Chapter 46 The Final Piece
Sticking his head into the Floo Network was a strange and thoroughly unenjoyable experience. Halo's head felt like it was flying through the air, spinning and twisting in a way that made him feel sick almost immediately. Vaguely, he was aware of other fireplaces spinning past, but he was moving much too fast to make sense of anything he saw. Suddenly his head seemed to pass through a gate, and the glimpses of the other fireplaces stopped. His head spun in near-darkness for a time—two seconds or maybe more, it was hard to tell time in this place—when suddenly he slipped through another gate, and with a disorienting flash of light new fireplaces appeared around him. Almost as soon as the light returned, his head finally stopped spinning.
Halo blinked several times, trying to fight the urge to throw up. He seemed to be in a large room made of fire, empty except for a fiery door on the far wall. He looked around in confusion, even though there was nothing to see. This wasn't where he was supposed to be, was it? Where was Ted?
From out of nowhere came a woman's voice. She sounded nice, but Halo couldn't understand a single word she was saying. He thought the words might be French, but he wasn't sure. The voice trailed off and she began again, speaking a different language. Halo thought it might have been German this time, but he didn't understand that any better.
"I'm sorry, I don't understand," he finally managed to say.
The voice stopped and began again, this time speaking in nearly flawless English. "Welcome to Sion Academy. May I ask your name and which student you are trying to reach?"
"My name is Hal-, er, Harry Wiggins. Uh, I need to speak to Ted. Ted Lupin, I mean," Halo said, wincing at how dumb he sounded.
"Of course," The voice said smoothly. Halo wondered if it belonged to a young woman sitting near a fireplace somewhere, or if the voice was completely magical. "I will inform Edward Lupin that he has a visitor. Please wait here for a moment."
"Sure," Halo said, wondering where else he could possibly go, but the voice was already gone. He wondered how long he would have to wait, but it couldn't have been more than a minute before the voice returned and spoke from somewhere over his shoulder.
"Edward Lupin will see you now," it said calmly, and the fiery door on the far side of the room flew open instantly. His head raced towards it so fast that Halo's queasiness came back, twice as strong as before. He was whizzing along a long, fiery hallway with thirty or so fireplaces on either side when suddenly his head turned and made straight for one of the last fireplaces on the left side of the hallway.
The spinning stopped again, and this time it was even harder to keep himself from throwing up. He shut his eyes tight, and took deep, slow breaths to try and keep it all down. If he never travelled by Floo Network ever again, Halo thought bleakly, he would be perfectly happy. This was all Sammie's fault, somehow. His special Floo Powder was rubbish.
"Blimey, Harry, it really is you," Ted Lupin said as Halo opened his eyes at last and saw the older boy crouching in front of the fireplace, looking stunned. Halo noticed that his left eye was changing colour from brown to blue to red and back again. It did not help Halo's nausea. Not much of Teddy's room was visible behind the boy, but Halo could tell it was even larger and nicer than the rooms at Hogwarts, and Ted seemed to be alone. "It shouldn't even be possible for you to contact me like this. Where on Earth are you?"
Halo started to explain about Sammie and the Floo Powder, but only got through a sentence or two before stopping and shaking his head. Ted was frowning, probably wondering why they were wandering around the Scottish countryside instead of studying in school, so Halo instead started with Draco Malfoy's tip to go to Azkaban. It was a long story and Halo left nothing out—he still hated keeping secrets from people—except for the fact that Sam had tried to kill her father with Albus's wand. That was something he thought was better kept quiet for now.
Ted Lupin listened in silence, but when Halo started to say what Anton Fisher had told them about Blood Magic he stood up and began pacing back and forth, looking so lost in thought that he almost seemed not to be listening. His left eye began shifting colours again, and he was muttering something to himself under his breath. Halo trailed off, figuring that Ted was too lost in thought, but to his surprise the older boy spun around to face him and demanded, "That's not all, is it?" Halo shook his head quickly and continued the story, right up to the Floo Powder that had taken him here. Ted paced back and forth the whole time, not saying another word until Halo was done.
"Is Albus alright?" was the first thing Ted asked, stopping his pacing and turning to face Halo once again. "I know you said he wasn't hurt, but he's a sensitive boy, and what you three just went through would shake anyone." He sounded more like a concerned older brother than Halo had ever heard James sound.
