"You were practicing spells?" Hermione asked, her face clearly showing that she didn't believe him.
"It was a complicated spell," Harry said. "It was just foolish of me to try it on to myself."
"Really? The spell of disappearing of one's bones…you tried to use that spell on your very hand?" she asked.
"Did you hit your head sometime in the night, Potter?" Draco asked.
"It's fine," Harry said. "Pomfrey gave me potions. Will you guys quit already?"
"You doing these things alone make us worry about you, Harry," Hermione said.
"She's right," Neville said.
"I heard what happened," Ginny said entering the room all of a sudden. "Are you alright, Harry?"
"Ginny, you are not supposed to be in here," Hermione said. They were currently in Harry's quarters where the study group, like always was in the main hall area. No one was allowed into any of the private rooms and Ginny was violating that rule right now.
"Let me see," Ginny said completely ignoring Hermione as she approached Harry.
"You are breaking rules, Weasely," Draco said.
"All I am doing is expressing concerns over Harry's condition," Ginny replied haughtily. "Now move aside. Harry needs me."
"Ginny, please get out," Harry said slowly.
"But, Harry, your arm," she said.
"I am fine," he replied. "As you can see I have friends around me looking out for me so you don't have to worry about me. you can go out now."
Ginny pursed her lips, wanting to talk back but decided not to. Getting him to trust her was her main objective and she would do anything for that. She simply nodded and walked out without saying anything. "Talk about clinging," Draco muttered. "Take it easy on yourself, Potter. We know you have the responsibility of your entire house on yourself but that doesn't mean you get to try spells on yourself. If you're that desperate then bring in some training dummies. I am sure McGonagall will have some lying around somewhere here in the castle."
"I can't thank you guys enough for looking after me," Harry said.
"We are your friends," Hermione said.
"And that's what friends do," Neville said. "Hermione and I will make sure to bring you notes for today's classes."
"Thanks," Harry said with a little smile as they all left his quarters. Harry locked his quarters making sure he wouldn't be disturbed before heading towards the great hall for dinner. When he entered the great hall some students looked at him. Obviously word had spread that he had injured himself while casting a spell. The support on his arm was proof of that. He ignored them all completely and sat next to Hermione and Neville. Ginny tried to gain his attention as he walked down but he ignored her.
Dumbledore had returned as Harry noticed. He might've been back not long ago as he wasn't here during lunch today. He was looking at him curiously, especially the arm strap. Harry raised up his mental shields as he sat beside Hermione and began filling his plate. They talked a little about random things, mostly assignments and school works as they finished their dinner before Harry returned back to his quarters once more. He re-checked everything outside and inside his quarters and found new spying charms at some places. He just overlapped them with some of his personalized privacy charms that Bart had taught him to make sure Dumbledore wouldn't hear anything or see anything. For the old man it would be like a surveillance camera recording an empty and silent corridor all the time.
Harry waited once he was inside his quarters. He looked at the letters that were carefully placed on his nightstand. They had the horcruxes and the basilisk venom. He had already sent Benjamin his axe back and had decided to take the horcruxes personally to Bart. He grabbed the necessary items needed or that he might need before sending off an application of absence addressed to Dumbledore as he flooed over to the Hogsmead public floo station from where he apparated over to the Potter Manor.
Bart returned the next morning as Harry welcomed him. He then handed him the goods which he had brought from the castle. They then headed over to the open areas of the estate where it would be a lot safer to destroy these horcruxes. "I talked to Lucius about Bella's vault," Bart said. "Lucius mentioned that Bella might definitely have one of Voldemort's horcruxes and she could have it in her family vault. Sirius was brought into the conversation and the dog animagus formed a plan and was currently at Gringotts nullifying Bella's marriage and disowning her from the Black family.
Harry noticed Bart taking out a very ancient looking dagger. He recognized the forging. It was goblin made. "Where'd you get that?" he asked.
"If you know the right place you can find anything," Bart said with a smirk to which Harry rolled his eyes as he chuckled.
"Cost a fortune?" Harry asked.
"It would be better if I didn't answer that," Bart said as he dropped a few drops of the very volatile basilisk venom on the sharp edge of the dagger and then wiped it off with a piece of fabric which started to decay as soon as it touched the venom. Luckily Bart was done before losing the entire fabric which he then incinerated to be safe. The dagger looked as if someone had blown a new life into it. All of the carvings had been restored and all of the corrosions had been removed. It looked completely new. The same had happened with Benjamin's axe when Harry had poured the venom on it.
