Disclaimer: The Harry Potter Universe and all the characters belong to J.K. Rowling.
"Mortigore!" Harry spoke commandingly, firing a small and concentrated white beam from the tip of his protesting wand to his own hand, feeling it quickly go ice cold as a layer of ice began to form on his hand before spreading out to cover it wholly like some kind of armor.
The first few times had almost gone wrong as the spell nearly began to freeze his whole hand and arm in ice that continued to grow. Luckily, breaking the ice before it could properly solidify and using some Counter-spells worked well as a solution.
It didn't go as smoothly as the Opanare, but after multiple attempts paired with many protests of Daphne, he had succeeded in storing the spell in his free hand, just like the book had explained.
He turned his focus back to the work in front of him and turned his hand a few times, admiring the result with small wonder. It looked very much like some kind of chainmail glove or scaled hide that reached up to his wrist. He flexed his fingers testily, and heard the ice crack in the silence of the chamber as he moved his fingers, wondering how it seemed to stay perfectly intact despite the fracturing sounds. He didn't see any cracks in the ice, it always remained transparent.
He sank down on one knee near the water edge of the Chamber, and lightly touched the water close to his feet with his fingertips. Watching as the ice rapidly shifted downward from his hand to freeze the water in a layer of dark, blue ice that slowly continued to grow along its edges until he cut off the feed of his magic to it.
Harry had tried but found himself unable to shoot the ice from his hand as a projectile, and now came to accept that it could only be used through physical contact on either his enemies or environment. He was happy either way as this too was useful, and unexpected for any foe.
Harry was satisfied that he had managed to learn the Death Chill, albeit a bit slower than the Dusk Heal, but on the same evening nonetheless. The entity had probably been right about this supposed 'Gift' that he had... It really did seem to help him learn, and understand the Dark Arts much faster than normal as learning new Charms in class under the guidance of the Teachers still went noticeably slower than the Arts that he learned by himself.
He looked down at his Holly wand, and felt multiple emotions drift inside of him, most of them being negative. The protests of his wand had been minor at first, but now that he had really started to practice the Arts, it had become much more prominent.
It was beginning to feel like his own wand was starting to reject him, and it kind of hurt to have the wand that he had used for all these years start to work against him. The feeling inside him felt much like the one he got from Ron, and Hermione during the Triwizard Tournament where they hadn't believed in his innocence. He felt hurt, and betrayed by his close ones.
And now the same wand, his partner, and friend that had helped him throughout all these years was now starting to hold him back, and give him less than his full potential.
But he had to hold on to it, there was little to no choice, he couldn't very well walk to Dumbledore, and exclaim that he needed a new wand. Harry had never heard of a Witch or Wizard that needed a new wand, short of having the previous broken which was something he didn't want to do.
As far as he knew, people kept their wands for all their lives. Asking or getting a new wand would raise a lot of unwanted questions. Questions he wouldn't be able to explain without revealing things to Dumbledore that needed to be kept secret. Giving his wand off for inspection was equally bad as residential magic could be found on it leading back to the same issue.
"What's wrong, Harry?" He heard Daphne ask from behind him, making him realise that he had probably been looking at his wand for too long, giving her the idea that something was amiss. An idea she would be correct in.
He turned and saw her sitting attentively with clear blue eyes that were focused on him in a knowing look, giving him the feeling that she already knew more than he wanted her to. As usual.
He kept silent for a moment, finding it difficult to find the right words to explain it. Only to be spared the effort of doing so as Daphne's calm voice spoke out into the hollow chamber.
"You're having trouble with your wand, aren't you?" She asked, but it sounded more like a statement to him. "I can see it whenever you practice your spells here." She continued, not waiting for his answer, and bolstering her argument as she gave a small wave with her hand around them.
"Yes." Harry confessed reluctantly. "It's giving me a bit of trouble at the moment.."
"Only with the Dark Arts, right?"
He lightly shook his head. "No, I also feel it during spells like Transfiguration.. but it's most noticeable here. I'm guessing that you know what it means?"
