your personality changes so often, when you're with the Gryffindors you're exactly how everyone would expect you to be. Loud, crass and running into all kinds of danger. With Draco, you're a different person entirely. More open, yet more sly and intelligent. Then there was that time in the shack, when you looked so dark and detached...how am I supposed to understand your actions when I don't even understand you?"
Harry's lips curled up slightly and he sipped his coffee, "That's a very valid point Remus".
"Yes well I try to make those, makes me seem more intelligent."
They sat in an amiable silence, both working their way through the cakes on the table and thinking over what to do next. "How many people know about what happened in the shack?" Remus asked quietly.
Harry cleared his throat, "Well Hermione and Ron obviously. Draco too. Then I had an encounter with Dumbledore a few weeks ago.."
It was the morning after the full moon and chaos had descended on Hogwarts.
The news of a werewolf attack was running rampage through the halls, along with the Draco Malfoy being found half dead in a bush in the forbidden forest the rumours were understandably quite insane. Varying from Draco Malfoy being bitten by a werewolf, to him having a vicious battle with a vampire and having to sacrifice his magic to burn it at the stake. None of them had basis in fact and very few of them got anywhere near the truth.
In fact the boy was lying in the hospital wing right now suffering from a bad case of magical exhaustion and on bed rest for the next few days with visitations limited only to his family and close friends. Something that Harry resented heavily seeing as he didn't make his way onto the list. He fingered the wedding band around his neck, just because he wasn't considered a friend in public didn't make him any less of his family. By magic he was still married to the man even if it wasn't public knowledge, the wedding vows they'd chosen had been eternally binding.
He grumbled into his cereal and tried to let the events from the night before leave his mind, especially his actions towards Sirius that he still felt extremely guilty about.
After knocking the man out he'd taken called Amelia Bones and had the man taken straight to St Mungos for psychological evaluation and to await his trail. The results from the healers, even whilst the man was still in a magic induced coma, weren't looking positive and it seemed he'd need a long recovery period if he ever wanted to improve from his stay in Azkaban.
"Harry". He looked up from his food to see the long white beard and twinkling blue eyes of the headmaster staring down at him. "I was wondering if you'd speak to me in my office".
Harry nodded reluctantly and stood up, "Of course sir."
They started the long walk towards his office in silence. When they reached the statue Dumbledore murmured his usual sweet themed password and they were allowed onto the stairs. Inside the office, Harry surveyed the chiming trinkets and statuettes placidly without any of the awe present his first time. He could feel Fawkes' eyes watching blankly as he took a seat. Dumbledore seemed to notice this and raised an eyebrow, "Harry. I was wondering if you could tell me exactly what happened last night".
Harry looked the man up and down then nodded serenely before recounting a severely edited version of events. Removing the parts where he had conspired with Sirius and replaced them with some of the things he remembered happening in the original timeline. He went on to describe how Sirius and Wormtail had ran off to the woods and he'd followed. Leading to where he had cast the patronus and the rat had escaped.
"And what happened to Mr Black afterwards?"
"The few of the aurors came along with Amelia Bones".
Dumbledore looked him up and down, his head tilted to the side, "How did she know to come?"
Harry scoffed, "I'm a thirteen year old with a mass murderer on his trail. Naturally I was terrified. I organised a meeting with Susan for one of the Hogsmeade meetings and arranged a method to contact her if something happened. I sent her a message as soon as the dementors were gone".
He knew his story had holes in, but he spoke calmly and clearly throughout having thought over his story overnight. He only hoped Dumbledore would believe him, if not trust him enough not to go and research into his story too thoroughly.
Dumbledore nodded sagely, "A wise idea."
"I like to be prepared, expect the unexpected. I'm not getting caught out ever again".
"So you lied?" asked Remus mildly amused.
"What did you expect me to do? Tell him I'd been meeting with the supposed betrayer of my parents for months. No I lied through my teeth and prayed for the best. He still seems suspicious but hopefully it'll pass soon. After all, in the end I did nothing wrong."
Remus just shook his head and carried on staring at him as if he was some sort of enigma he needed to crack, "You're nothing like I expected."
"People change very quickly Remus. We adapt. I had to adapt a lot to survive and I'll continue adapting. I'm sure you've felt it, something is coming".
"You're far too wise for a thirteen year old", he said slowly, "How can one so young know so much?"
Harry merely smirked, "The age of the body is nothing compared to the age of the soul."
Dear Harry,
It's been so long since I've last talked to you. To be honest I've been in shock. I won't pretend I understand what you did Harry or why you did it but I trust your judgement. Next time please give me warning before you pull a trick like that I'd rather not die of heart attack young. Ron has invited the both of us to the Quiditch World Cup as I'm sure you know by now. I've already told him I'm going and I hope you can too.
Please keep in touch
Hermione
Harry stared down at the letter with a small smile on his face. He loved how trusting and committed Hermione could be, he just hoped it wouldn't be her downfall again.
Currently he was sitting on his bed in Privet Drive reading his letters. His return to his relatives house had cause outrage and it was a problem he'd failed to register when playing out his plans for Sirius. After his attack on Aunt Marge the Dursley's had been more than a bit hostile but that seemed to be counteracted by the fear they showed in his presence. They may shout rude slurs at him but they always stayed at least 10 metres away from him and actually fed him proper meals this time around. Harry had also warned them his Godfather. Whilst he technically wasn't a criminal anymore it was now a well known fact throughout the wizarding world and even parts of the muggle that the ex-convict was insane to some degree. Harry knew he would be fixed in no time with the combination of magic and mind healing. His relatives didn't have to know.
He looked over at the invitation from Ron and began to pen his reply back. In his mind the events of the cup were spinning through his head. It would be the first death eater attack since the first war. Harry would be there this time, he would be ready. Just because he couldn't kill them yet, didn't mean he couldn't cause damage.