"Let's try it, shall we?" Bart asked as he prepared to stab the diary first. Harry stepped back as he looked in fascination as Bart stabbed the dagger on the diary. The moment it connected to the diary it looked as if the diary threw out blood. Looking closely Harry realized it was actually ink. That made sense as the diary absorbed whatever Harry had tried to write in it out of curiousness. Suddenly then a slimy smokey explosion took place throwing Harry off of his foot but he did manage to catch the monstrous facial form the smoke had made for a moment before dissipating away.
Bart pulled him up with a grunt as Harry looked at the remains of the diary. "Is it done?" he asked.
Bart did a check with his wand and nodded. "It is," he said before turning to look at Harry. "So, want to do the next one?" he asked.
"You sure?" Harry asked.
"Can't hurt to try," he replied. "Besides, there might be times when you will have to do it."
Harry looked at the diadem before taking the dagger in his hand. "So I just stab it?" he asked.
"As hard as you can," Bart said with a smile.
Harry walked towards the diadem and stopped near it, looking down at it and already feeling the compulsion to wear it but he soon shook it off. His mental shields were a lot stronger than those compulsions as Harry's grip tightened around the dagger's handle before he stabbed it on the diadem with a scream. Another explosion of smoke and slime followed by an ear shattering scream saw the diadem's center stone forming a very fine crack. Bart verified that the horcrux inside it had indeed been destroyed.
"That was something," Harry said.
"It was," Bart said. "Also it looks like Voldemort has already fused with one of his horcruxes. That puts him on a whole new level in terms of power. Add to that the fact that he did countless power enhancement rituals when he was still a mere mortal only makes him more dangerous."
"Which horcrux did he fuse with?" Harry asked.
"My guess is either his snake or the one that was in Wormtail," Bart said.
"There was no one but Peter there that night who was alive after the explosion," Harry said. "But didn't Peter die?"
"Voldemort dug him out," Bart said. "I checked the muggle public cemetery. His body wasn't there."
"Right now he has his snake with him as well," Harry said. "Also he knows the location of at least two more horcruxes so there's no telling when he will fuse with another one."
"We can only hope that Sirius comes up with something," Bart said. "Hopefully he will annul Bella's marriage to Rodolphus and can get his hands on her vault."
"What about the others?" Harry asked.
"The others aren't my problem as of yet," Bart said. "With Peter's extraction Voldemort is now sure that you are not his horcrux. Which means he will target you once he's capable of moving. Even that is fine. Dumbledore can't know this though."
"The fact that I never was a horcrux," Harry said nodding his head. "He needs to be kept in the dark. But I don't understand why?"
"To keep his nose off of other important things," Bart said. "You remember when I told you about that story?"
"Don't scare me like that, Bart," Harry said.
"There was no way in hell that Voldemort would have been able to know that ritual to fuse with one of his horcruxes," Bart said. "I investigated it all…I am afraid I have to confer to my findings and declare that her presence is finally upon this world…again."
"This is not how it was supposed to have happened," Harry said, his voice shaking a little bit.
"I am still looking for clues and evidences as to who released her," Bart said. "My promise won't be fulfilled if she has returned. You know that better than anyone!"
"I am the only one who knows that!" Harry said. He took in a breather before calming himself. "Sorry," he said. "So if we are to assume that she is back then how do we fight back?"
"That is the point," Bart said with an amused look. "We can't."
00000
"You felt it, didn't you?" she said. "Twice."
"They will pay!" Voldemort shouted as the underground cave rumbled from his anger. He had long healed himself from the ritual that had fused one of his horcruxes back to him and he had never felt like this before. Even a hundred power enhancing rituals weren't compared to what he was feeling right now. He couldn't wait to do it again. He wondered how powerful he would be after another one of these. He looked at his familiar who curled into the corner, fear clear in her eyes. He smiled fondly at her. "Don't you worry, Nagini," he hissed. "You have been with me during every hard times of my life. I will not sacrifice you for my personal gain."
"Lying to your familiar is a crime according to magic," she said.
"No one asked you," Voldemort said scathingly as he looked at her. "I will never let anyone…not even myself hurt Nagini."
"You're saying that now," she said, "but power is a very different thing. It corrupts the one who's wielding it and if you can't overcome that corruption within yourself you will lose everyone close to you and you will be the reason for that."
Voldemort didn't say anything as he just looked at his snake. He wondered if she was right.
00000
A month had passed since Harry and Bart had destroyed two of Voldemort's horcruxes when Harry received another letter from Sirius telling him the news. He immediately flooed over to his place where Sirius and Bart were already waiting for him. Remus was off dealing with some of Sirius' family businesses. It was better to not involve him as he always possessed a problem of revealing things to Fenrir – the werewolf who had bit him as a child – as being his alpha. Remus himself had told them not to trust him with sensitive information as he would be forced to speak in front of Fenrir despite the fact that he didn't want to. They all agreed on that.