"I can't know for sure, I am no wand expert, but the wand chooses the Wizard for who he is, maybe it thinks that you're changing, maybe your wand doesn't agree with the things that you're doing.. or where you are heading. It can be all of those things or maybe even something I can't think of as the reason." She said as she rolled her own wand between her thumb and index finger.
"Hm." Harry hummed in response. He didn't understand his own wand if it was one of the reasons she mentioned. "I'll be a dead Wizard if it suddenly decides to mess up my spells mid duel." Harry said more to his own wand than to Daphne. "It's not the time to worry about such petty things."
"I'm sure that it won't abandon you completely, Harry." Daphne said more to herself than him.
"Maybe, but right now there isn't much I can do about it besides doing nothing, I can't let anyone inspect it or ask Dumbledore for any help and explanations, lest we risk discovery."
"True." Daphne said after several moments of thinking, and she didn't appear to be without ideas as she spoke up again. "We could visit a wand shop during the holiday, and see from there?"
"..We would have a guard with us at all times. We might be able to shake him or her off for a while by making a break for it, and disappearing under the invisibility Cloak , but dodging the shopkeepers questions for my need of a new wand, and picking a new wand takes quite some time. In which the guard will have panicked and long since alerted The Order of our disappearance." Harry said as he held his hand to his chin.
Daphne nodded and frowned for a moment. "That places us in a bit of a bind.. but maybe you don't have to get a new wand if we just wait for a bit, and see what happens. This could all be just a phase in which it accustoms to the things you've started doing."
"I hope so." Harry said despite having little faith of it being the case before dropping his hand from his chin and holding it out to the book that rested securely on her lap since the beginning.
"Can I lend it for a minute?" Harry asked. "I need to read up a bit on Fiendfyre before I get started."
Daphne tensed before she shook her head in response, and he felt himself frown. "No, Harry.. some other time, it's too dangerous right now and you're going too fast."
He didn't lower his hand and opted to try again. "Last time you said we would do it later. I learned the two other spells in the meantime. Later has become now."
Still she shook her head, and bit her lip as she averted her eyes from him. "No."
He dropped his outstretched hand, feeling annoyance rise up in him. Why was she being such a hardhead on this? He knew that they promised she could decide what he could learn, but this was quickly becoming an hindr- The words of the entity flashed through his head again, and he didn't finish his train of thought lest he actually start to agree with it on things. Not to mention that it was horrible of him to think like that.
"Fine." He said curtly in exasperation. "We'll look for some others to learn then, and keep the Fiendfyre for later.. again."
"I know that Voldemort hunts you, Harry, and I understand that you want to protect your friends and everyone else.. but isn't this enough already? You've got some strong spells now, you'll be able to stand your own against Death Eaters with this." She replied with focused eyes that had a depth of pleading to them.
"What are you saying? Death Eaters aren't the ones I'm preparing for, and you know that." He replied with a meaningful look.
"You don't necessarily have to face Voldemort! We have the Headmaster, right? He is one of the most powerful wizards alive. Let's just forget this whole business, and leave it as it is.. your wand also might start to act normal again if you do. We'll solve multiple problems at once!" Daphne exclaimed with a clearer look of worry, and desperation as she held the book in a tight grip in her hands.
He sighed and withheld himself from blurting out thoughtless words. If only things were that simple. "It will have to be me. that's just how things will end up, Daphne. Please help me. I will be the one to eventually stand against Voldemort. I need your support."
She hung her head to avoid his pleading, hiding her face behind blond hair that fell in front of it, and shook her head again as he stepped closer to her.
He placed his hands on either side of the armrests of her chair, and leaned close to her.
"Why, Daphne? Why give me the book and then deny me its use? What was the point in us going through all that effort, and risk of getting it if you don't even want me to open it after a few days!?" He questioned her, his voice rising in volume as he went. Feeling frustration, and confusion at her actions. They finally had the book, and now she herself was the one to keep him away from it.
