-'Good morning sleepy head.'
Harry spoke with a smile as Sirius walked into the kitchen.
Bryce was noisily eating toasts in cocoa while Winston was busy preparing coffee and other things.
-'Sleep well?' He continued with a grin.
-'Silk sheets were a nice change,' He tousled the boy's hair as he passed behind him. 'I don't think even my family could afford acromantula silk for bedding.' He smiled as he accepted a bowl of coffee and milk from the now shotgun-less butler.
-'It's not from acromantula Sirius,' he grabbed another toast and start putting hazelnut spread on it. 'It comes from silk worms,' He put the knife down and started dipping the toast in his coffee. 'It's still expensive as all get out but not as bad as acromantula,' He paused to chew. 'The worms don't eat people for one.'
A heavy clicked turned them both to the other side of the table where Bryce had just dropped his spoon.
-'What are those things?' He asked open mouthed.
-'Bloody big spiders,' The boy gestured to the far sides with his spoon. 'Adult ones are about 12 ft across and almost as long.'
Winston set down an espresso and a buttered toast opposite from them and walked to Bryce's side.
-'Quite impressive Mr Potter,' He started wiping the spilled cocoa. 'I take you have encountered such creatures?'
-'Muhu,' Harry swallowed his bite. 'Yes, me and one of my friends went to the nest near my school.'
The butler quickly dodged to the side as Bryce sprayed the mouthful of cocoa across the table.
-'What are you guys talking about?' Lara walked in wearing leather pants and a black skin tight shirt.
-'Morning Lara,' Sirius piped in. 'Harry was telling us about an encounter he had with a nest of giant spiders.'
She drank her cup before responding.
-'Second year right, with Ron?' she put the cup down and picked up a toast. 'and 2 months ago, the tournament, it injured your leg.'
As Harry nodded he saw Bryce gap openly at him.
-'So what's the plan for today?' Sirius filled the silence.
-'We're going to little Hangleton,' She looked over at Winston but he was already fetching her laptop. 'It's where you saw him for most of last year so it would make sense that something is there,' She finished her toast. 'Even if it's just a clue to where the phylacteries might be hidden.'
Winston quietly put the laptop in front of them.
-'What we know is that his name was Tom Marvolo Riddle, after his muggle father,' She brought up directories from the town. 'There were two other Tom Riddle in the 60 year period but both are dead,' She brought up the obituaries. 'From what you've told me of the killing curse I'd guess that's what hit them.' She snagged another toast and started putting hazelnut spread on it too.
-'So Riddle manor first?' Sirius joined in.
-'Yes and no, I definitely want to hit it at some point but I want to give him a little more credit then that,' She start eating the toast while dipping it in Harry's coffee. 'I think it might be somewhere else in town,' She brought up a birth certificate. 'This is a birth certificate for one "Tom Marvolo Riddle", son of "Merope Gaunt",' She paused to let the name sink in. 'and "Tom Riddle",' She minimized that and brought up another obituary. 'His mother died in childbirth, in a normal hospital it looks like, She named her kid herself and he was sent to child services and eventually to an orphanage in London where he stayed until he turned 17.'
-'If I had to take a wild guess I'd say that's when he dropped off the radar?' Sirius voiced their thoughts.
-'Yup, now the question is what did he do in the Wizarding world that could help us.' Harry speculated.
He turned to his godfather. 'I know it won't be easy but if we hit a dead end we might need to have you start asking questions.' he smiled as Sirius nodded.
-'Well let's go then.' Lara stood up. 'It's only about 30 mins the way I drive but I figured we might still want to wear things we're comfortable fighting in.' As they both nodded she turned back to the door to change.
Harry was laughing as they parked alongside the wall that surrounded the Riddle estate.
Sirius had followed Hedwig on his flying motorcycle but for all that he had little experience with normal modes of transportation and with Lara driving her Aston Martin the way she usually did he had clung to the handle like his life depended on it.
None of this had been helped by the casual banter between his godson and the mad woman at the wheel about racing and the differences in acceleration and top speeds between racing cars and bromsticks.
He had almost cried out when she had casually informed him that in most vehicles his spot was called "Dead man's seat" because of the lack of comparative protection between the driver and the front passenger in head on collisions.
All this meant that when they stepped out of the car he all but lay down on the ground and hugged it for all he was worth. This of course send Harry into higher peals of laughter.
-'So do we start with the manor then?' The boy was walking to the gate as he asked.