"Took you some time," Harry said as soon as he apparated into the living area of the manor as Sirius hugged him close.
"You know what, these family meetings aren't easy!" Sirius said. "Although ii didn't see Bella at all but it sure took some time to annul her marriage. Rodolphus sure has a long line of political people backing him up but they are sure not as old as the Black house. Crazy Bella is officially no longer married and also she is no longer a member of the house Black. There you go." Sirius handed him her vault key which Harry looked closely before giving it back to him.
"So, the cup?" Harry asked looking at Bart.
"All I can give you is a mental image of that artifact because since I am not a Black I will not be able to get inside the vault," Bart said. "The magic will prevent me. it will have to be you alone to collect that cup for us and I don't think I need to remind you that there will be traps laid across the vault especially near and on that cup."
"You don't have to worry about that," Harry said as he patted Sirius' back. "I will be guiding him through it."
Sirius raised his brows as he looked at his godson in mock surprise but didn't say anything. He knew Harry had proven himself to be a very capable young man and he still surprised the adult and Sirius often wondered what else Harry could shock them with. He was also concerned for his safety though. "You sure you will be fine?" he asked looking at him.
"Seriously, you're still asking me that?" Harry said rolling his eyes. "You don't have to worry about me, Sirius. I was raised by him." Sirius looked at Bart.
"I don't know what you made him but I like this godson of mine," Sirius said with a grin.
"Happy to help," Bart said with a dramatic bow.
"Let's get to it, then?" Sirius asked and Harry nodded before the two of them apparated away. Bart had given them a mental image of what the cup looked like.
Sirius and Harry apparated in front of the magical bank and entered. Some customers looked at them but they ignored them all and straightaway went over to Sirius' vault manager who then took them over to Sirius' newly acquired vault which formerly belonged to Bellatrix. Using the key he opened the vault and cast a revealing charm to see that it was filled with booby traps and also some nasty curses.
Disabling some at the entrance Sirius stepped in, removing the blood protection charm on the vault to let Harry in as well who then used his magic to scan and remove all of the hidden curses inside the vault. Sirius was utterly impressed but knew praising his godson could come later. They had more important objective in front of them at the moment.
Both of them immediately recognized the cup which was placed high on the shelf on the opposite end of the vault. Clearly the summoning spell wouldn't work as Harry and Sirius had already tried that. They had to do it manually and Sirius didn't like the idea but they had no other choice.
Climbing over to some of the huge piles of gold and silver Harry managed to reach the horcrux but knew better to touch it with bare hands. He summoned some parchments which were inside the vault and contained some accounts information related with the vault's transaction and used them to pick up the horcrux before coming out of the bank and apparating back over to the manor where they destroyed it without any delay.
00000
When Voldemort felt the third wave hit him he knew time was running close and he needed to hurry. This was why he was currently in front of the cave where he had hidden the locket which once belonged to Salazar Slytherin himself. He remembered getting his hands on that locket after a great deal of patience, his longest ever yet as he had to work under an old couple in order to gain their trust first. Once he had and once they were sure of him they had one day given him charge of their artifact shop which he used to steal the locket and then vanish forever. He could've easily killed the couple but he was very young back then and didn't want anyone to notice his presence that much.
But that wasn't the case now. The whole world feared him and they had reason for that. Unfortunately for the entire world he was still dead and he intended to keep it that way. He would make an entry like no other once he had his hands on the remaining horcruxes. Once he had achieved that he would seek out that little brat and get to know his secret. He had seen that child that night in his mudblood mother's hands. That crazy lady had killed herself and the entirety of her family in the hopes of defeating him. There was no way that child could've survived that explosion.
He entered the cave and picked up the locket to look at it for a minute. It had been some time since he had held it in his hands. "Still beautiful," he said as he caressed the stone at the center of it before wearing it around his neck. He then conjured a copy of that locket and then placed it in its place before increasing the security and traps in and around the cave tenfold. Whoever was after them would definitely cone here and then they will regret it.
On his way back he encountered some wizards who didn't recognize him s=because of his host body which he used as his advantage and used a trick he had been taught by her to suck out the cores of those wizards. It really was something as he felt a new life coursing through his veins as he apparated over to his place to do another fusion ritual with his second horcrux. He already had the ring with him and Nagini as well. Of seven of the horcruxes three had been destroyed, one had been fused with him and three more remained. He intended to finish it as quickly as possible. Then a new horcrux would be made and he will live forever.