Was she still worried him? Didn't she trust and believe in his capabilities? He had already expressed multiple times that he could handle this or would find a way to make it work regardless. He wasn't going to turn in some kind of serial killer by practicing this!
"I didn't give you anything! I never wanted to give you this.. this thing!" Daphne said suddenly with a stormy look in her eyes as she rose from her chair, making him take a step back to prevent a collision with her rising figure. "I helped you retrieve it, because I was worried, and didn't want to let it out of my sight from the very start."
"My parents-no, my father alone was the one who decided to give it to you, because of the debt we owe you for the help with The Order! We both expected you to see its contents, and then be so reviled by it, like me, like everyone else in the family now that you too immediately would be done with it!" She continued rapidly and heatedly, dropping the book heavily on the table for emphasis.
He didn't speak after the silencing drop of the book, lightly surprised that she had expected him to quit, and watched her calm down as she momentarily paused by taking a breath. "I probably already expected it somewhere inside myself.. maybe that's why I felt uncomfortable with it from the very start."
"You should have known that I was, and still am fully prepared to make use of it. regardless of what I will see in it."
"Yes, well.. I underestimated it. We were wrong in that assumption, I was wrong.. I didn't think that the Arts would come so naturally to you.. It's only logical that you want to keep learning more of it since it's the fastest and most efficient way for you to improve yourself." Daphne said somberly, tracing the red trimmings on the cover of the book with a finger before stopping, and making a fist of her hand. "But that is exactly where the danger lies, and you don't realise. The things that could happen. You simply don't…"
"Please, Daphne not this agai-" Harry began tiredly only to be cut off as Daphne continued.
"You don't see it in your blind zeal to become stronger, and I won't stand by idly as you walk this path without having seen the forks it can lead to!" She declared with the same strength as before again.
"Then what do you want me to do!?" He asked despairingly, throwing his hands up in the air. "Stop now that I'm finally at this point? I can't do that Daphne. I just cant. Other methods take too long. This is the way for me."
"Just...Please just wait until you meet my parents in the holidays. Especially my father, if anyone can make you understand, it would be him." She said with an air of confidence and.. sorrow.
"Why? What is it that he could possibly show me?" He questioned her, perplexed.
She shook her head in response. "Words do not carry the weight to properly explain it. We can only show you." Daphne said evading the question.
Harry didn't reply to her answer, and simply studied her tense expression. He didn't know what her father could possibly show him that would supposedly change his mind, but he could see that she wasn't going to be lenient about letting him continue until he did.
He let out a frustrated sigh. The only reason he was going to agree was because he wanted to honor his promise with her by listening to whatever things she had to say about the book, and because she wanted this so desperately. He seemed to have unknowingly worried her sick all this time. He didn't want to see her like this.
"..I'll do as you ask, and stop for now." Harry said finally, despite the urge inside him to lean more telling him otherwise. "In the holiday I will listen to whatever it is that your father has to show or tell me, but after that we will continue."
She gave a single nod. "If you still want to after that then… then it will be obvious that I wouldn't be able to stop you even if I wanted to."
"Will you allow me full access to it on my own?" Harry asked as he looked back at her for a direct and honest answer.
"Yes.. I'll give you the book if you still want it after that, and will support you, both in your training, as well as protection. Do keep in mind that those two are different things, protection will always take priority if they start to interfere with one another."
He didn't know how those two things would exactly play out in the actual field itself, but nodded to her nonetheless in agreement. It was something.
"I'll spend some time perfecting the Mortigore then, and use the largest part for searching through the immortality section with you in the meantime."
"Sounds good." She said with a small smile, looking relieved.
"How does it feel, Harry? The Gift that is. Isn't it fascinating to perceive and experience with your very own being how the Dark Arts flow, and crackle through your body?" The entity asked with his young, but haunting voice, looking down on him through the bars of his jail with his dark, empty eye sockets.