Halo was about to assure Ted that Albus was fine, but after a moment's thought he wasn't sure that was true. The conversation with Fisher had unnerved Halo, and he wouldn't be surprised if it bothered Albus as well. Then there were the dementors, who Halo knew would be waiting for him in his nightmares the next time he closed his eyes. Halo shuddered, but after a moment's thought he said, "Albus will be all right." He wasn't just saying it either, he knew it was true. The memory of how he had taken the lead in Azkaban and helped them escape convinced him of that. "He might be a little sensitive, but he's braver and stronger than even he knows. He's a Gryffindor, after all."
Ted nodded and smiled, looking pleased. His smiled faded quickly, though, and he started pacing again. Abruptly he turned and hurried over to his messy desk, which was cluttered with so many books and papers that Halo would have thought it was impossible to find anything. He thought wrong, for it took Ted barely a second to pull a stack of papers out of the middle of a stacked pile that immediately collapsed, sending books scattering across the floor. Ted ignored them, stepping over the fallen books and making his way back to the fireplace. Halo recognized the papers Ted was holding; it was the original manuscript that they had found in Vance's laboratory under Hogsmede. Ted muttered to himself again as he flipped through the papers, left eye changing colours every time he turned a page. At last he gave a small nod of triumph as he found what he was looking for, setting the other pages down and rereading a certain passage in the old runic language over and over again. Halo shifted uncomfortably. It was really getting quite warm in that fire. Plus, his ear itched, and he had no way to scratch it since his hand was probably a thousand miles or more away. At last Ted let out a long nervous sigh, which Halo thought was not promising.
"Something has been bothering me about what Mr. Fisher said," Ted said, turning to face Halo at last, sounding totally calm. Even his brown eyes stayed brown. "According to him, the most likely cause of the disaster you saw in your dream is someone trained in Blood Magic using energy conversion to turn the vast magical energy around Hogwarts into a huge bomb. I had not even thought of that possibility myself, since Professor Vance's research makes no mention of using Blood Magic in that way."
"It doesn't?" Halo said, surprised. Had Fisher been wrong after all?
"Oh, I have no doubt Mr. Fisher is correct," Ted continued, not sounding pleased. "From the Professor's notes, I am certain that Blood Magic can be used in such a way, even though Professor Vance would never have considered doing such a thing himself. It's clear from his writings that he hated using magic to cause violence. His research was aimed at finding a way to preserve life… perhaps even a way to recreate it."
Halo shuddered at that, but Ted spoke on without stopping. "Anyways, what bothered me most about Fisher's story was the bit about the blood rituals that would need to be done in preparation for the main spell. He is right about that, even if he did not understand what their purpose was. But I do understand the purpose; it is all in Professor Vance's notes. You see, Harry, magical energy does not sit around like pools of water. Instead it flows, more like a river than a lake. The paths along which the energy flows are called Ley lines. Even muggles know of Ley lines, though they cannot begin to understand half of what we know about them. The purpose of the rituals Mr. Fisher described is to alter the magic as it flows along the Ley lines, preparing the energy slowly so that it can be easily converted at a later time. Otherwise, the conversion ritual they are attempting would be so difficult it would be nearly impossible."
"A catalyst," Halo said quietly, and Ted gave him a surprised little nod, as if he hadn't expected Halo to know the word. So Atalanta had been right after all about a magical shortcut being involved. Then again, that was hardly surprising, since Atalanta was Atalanta.
"And there as one other error in what Mr. Fisher told you. The blood spilled in the rituals to corrupt the Ley lines does not necessarily have to come from witches and wizards at all. Listen to this." Ted glanced down at the page of runes in his hand and began to read. "While it is true that the magic in the blood of witches and wizards is many times stronger than that of our muggle counterparts, my research has led me to believe that all humans, wizard and muggle alike, have some amount of spent magic in their blood. It is this untapped magic in the blood of all humans which I believe causes magical children to be born to non-magical parents. Perhaps we are not so different from our muggle neighbours as some would have us believe."
Halo let out a startled breath, and Ted sighed. "From what I can tell, that passage was removed from the final edition when the book was finally published. It only remains here in the original version. Apparently the wizards at the time did not want opinions like that being published, even if they were true."
Halo was about to complain about the unfairness of it all, when a sudden thought struck him. It was a disturbing thought, but the more he considered it the more he knew it to be true.
"Oh no," he whispered quietly as he started shaking. "No, no, no."
"Harry, what is it?" Ted asked, giving him a concerned look.