-'Actually no,' Lara interrupted. 'We know where the riddles are, it's the Gaunts that we should ask about and with what you've told me I think the place to start would be the town hall.'
As both men gave her blank looks she elaborated.
-'Birth certificates, properties, anything that can help.'
All three of them turned away from the manor and started making their way down the street.
This was a pretty typical little village in the English countryside, 1 or 2 story houses lining a center street with shops serving as ground floor for most of them.
After just a few minutes all three of them were walking into a two story white building with the flag gently swaying from the facade.
-'Good morning,' Lara spoke up first to a young lady sitting at a desk in the entrance. 'I was wondering if you could point me in the direction of your archives please.'
-'Good morning, may I ask what your business is?' The blond girl looked up at them.
-'Of course,' Lara brought out a folder from her backpack. 'I am Lady Croft, this is Lord Black and Lord Potter,' The girl's eyes widen at the sheer amount of gentry in front of her. 'We are currently conducting an investigation for The Churchill society on behalf of one Tom Marvolo Riddle,' She handed over a copy of Tom's birth certificate. 'The gentleman has requested elevation to the peerage on behalf of his father's family but as you can see,' She pointed to the bottom of the certificate where the father's signature would appear. 'This was not authenticated by the Lord Riddle therefor we would need to contact the family of the mother to confirm that Riddle is indeed the paternal line.'
The tone she had used might have come out of a younger McGonnagal if Harry hadn't known better.
He could see the thoughts run through the young lady's head, this was a matter for high society, certainly for someone who got paid more then she did.
-'If you would wait just a moment I will have someone escort you right there.' She picked up the phone as she said this.
-'Of course.' Lara stepped back from the desk and put the folder back in her backpack.
As she turned around she saw the poker faces on both men with her and couldn't help but smile.
-'What did you expect we were going to do? Sneak in at night like thieves?' She had spoken low enough that only Harry and Sirius could hear her.
-'Well no but I thought we would just ask around to see if anybody knew anything not go straight for the official archives.' Sirius responded with a straight face.
Harry was about to respond when a middle aged man stepped through the door at the far end of the hall and walked purposefully towards them.
-'Good morning, My name is William Stane. 'He shook hands with all three of them as he spoke. 'I am in charge of our archives department,' He pointed to the receptionist. 'Julie tells me you are trying to locate a family for the Churchill Society?'
-'That is correct,' Sirius followed Lara's lead. 'The gentleman's name was Riddle,' At his interlocutor's wide eyed look he continued. We have been informed already of the tragic demise of his claimed paternal family, we are simply trying to confirm his lineage.'
-'Well in that case what would be the name you are looking for?' Mr Stane Started down the hall indicating that they should follow.
-'His mother put down her name as Merope Gaunt,' Lara continued. 'We understand that her family might have lived in the area and we were hoping to track down relatives to confirm her relationship with the elder Riddle.'
The older men opened a door that led into what was obviously an archive, full of big metal cabinets in rows cutting the room.
-'Well that should be easy enough,' He went to a row on the right and started pulling drawers open. 'Gaunt you said?'
As all three nodded he started rifling through thick files in the drawer in front of him.
-'No,' He shook his head. 'I cannot see any land deeds under that name anywhere under that.' He closed the drawer and started down another aisle. 'Let me see if maybe school records would be a help.' He opened a smaller drawer on the other side of the room. 'I of course am not allowed to let you consult them but it might have an address entered.'
All three of them stood silently as the man continued talking out loud through his search.
-'Here we go, Morfin Gaunt,' He put a folder on top of the cabinet. 'And Merope.' He pulled another folder out.
Lara stepped forward as Mr Stane opened them and looked for an address.
-'Mmh, it looks like they didn't record an address, simply father's name, Marvolo Gaunt.' He rifled through the transcripts. 'I am sure you understand, this dates back to the 1900's there is barely more then the name of the teacher and a few words about their behavior, and even then, it looks like both children were pulled from school at 11 and sent to a private school in Scotland.'
-'Drat,' Lara cursed quietly. 'Any thoughts on who might have been a contemporary and could point us in the right direction?'
He started shaking his head in the negative when he suddenly stopped.
-'Actually there might be,' He put the folders back and closed the drawer. 'There is a convenience store about two blocks down,' He opened the door for them. 'There is a lady that operates it, Mary,' He quietly closed the door behind him. 'I believe her mother was a contemporary of Ms Gaunt and she might know something.'