"I guess." Harry answered vaguely on purpose as he stood up from the ground he had suddenly found himself laying on again, not wanting to openly agree with the entity, as In all honesty he actually agreed with it. His practice sessions in the Chamber had been very interesting, and exhilarating. The magic that flowed through him didn't happen in the way it normally did with conventional spells. It was different. Better.
"You show much talent, and with the recent change of circumstances, I have decided to once again offer my aid to you."
"Your aid? And what circumstances?" Harry heard himself ask. Wondering what he was going to on about this time.
"Yes. The girl of course, she is using the promises you made with her against you, and is once again holding you back. Naturally I come forward in response to help you continue forward." The entity said as if it was obvious.
"There is nothing you could do for me, and I not going to betray Daphne's trust by looking into the book on my own. Not until I fulfilled my part of the promise to meet her father." He replied, glaring a bit at him for his implication regarding Daphne.
"You don't have to look into her book. I can teach you. I have knowledge that you can use. This way you can still progress while simultaneously keeping your promise with her… if it's so important to you." The entity said, adding the last part a bit mockingly.
Harry already knew that he wasn't going to agree, he wasn't going to let the entity teach him anything, it was too untrustworthy. Unpredictable. He might keep his promise with Daphne through such a loophole, but he knew better than that. He would still be breaking his promise with her in all actuality.
But still he felt an undeniable curiosity, and couldn't help himself as he opened his mouth for a question.
"What would you teach me?"
"Whatever it is you are in need of." The entity answered curtly, but promisingly.
Harry looked at the shadowy appearance of a young teenager, and wondered how far the scale of that answer extended across everything he could possibly ask for.
"Thanks, but I'll have to refuge your offer. I'll keep my promise for the next two weeks, and see from there on out." Harry replied. Not feeling curious enough to act on them any further.
"The girl wants you to turn back, wants you to stop, and is a highly unproductive presence for our cause. She made you stop again after revealing things she had been hiding from you from the very beginning. Who says that it won't happen again in the future when you decide to continue again?"
"Daphne showed herself to be extremely worried, but she promised to be more supportive in the future if I wanted to continue. I'll rather believe her innocence in the matter than your accusation." Harry said dismissively.
"I see." The entity simply said in response, not making the effort to make more counter arguments.
Harry walked to the cabinet nearby the cage, and laid his hand on the glass display, seeing the snake-like intricate key underneath it.
"What is this cage you're in anyway? It's not anything I myself am doing, not consciously in any case, and I know that it isn't something you yourself made as you only want me to get you out." Harry said taking his hand off the glass to look at the smoke producing being. "But that obviously isn't going to happen."
"Protections, chains, jailing." The entity replied curtly. "You view me as a threat, and so do the protections in turn."
Harry waited for more but was forced to ask after the entity didn't continue. "Is that all you are going to tell me?"
"Yes."
Harry sighed, and decided to switch subjects. "Why did you suddenly start appearing? Why not earlier in any of my other years here or even before that, if I am to assume that your statement of always having been is here is true."
"It's true. I have always been here, although not in sense as I am right now." The entity said gesturing to his body.
"You were smaller.. and younger at the start of my year, you could hardly even speak, but all that changed after Dumbledore destroyed the ring, and I absorbed the magic from it. You grew and could suddenly speak to me." Harry summarized.
"Correct. At first I had no shape at all, but that changed after your second year, after that I spend the next couple of years forming myself until I finally managed to make contact with you."
"Wait, second year..? What are you talking about?" He asked as he felt himself frown in puzzlement.
The entity didn't answer him, and instead extended his hand to him through the bars of his ebony, black cage.
Harry looked at the pitch, black hand that was seemingly made out of smoke and shadows, but made no move to do anything with it.
"Take it." The entity said after he didn't do anything with it. "As the girl said; words do not carry the weight to properly explain it. I can only show you."
Harry tentatively raised his hand, hesitated for another moment before firmly clasping the smaller hand of the entity, noticing that it didn't have a shred of warmth in him as it was ice cold to the touch.
