"All four of you, my office, now!" She ordered. Meekly the trio and Cho complied, following their former Professor up the stairs, past the gargoyle that had managed to pull half of itself back together and into the headmistress's office.
Harry Potter and the Curse of Riddle House
by arukas
"If I am understanding you correctly Potter, than you're saying that the thing we had come to know as the Riddle Stone has not only taken flight but is also headed here?" McGonagall asked as she removed her hat from her head and massaged her eyes. Harry looked at his former Professor from his position leaning against a book case and nodded.
"At the very least the Riddle Stone will pass over Hogwarts. Considering the fact that all those creatures attacked Hogwarts before we figured it seemed logical that it would try taking the school again." He explained. Cho gave a sarcastic laugh and turned to face Harry from the chair she was sitting in.
"So if you're so clear on what this thing is going to do, how do we stop it?" She asked. Harry frowned in response and shrugged his shoulders.
"Sniping at each other will achieve nothing." McGonagall said. Suddenly Ron stood up straighter than normal and pulled a small stone out of his pocket. As he held the stone in his hand he spoke occasionally though no sound came out of his mouth.
"Well Mr. Weasley, I'm sure Professor Flitwick would love to see you using a charmed communication stone." McGonagall said with a soft smile on her face. Ron's expression though was far grimmer than McGonagall's as he replaced the stone in his pocket.
"The Auror team that was moving with the stone has been fired at and forced to pull back." He explained.
"Do we have any idea when the stone will arrive here?" Cho asked after a lengthy pause.
"Thirteen hours, twenty six minutes." Hermione said, finally breaking her silence.
"Care to tell us how many seconds?" Cho replied snidely. Hermione leered at the other girl for a moment before both turned away in a humph.
"What did I just say about sniping?" McGonagall asked in an exasperated tone.
"Regardless of the time frame we have to prepare our defence of Hogwarts." Harry interrupted. "The students obviously need to be sent home." He continued. Professor McGonagall nodded her agreement.
"That would be the first sensible thing I have seen from you since your return Mr. Potter." McGonagall said.
"Speaking of that, what are you doing here Harry? Last time I checked you were classified as dead." Cho interjected.
"Well knowing the Ministry's efficiency levels I'd say I still am." Harry replied.
"Right, that's it! All of you out of my office and go to your former houses and spend some time thinking about how adults would act in this situation!" McGonagall cried. The four former students all shut their mouths abruptly and made haste out of the office, down the stairs and in their separate directions.
In the Gryffindor common room Harry reclined in what had always been his favourite arm chair by the fire. Fortunately for the trio it was currently second period and the students were in class.
"Fancy Cho showing up like that." Ron said as he slumped down on the couch. Harry nodded and stretched out.
"She should probably leave too; there won't be any room for people in the coming battle that can't take care of themselves." He said. Ron nodded slowly and folded his arms.
"So tell me Harry, what have you been doing to learn to duel like that. I mean, I always thought you were the kind to duke it out with honor but the way you took those guards out was almost devious. Wicked cool, but devious." He said with a smirk.
"I wouldn't mind knowing that myself." Hermione added. Harry smirked back at Ron, though his thoughts were unreadable due to the covering over his eyes.
"Well, I've pretty much had to fight those things day in, day out for three years. After a while I suppose I learnt how to fight multiple targets at once rather than using big wasteful spells or running away." He explained. Hermione and Ron nodded but neither seemed entirely satisfied.
"So how did you get the arm?" Ron asked after several long moments of silence. His tone was very serious and Harry's smile too vanished from his face.
"Ah, that." He said, looking down at his own arm and flexing the black and gold limb.
"I've never seen anything like it before, not even at St. Mungos or even the Department of Mysteries." Ron added. Harry looked uncomfortable and was saved by the sound of the school bell tolling.
"We should get out of sight until the students are sent home. Me especially." Harry said. Hermione nodded her agreement.
"Yes Harry, somehow I think the sight of the boy who died once again being the boy who lived might cause pandemonium." She said.
The trio stood and left the common room, quickly making their way out onto the grounds and down by the lake where they sat again. The ominous sight of the Riddle Stone had gotten obviously closer, the true magnitude of its size becoming clearer and clearer.
"What do you suppose it wants with Hogwarts?" Ron asked, shifting his weight so he was now squatting by the lake as he did. He began to pick up small stones from the ground and skip them across the water.
"To consume its magic." Harry replied. Ron stopped skipping rocks suddenly and Hermione ceased twirling the long grass in her fingers.
"You wanna run that by me again?" Ron requested, his voice steady but still sounding perplexed.
"The creatures, the stone obelisk, they both consume all magic they touch." Harry explained. Hermione snapped off the piece of grass in her fingers and screwed it up into a crushed green ball.
"That's impossible." She said after a moment. Harry and Ron both turned to face her, their eyes fixed on Hermione's own. At least Hermione assumed Harry's eyes were fixed on hers, the bandages of course made that impossible to determine.
"Why is it so impossible?" Harry asked. Hermione frowned at him, the look on her face telling him that he should already know this.
"Basic magical theory suggests that magic is not a finite resource in that it has no set volume and is not consumed by the process of utilization. Magic is therefore the only concept in existence that has causal powers without the need to expend resources." Hermione said, quoting directly from one of the textbooks in the library.
"Books only say that because no one has ever reached the end point." Harry replied. Hermione frowned indignantly, Harry had always believed her on these kinds of topics.
"Alright then Harry, you obviously know something we don't." Ron interjected. His own mind was becoming more and more confused at the idea of magical theory, he had personally always just accepted magic was there and never thought to question why.
"In the Riddle House there was a book, it wasn't sealed in any way and it actually looked like it had been read recently." Harry began. Hermione leant forward to listen and Ron sat back down from where he had been throwing rocks. "It suggested that we were thinking about magic in the wrong way. We always assumed it was something in us, some kind of energy we created. But this book suggested that magic was in fact alive, that it was the earliest and most advanced kind of life that existed as a self-replicating kind of energy." Harry said.
"Woah woah, back up. Self-replicating Harry? You mean like living cells?" Hermione asked. Harry shook his head.
"Not exactly, because it doesn't require a food source. As long as there is magic existing, more magic is created from it. Whenever we use magic, we draw on the force living inside us to do so. And the reason we might feel feint after using it too much isn't because we strain our bodies, its because we have come close to using up all of what makes us magical." Harry said. Ron blinked and looked up at the sky.
"So if I'm understanding you correctly, which I may not be cause that was weird, magic lives inside us witches and wizards and gives us these powers?" He asked.
"Sort of, though the book said magic existed in everyone. Witches and wizards are just those people who had a natural ability to harness it at will. The book also said that because magic is eternal, it's actually the light of our souls that is magic." Harry continued.
"Hold on a second, souls? Eternal life force? Harry do you really believe all that?" Hermione asked critically. The whole concept of it, magical souls and living energy, it was just so unbelievable. And she lived in a world where a tent could easily contain a sky-scraper.
"I'm not sure whether I believe it or not but I know for a fact that those things consume magic. I've seen them do it to… other people." Harry finished. Ron and Hermione both had burning questions on the tips of their tongues but held off. The look on Harry's face, even without his expressive eyes, was one of utter sadness and fear.