They had arrived at the door when Lara turned to shake Mr Stane's hand.
-'Thank you for all your help sir.' She opened the door.
-'Your welcome, and good luck for your investigation.'
All three of them stepped out into the mild morning light.
-'That was actually more then I expected.' Lara spoke first as they made their way to the store.
-'You think they're might be something at his family's house then?' Sirius asked as he pulled a pair of sunglasses on.
-'No idea but he confirmed that they went to school at Hogwarts that means that their life might be traceable on your side, family heirlooms, that kind of thing.' She smiled as the store came into view.
This was one of those small stores that you only really find in the center of the cities in Europe.
There were only two check out counters and only on of those was manned.
The woman currently sitting at it looked to be in her late fifties, with that particular look of English women, turning to teak with age. She was about 5ft tall with thin limbs and thick head of white hair.
She smiled at the three of them when they walked in.
-'Good morning.'
-'Good morning, I beg your pardon,' Sirius smiled as he stepped closer to the counter. 'Would you be Mary?'
Taken aback she frowned a little but answered.
-'Yes I am, can I help you?'
-'We are hoping you can, I am Lord Black, this is Lady Croft and this is my Godson, Lord Potter, We are currently conducting an investigation for the Churchill society on behalf of a gentleman named Tom Riddle.'
-'But they're both dead.' The diminutive lady interrupted him.
-'Actually,' Lara stepped in producing her folder. 'We understand that Lord Riddle Sr. and the young Tom Riddle died some 30 years ago, however,' She showed the older lady the birth certificate. 'It seems that one of his contemporary claims that he fathered at least one child.' She pointed to the name of the father and then to the empty signature field. 'We are trying to investigate the mother's family to check if anyone can confirm the identity of the father.'
-'Mr Stane at the mayor's office told us your mother went to school with Ms Gaunt, we were hoping you would have an address.' Harry added earnestly.
-'You'd think it'd be long odds against anyone remembering this bird after 80 something years,'Mary took a deep breath. 'But yes, my mother talked to me about Merope and her little twerp of a brother.' As they all three nodded she continued. 'They lived in a small house, about 2 miles east of town,' She paused as Lara pulled out a map and unfolded it. 'Right here,' She put her finger in the middle of a forested area with no visible paths running through. 'Funny thing is that it's still there, the kids around here act like it's haunted and dare each other to spend a night in there,' She smiled at the knowing nods from Sirius and Lara. 'Yeah, you know how kids are, anyway, the shack is still there, but I know that the last person that lived there left almost 50 years ago.'
They made their goodbyes after marking the exact location of the shack on the map.
Harry was feeling exhilarated. With a little luck they could have another piece of Tom's reality expanded back into eternity.
They left the car at the northern edge of the small piece of woodland and continued on foot.
The-Boy-Who-Lived was grateful that he had put on the good hiking shoes Lara had made him get, he could see his godfather walking abreast of Lara and his wizardly dragon hide boots were starting to take their toll.
They were both talking when suddenly the both of them laughed and Lara punched his godfather in the arm. Despite the laughter he could tell that Sirius had felt that one as he rubbed his bicep.
Harry was glad that they were getting along, he had been pretty sure that the two of them would understand each other very well but sometimes people who were that similar hated each other on sight.
The banter continued until they stepped out into the clearing.
The structure before them could not be honestly qualified as a house. Calling it a shack felt generous, it was little more then a rough wood and dirt hovel barely distinguishable from a pile of wood in the woods.
What caught Harry's attention was the dead snake nailed to the door. That boded well. Not.
-'Artillery out people.' Lara spoke in a normal tone but she extracted her two H&K's and strapped them to her thighs.
She waited while both the men extracted their wands from hiding places and put them within easy reach. Harry also strapped his own .45 to his thigh since he couldn't use magic.
-'Magical McGuffin, you're up.'
Harry smiled at the nickname, he did deserve it.
He stepped slowly forward, trying to check the ground subtly while advancing.
He was almost 6t from the door when the tiny skeleton straightened up.
-'Identify yourself.' The hissing tones told The-Boy-Who-Wanted-To-Continue-On-Living that it was parseltongue.
-'I am the last heir of Slytherin still alive.' The talk with Lara about right of conquest was a shot in the dark but why not.
The skeleton opened it's jaws once or twice then lay back against the door.
As it came to rest the door gently creaked open.
-'Ladies and gentlemen, one at a time please.' He bowed towards the open door.