Smoke and shadows quickly weaved around their hands after he had grasped it, and images began flashing before his eyes as new sounds filled his ears before he could make a move to get away.
He whirled through blurry images for several moments until it was suddenly still.
Harry looked around and quickly noticed that he was back in the Chamber of Secrets. Right in the moment of climax against Riddle's diary to be exact. He watched his twelve year old self on the ground quickly regain focus as Fawkes had only just healed his wound from the Basilisk.
Riddle pointed Harry's wand at Fawkes, and tried to attack Fawkes with a blast of his wand. Fawkes however, dodged it by taking flight again in a whirl of gold and scarlet.
"Phoenix tears…" said Riddle quietly, staring at his younger self's arm. "Of course…healing powers…I forgot…"
He looked into his younger self's face. "But it makes no difference. In fact, I prefer it this way. Just you and me, Harry Potter…you and me…."
Riddle raised the wand …Then, in a rush of wings, Fawkes had soared back overhead and something fell into Harry's lap; the diary.
For a split second, both Harry and Riddle, stared at it. Then, just as he remembered it, his younger self took the nearby Basilisk fang from the floor and plunged it into the heart of the book without hesitation.
Long, dreadful, piercing scream ensued from Riddle as ink spurted out of the diary in torrents, streaming over Harry's hands, flooding the floor. Riddle was writhing and twisting, screaming and flailing and then disappeared in a bright flash of light.
Harry's wand fell to the floor with a clatter and there was suddenly only silence left. Silence except for the steady drip of ink still oozing from the diary. The basilisk venom had burned a sizzling hole right through it.
Just as harry began to question himself why he was seeing this again, something unexpected happened. Something he didn't remember.
As his small appearance rested on the ground, barely conscious from the whole ordeal, a dark shape drifted up from the wound in the diary, accompanied by an eerie and haunting moaning that increased in volume and intensity as it grew bigger.
He nearly made for his own wand in alarm as chills ran down his back in realization of where he had heard the sound before. The hallways… Fawkes too seemed to realise the threat as he swooped down multiple times to try and rake, bite, or claw the appearance, but to no avail as the Phoenix went right through it multiple times.
The loud moaning had turned into screaming again, and he watched with wide eyes as the mass of shadows, and black flame rapidly descended on him. His younger self made no move to avoid the incoming danger nor indicated that he had even heard or seen it in the first place in his state of fatigue, and took the full brunt of the impact when it slammed into him.
He saw himself slump down on the wet floor again, completely limp as the chamber immediately became silent again. Only the wet sound of dripping water echoed through the room while Fawkes searchingly circled above for the enemy that had suddenly disappeared.
After several moments he saw himself weakly get up with trembling movements, before hurrying toward a stirring Ginny.
The memory ended, and he immediately took a step back, wrenching his hand away from the entity, breaking the sinister bonds that bound their hands together.
"What was that?" Harry asked with a quickened heartbeat.
"A memory of what truly happened that day as you were in no shape to properly remember, and witness it at the time."
Harry waited several moments as he took several breaths, shocked that something like that had happened without his or anyone else's knowing. That is, if the things he had just seen were actually true and not some kind of illusion again by him, but it certainly seemed to connect and make sense in multiple ways.
"Are you also some kind of imprint from the diary? Harry asked with apprehension.
The entity shook his head and replied calmly. "No, it would have been unwise to show you this memory otherwise, besides I have made no attempt at possessing you. No, I am you born from the Dark magic that started at the very same night of Voldemort's demise. The Dark magic that he struck you with transformed under the effects of the protection your mother gave you, and formed the first albeit simple remnants of what I am now."
"And since the events in the Chamber you started.. growing?" Harry said as he held his head. He felt confused and felt a headache quickly coming up.
"I suppose you could say that. It was the first portion we received, and as a result it took me several years to properly form, and evolve from the small existence that I was at first.."
"But the second time was different, I met you again shortly after Dumbledore destroyed the ring. You were already a lot different back then by being able to speak normally and having grown in physique." Harry questioned.