Halo almost couldn't trust himself to speak, but after several breaths to steady himself he finally managed to say, "They've already started. For all I know, the preparations are already done."
"What?" Ted said alarmed. "What are you talking about? There have been no ritual killings in England. We would have heard if anyone was killing-" he cut off abruptly, his eyes widening. Halo could see that he understood too.
"The Red Tide," Ted breathed quietly, "The group of wizards posing as an anarchist muggle terrorist group to carry out attacks on muggles. The blasts must have been used to cover up the rituals used to corrupt the Ley lines. And there was another attack this morning."
"What?" Halo said, startled. "We didn't hear of an attack!" Someone at Azkaban would have mentioned it, wouldn't they?
"It was all over this Sunday's Swiss Soothsayer," Ted said, "The paper has been covering the attacks closely ever since the British Ministry discovered that wizards were involved."
Halo opened his mouth, but no sound came out. He closed it, shook his head once, and tried again. "D-did you say the Sunday Swiss Soothsayer?"
"Yes, I read it this morning," Ted said, frowning. "Why?"
"It's S-Sunday afternoon?" Halo said, and Ted nodded, looking very confused. For some strange reason, that made Halo almost as nervous as the bit about the Ley lines already being corrupted. He had thought it had still been Saturday, the day they had left Hogwarts. Now he realized that Narasima must have made them sleep for almost an entire day. Damn that Sphinx, he thought angrily, and he could picture her just smirking at him with that twisted smile, golden eyes blinking lazily. Someone surely would have noticed that they hadn't come back yesterday. They were going to be in so much trouble when they got back to school, and Cleo must be so worried.
"We need to get back," Halo said, "We have to get back to school right away."
"Yes, you have to warn them," Ted said quickly, still not quite understanding why Halo was so upset. "You have to warn the Ministry too and tell them what you know. I would contact them myself, but I won't be able to get a hold of anyone in Britain before you do. I'll contact the Swiss Ministry and give them the information as well. Hopefully they can pass it along."
Halo nodded and turned to go. Another mystery was solved, but now they were nearly out of time. The time for secrecy was past, and Halo was sure he and the others had enough evidence that the adults couldn't just wave them away for being foolish children inventing wild stories to try and play the heroes. The grownups had to believe them; they just had to. The Red Tide, whoever they were, might be ready to carry out their plan at any time. Halo and the others had lost a whole day already thanks to Narasima. When he saw that giant sphinx girl again, he was going to pull her tail hard until she apologized.
Halo tried simply stepping back from the fire, forgetting for a moment that a thousand miles and two different Floo Networks were between his head and his toes. The world spun for several seconds as his head hurtled along past fireplaces once again, and when at last he fell backwards onto the carpet in Samuel Weasley's house everything still seemed to be spinning. He rolled over and promptly threw up.
"That usually happens, at least the first few times," Sammie announced from somewhere nearby, not sounding too upset that someone had thrown up in his father's living room. Cassy made a noise halfway between sympathy and disgust and carefully helped her brother to his feet.
"You could have mentioned that," Halo muttered angrily, but Sammie just laughed as if Halo had made some kind of joke and walked away, muttering something about finding a Kwiq-Kleen mop. Halo was too busy to notice, though, he immediately began telling the others what Ted had told him.
"Sunday," groaned Albus when Halo was done speaking. "Nearly Sunday night, now. We've been gone nearly two days!"
Cassy gave an exasperated sigh and looked at him, saying, "Really? That's what you took away from that. Not a group of killers ready to put their world-ending plan into motion, but the fact that it's bloody Sunday?"
"Even if we save the world, I won't be around to live in it," Albus said mournfully. "My Mum will skin me alive when she hears about this."
Cassy rubbed her eyes with her right hand, and Halo thought his sister was furious until she took her hand away and he saw the twinkle in her eye. "Trust me, Al," she said with a mischievous little smile, "from one troublemaker to another. Your Mum will just be happy to see you. She might yell a little, but in the end she'll be glad as long as you make it back safe."
Albus looked doubtful, but the fact that Cassy had called him Al seemed to cheer him up immensely. "I'm not a troublemaker," he muttered, but in a way that sounded like even he didn't believe it. Halo wasn't sure what the others thought, but he was pretty sure breaking into Azkaban qualified them as troublemakers for life.