Lara gently cuffed him on the back of the head before stepping up to the door.
-'10ft pole.' She extended her hand to Harry.
After a few second with no response she turned around and looked at the boy.
-'No magic remember.'
A look of understanding past across her features and she turned to Sirius.
-'Lord black if you would be so kind as to conjure me a stick, maybe 4ft long.' She extended her hand towards him.
With a look of surprise his godfather pulled out his wand and complied.
With a nod of thanks she turned back to the door and prodded it open from 3ft back and 2 ft to the side.
It creaked open with a sound that clearly indicated that the last time anyone had pushed on that door was probably 50 years ago.
-'Sirius stay back.' Harry and Lara spoke in unison as the older man stepped towards the door.
-'Don't ask me why but I have a bad feeling with you and doorway's so you stay right there until we tell you it's safe.'
The scowl that twisted his face would have been followed by quite a tirade if Lara had not spoken up.
-'He's right, we need you as the heavy artillery so if anything goes wrong you come rescue us,' she inched towards the door. 'But for now stay behind us.'
Harry smiled at the artful stroking of his godfather's ego.
He stepped right behind Lara and made his way into the shack.
The grimy inside was barely illuminated by the door and he had trouble seeing where he was stepping.
He heard Lara fumble in her backpack and with a click she turned on the shoulder strap light.
Following her example he did the same.
The light was not flattering to the run down hovel they were in.
It was clear that no one, Normal or Wizard, had stepped inside this house for at least 50 years. What little furniture there had been had long rotted to its constituent parts.
He stepped carefully as the floor was obviously wood and he was wary of rotted through planks.
He tried to feel the tiny shard of lightning that seemed to occur when they were near a phylactery but nothing was happening.
Lara had stepped to the far wall and was carefully running her light along it when they heard the first creak.
Behind Harry Sirius had stepped gently into the shack.
-'Lumos.' The light spell coming out of the wand was not exactly par with the flashlights but it was enough for the older man to see by.
He took another step inside the shack with an even more ominous creak.
Harry and Lara were busy looking warily at the floor when the crash sounded.
Both of them looked up only to see a great big hole where Sirius had been.
They were both advancing cautiously towards it when the muffle yelp of pain told them that at least he was still alive.
-'Harry go tie this to a tree outside.' Without turning around he caught the rope that Lara had thrown him and, jumping over the hole, he darted towards the nearest tree.
It only took him 30 seconds to tie it around a big tree and run back to the shack.
He walked carefully through the doorway to see Lara laying down on the ground and looking into the hole.
-'He's ok, just cuts and bruises so he says.' She smiled at the sigh of relief from the boy.
-'Here's the rope, do we go down.' He was throwing the rope into the hole as he asked.
-'That'd be nice because there's some serious hissing going on down here." That last had come in his godfather's voice.
With a nod from Lara Harry grabbed the rope and jumped down the hole.
It was only about 10ft to the solid dirt beneath him but in the darkness it was quite scary.
-'All good Lara, maybe 10ft onto solid dirt.' He let go of the rope as he felt her tug at it.
Turning around he illuminated the room they had fallen into.
Ironically it looked tidier then the upstairs. The dirt walls and floor looked like they were meant to look like this and they had weathered the neglect a lot better then the rest of the little hovel. He felt the thud of feet behind him as he examined the place where the hissing was coming from.
It didn't sound like parseltongue so snakes were excluded.
As he took a few steps forward a fire sprang up in front of him.
The green flames were right under a cauldron and as the fire licked it green gray vapor started to come writhe above the cauldron.
The hissing grew and resolved itself into words.
-'Leave this place.'
-'Only the master is allowed.'
-'Go away.'
He heard the whisper of leather and the metallic clicks that indicated two reasonably powerful guns being readied for action.
Understanding the hint he pulled his own gun out and chambered a round.
He raised a hand to stop the others from following him.
-'Who is the master?' He replied to the voices in parseltongue.
The tendrils of smoke coalesced into snakes above the cauldron, giving the impression of a weird medusa.
-'Are you the master?' the voices spoke in unison as all the snakes turned towards him.
-'I am the heir of slytherin by right of conquest!' He straightened up as he declaim this.
-'We shall see!' The voices sounded smug as they all retracted to hover above the now bubbling cauldron.
Harry was about to step up to get a closer look when a green jet of the strange potion erupted out of the bubbling mess and went straight for him.