The entity nodded as he replied. "Correct. It was much easier the second time as I had already done much of the work, and only needed to add more to myself, and you."
"First the ring and now also the diary? Voldemort made both of them.. is that merely coincidence or are there also other artifacts who will do this to us?" Harry asked.
"It isn't coincidence. We can only absorb power from the items he created, because I myself originated from that magic, other items won't work. Only those of Voldemort."
Harry frowned. "Then the same will keep happening if more were to be found? You will continue to evolve, and grow? Are there even more of those items left in the first case?"
"There are more, and we should find them for that reason." The entity said in a tone of commitment.
"..I won't be so sure about that. You might have shown and told me all this, but that doesn't mean that I suddenly trust you." He replied calmly.
"Understandable, and for the same reason I will stay caged in here no matter how I change, and I won't lie about the fact that I will evolve, but don't misunderstand. This is more beneficial to you than me. I am only here to help you on your path."
Harry kept silent in response.
"I already told you that you become stronger by taking the magic in the artifacts. You have seen the results yourself after absorbing the magic of the ring with me. All of your spells have become stronger after that, and you even developed a talent in the form of the Gift for yourself." The entity continued after his silence.
"That's true and tempting, but I'm not too sure about letting such things enter me again. I would rather keep training instead." Harry retorted thinking back on the chilling screams of anguish from the destroyed objects.
"Training will only get you so far, Harry, you know that... You are talented, but the maximum potential of your magic itself isn't enough to compete with Voldemort's. However, the artifacts that he himself made can be used against him by serving as a source of power for us."
"Collect as many as you can find, Harry, and destroy them. We need to harvest them if we are to acquire the strength we need to defeat him." The entity said with cool conviction as he raised one of his hands and balled it into a fist.
Harry looked at him for a long, hard moment, having the entity grow further didn't sit well with him, but it was an undeniable fact that these things Voldemort made possessed great power that true to the entity's words, he could use for himself. He had seen the proof multiple times now with the ring and diary.
Harry didn't openly agree with him and opted to ask more instead. "What are those things anyway? Why did Voldemort give those items that much power only to leave them out of his sight?"
"I don't know. Maybe to wreak havoc like the diary, and punish those who would dare touch his belongings. Maybe something else entirely." The entity answered with a shrug.
Harry sighed. It was the same as in his second year with the explanation Dumbledore gave him. Maybe there was nothing more about it, and he was just overthinking things. It wasn't above Voldemort to purely enchant his items to inflict suffering on those who found them either on accident or purpose.
"The fact stands that right now you have no chance. You can train but that will only be effective until you reach your limit. The Dark Lord will overpower you no matter your tactics. You need it, Harry, or you will fail. And you know what that means. Death."
Harry felt a pang of dread shoot through him as images from his nightmares briefly gave him vivid visions on how such a sight would look like... Was the risk worth it to search, track, and take in such magic's? It was true that he didn't have the same strength as Voldemort. Mere training probably wasn't going to solve that either. There always comes a point after which you can no longer improve as you reach the limit of your capabilities.
If he were to strand at such a point, and come up short in the end, he would have no choice but to extend his limitations by whatever means necessary.
Considering what the ring had given him in the form of increased strength, and the ability to understand and learn the Dark Arts with the Gift he might say yes to that question if it were to face him.
"..I'll think about it."
Hey there, long time no see.. or read..
I have bad news and bad news, great news right?
The bad news is that this chapter was already finished for about 90% at the time when chapt 24 came out.. meaning that I didn't write much in the meantime.
The other bad news is that Uni is taking up a lot of my time, the time I have left is usually spend on some brainless activity to relax and not go insane.
Conclusion: updates will continue to be sloooow. They'll come! .. but slooowly.
Have this bear as comfort ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ
The key in the cabinet is briefly mentioned again. didn't do so for a long time. Can't have its existence be forgotten eh.
Thank you all for your reviews.
Lemme know what you think!