Sammie came back with the mop, and a few seconds later he had cleaned up Halo's… well the room was clean again. Cassy began pacing back and forth anxiously, much like Ted had. Halo wondered why no one could ever sit still while they worried. That was certainly what he liked to do.
"Sammie," she said abruptly, turning to the boy, who smiled as excitedly as a puppy whose owner was going to play with it. If the boy'd had a tail, Halo was sure it would have been wagging. "We need to get to Hogwarts. Can any of your powders get us there?"
Sammie's smile faded, and he shifted his weight uncomfortably. "Pa says the fireplaces in Hogwarts are protected by powerful enchantments. No one is supposed to connect to the school without the Headmistress's permission. It's illegal."
"But you can, can't you?" Cassy said, smiling innocently. Sammie nodded slowly, and Halo shook his head in disapproval. She shouldn't be toying with the boy like that. Halo could always get people to do what he wanted too, of course, but he never… he didn't ever smile at people like that. It was a dishonest, girl thing to do.
Sammie went over to a jar on the far side of the room and pulled off the lid. It was full of fine powder that was so black it seemed to make the whole room a little darker. "I didn't make this," he told them quietly, "Pa doesn't even know I know about it. I heard him talking about it one day though, saying it was the best powder he ever made. He said it could break through any enchantment. With this, people might not have to live behind so many rules and keep so many secrets, he said. I think," he paused awkwardly and gave them a nervous look, "I think he'd be in a lot of trouble if the Ministry ever learned he made this."
Halo, Cassy and Albus quickly promised not to mention it. Halo didn't really understand himself, but he thought Samuel Weasley might have been on the right track, at least a little. He didn't much like secrets himself, and had often thought the world would be better off with less of them. He wasn't sure what that had to do with Floo powder that could break enchantments, though. That seemed like it could be a lot of trouble in the wrong hands.
As Sammie got ready to toss the powder in the fire, Cassy insisted on taking the lead. Halo didn't even try to argue, knowing it was hopeless. Instead he turned to Albus and said, "Ted asked if you were alright. I think he was worried about you."
Albus looked embarrassed, but also a little pleased. "What did you tell him?" He asked quietly.
"I said you're a true Gryffindor, brave and strong," Halo said with a smile. He expected Albus to beam at the compliment, but instead the other boy looked troubled.
"But I'm not," he muttered quietly, so quietly Halo wasn't sure he heard right.
"What do you mean?" Halo asked. Albus said nothing for a moment, and Halo thought he might not answer at all. At last he turned to Halo, his green eyes almost the exact shade as the Slytherin Serpent. "Nothing," he said quietly, "just something the Sorting Hat said. I think it almost put me somewhere else, but something changed its mind."
Halo frowned at that, but he didn't get the chance to respond because Cassy tossed some of the powder that Sammie gave her into the fireplace. Instead of purple flames, pure black flames that seemed to suck the light right out of the air erupted in the fireplace. Cassy gave a shudder, but shouted, "Ravenclaw Common Room, Hogwarts!" and stepped through without even hesitating.
"Damn her," Halo muttered angrily, "What did she go to the Ravenclaw Common Room for? We should stick together. If we all just appear in the fire place people are going to talk and it will be all over school in an hour!"
Albus nodded, looking like he very much agreed. Before Halo could decide what to do, Albus took some powder himself and said, "Ravenclaw Common Room, Hogwarts," and stepped through before Halo could protest. Halo wasn't sure that was a better idea, having a Gryffindor appear in the Ravenclaw Common Room, but there was nothing for it now. Sighing, he walked to the fireplace and took some powder from Sammie.
"Good luck, Halo," Sammie said quietly, "Sorry for… whatever I did to upset you."
Halo immediately felt guilty, and he patted the boy on the shoulder. It was a little awkward, since Sammie was taller than him. "I'm the one who should be sorry, Sammie," he said. "Thanks for all your help. I'll see you at Hogwarts next year."
"I'm counting on you lot to make sure there is a next year," Sammie said quietly, trying to put on a brave smile. Halo stared at the boy in surprise. He'd thought Sammie didn't know what they were up to. Maybe the boy really was a genius.
"If only I had a wand, I'd come along too to help," Sammie continued, although he sounded scared. "Without one I'd just get in the way."
"Don't worry," Halo said, putting on a brave smile that he thought was at least half-convincing as he tossed the black powder into the fireplace. "We have everything under control."
With that, he shouted the same destination as the others and stepped into the black flames.