-'Reducto!' The shouted curse was accompanied by two roars of thunder as the two adults behind him tried to stop whatever it was from impacting with him.
At least one of the projectiles succeeded because the tendril exploded about halfway between the boy and the cauldron.
This left the tip of it, some sort of ring with a gray stone, flying straight for him.
He was about to dodge when the sensation of lightning crackled up and down his spine.
It was distracting enough that the ring finished it's short flight to impact on the arm he raised protectively.
The shock of thunder took all of them by surprise as the reality suddenly warped around Harry.
He was standing atop Mt Olympus, fighting Luke with everything he had when everything changed back to the shack and the ring stuck to his arm. he felt the energy stirring within the ring trying to push his own energy into a new shape.
He summoned his own power from deep within him and hurled it at the ring.
He saw around him the maelstrom that was starting.
He could hear Lara and Sirius behind shouting and trying to come closer.
The wind formed a solid barrier around him as the ring tried to force it's own reality once again.
The swords clashed as Riptide came up and under on an unsuspecting Luke. Kronos had honed his body to almost perfection and the dip in the river Styx made the both of them nigh indestructible.
With a jolt he was back. Forcing his will and calling another possibility he pushed with everything at the reality that was trying to invade. He felt the winds get even stronger and the poorly kept wood above him tear apart with loud snaps as the entire hovel was reduced to kindling around him.
He was distracted for a second as he worried if his companions were going to be ok.
The ring redoubled it's effort and pushed with everything it had.
The swords were crossed and each by was pushing with all his might against it trying to overwhelm the other with sheer strength.
He felt the prayer form , Lord Poseidon, give me the strength to overwhelm this opponent.
He could feel his father spare the merest fraction of his attention from the terrible fight he was in in the deep ocean. He felt the power of the very sea flood him.
With all the might of the oceans he pushed back at the ring and felt it explode from his arm towards the other side of what was now a muddy hole in the ground.
He felt the sway of the waves come and go, the water from the river half a mile to the west responded gently as he coxed it into filling this hole.
-'Thank you father.' The words came out more Harry then Percy but they still felt right.
-'Harry are you ok?' Sirius stepped out from the protego spell he had cast.
-'Hey Sirius,' He stepped towards them calmly as he holstered the gun. 'Yes I'm good, But we should get out of here.'
Lara was getting to her feet when she looked into his eyes.
-'Who are you?' She was not angry when she said it but she kept her hand on her guns.
-'My name is Percy Jackson,' He raised both hands to demonstrate his harmlessness. 'I'm 16 years old.'
-'Good morning Percy, is Harry there too, only the American accent is a bit weird.'
Sirius was starring back and forth as they spoke.
-'Yes Fox, it's me you can leave the guns alone.' He indicated the rope behind her. 'Percy is a …' He paused trying to find the words to explain what had happened. 'He's a water elemental, he can control rivers etc and he just summoned one to come drown this spot so we need to get out of here.'
-'Who is Percy?' Sirius was trying to check that his godson was ok when the exchange had taken place.
-'It's a long story Sirius, I'm not sure we understand it completely ourselves, suffice it to say Percy is me in another reality,' He grabbed the rope and started climbing out of the hole. 'It's a new trick I discovered during my French vacation.'
-'And who's Fox?' He starred up as Lara grabbed the rope and followed suit.
-'Me in another reality,' She stepped onto the lip of the hole and looked back down. 'You coming?'
She turned to Harry as Sirius made his way up the rope.
-'What about the phylactery?'
-'I destroyed it.' He pointed to the other side of the now defunct shack where a tiny crater was visible on the opposite wall. 'It seems your no-touch injunction was quite wise, it tried to infuse me with Tom's reality from Percy's world so when I summoned my own reality from that world we started fighting,' He pointed to the rapidly healing burn on his arm. 'I drained it of it's possibility and it was destroyed.' He shuddered. 'I don't want to imagine what would have happened if someone not like us had touched it.'
Both of them grabbed his godfather's hands and pulled him up. As the adults checked to make sure they had everything and to retrieve the rope Harry turned to the hole and for lack of a better term pulled at the ground.
At the center of the hole a bubbling sound started. Gritting his teeth he pulled harder and small puddle formed at the very bottom.
Raising a fist up he gave it all the energy he had and pulled.
A veritable geyser erupted from the bottom and they had barely a minute to step back as every trace of the shack was floated out of the clearing in this new formed river.