00000
It had been over a month and Harry had decided to check whether or not the basilisk's corpse had decayed because of the spell so he was currently heading down towards the abandoned bathroom at three am in the night careful to be not seen by anyone. Half an hour later he was climbing down the stairs to the chamber but he could see it from afar that the spell had did its work. There was hardly anything of the snake that remained.
He walked towards the snake for a closer inspection. Apart from the bones nothing else remained and even the bones were being disintegrated because of the spell. He then looked over at the big head statue of Salazar and then his eyes fell on the mouth section which was also a door. It was open since last time Harry was here which was when he had come here to kill this basilisk. Throwing in a lumos spell into the mouth of the statue he saw it went rather deep inside till Harry could see the light no more. But he did manage to some stairs which looked to be going up towards the upper sections of the statue's forehead and what looked to be the direction of the eyes. It could be because the statue was easily at least the height of a six-story building if not more and he was talking the height of the muggle houses which were far taller than the magical houses.
Peeking inside the mouth his guesses were proved right as he saw three sets of stairs going towards three different directions. It also looked cozy and was rather warm and comfortable unlike the outside. Doing a simple scan of the inside of the statue Harry stepped in and took the first stairs he saw. It wasn't that high as he soon found himself in front of a closed door. He turned open the knob. The door made a rickety sound as it flung open and Harry peeked inside. There was light inside the room but he saw no windows but then his eyes fell on some light emitting runes, a very common use of runes he had seen the people of the wizarding world use in many places. Only at Hogwarts had he seen the use of fire torches as a means of dissipating light around.
Working runes meant it needed to draw power form somewhere. Considering the source couldn't be the basilisk as the basilisk was dead for over a month now Harry did a second scan and found that the runes were being powered up by the wards of the chamber itself. He had already figured it out the last time he was here that this chamber was different from the rest of the castle its wards were its own and weren't shared by the rest of the castle. But what powered those wards? Harry knew that Hogwarts had a special runes chamber where powerful runes were placed to power up the wards in and around the castle but what about this place? He looked around and didn't find anything. The room was completely empty. He did one final magical sweep just in case something would reveal itself but it didn't and so he closed the door and headed towards the second set of stairs.
This room had some furniture and looked to be a more elaborated version of a study. There was one huge bed in one corner of the room followed by an attached loo. There were racks filled with ancient looking books. That made sense. If only Salazar had been able to access this part then he would've been the last person to have used these books. But then Harry realized that Voldemort had also had access to the chamber when he was a student. All that knowledge about ancient magic and rituals…no wonder Voldemort knew all that. It was because he, too, had access to these books.
Doing a scan of the place he found that the protection spells in and around the room had dissipated long ago. This made sense as when Harry tried to read one of the books it simply disintegrated in his hands. He looked closer and that was the case of most of the books. Some who could be considered to be a bit better than the rest had a majority of their pages and covers decayed over time. A repairing spell couldn't bring back these books to life as the damage was too deep so Harry had no choice but to only crave as to know what could've been in those books.
He looked around the room and saw only one portrait which was of Salazar himself. There wasn't a portrait of anyone else. No one knew who his wife was or who his family was. There wasn't even a picture of other founders who were rumored to be very close friends with Salazar before the completion of the castle.
Finding nothing else in that room Harry left and headed for the third set of stairs which led him to a room which seemingly was infinite. It was also bright and there seemed no floor or a ceiling to it, not to mention walls on any sides. It was as if he was standing or rather floating in a limbo. This is how the ancient books had described limbo where some witches and wizards had stated being in one.
Harry turned around and saw the door was gone. He kept himself calm trying to figure out how he would get out of here. After some thinking he thought of something and closing his eyes wished for the door to appear. At once the door appeared in front of him and Harry opened it to realize it was the door through which he had come into this room. figuring how the room operated Harry wished for the door to be gone and then wished for a random book. He didn't mention the name or anything but just the nature of that book. He wished for a book on transfiguration and in front of him now lay a book on transfiguration. Its cover was blank but when he opened and read a few of its pages he realized it was a rather great book. It had everything one could learn about transfiguration from a newbie to a highly skilled witch or wizard.
Harry closed his eyes and wished for books on all of his courses and the courses he would likely be studying in the upcoming years. In total he now had sixteen books with blank covers all belonging to different areas of studies in magic. He put them in his bottomless pouch before wishing for something he thought this place couldn't provide but was shocked to see him standing in front of himself. He looked right at Harry although not in a pleasant way. It was as if he would murder Harry right now but then he softened his expressions and looked at him more carefully or rather curiously.
"You are not my descendant," he said.
"I am not, Lord Slytherin," Harry said. "I am not your descendant."
"Hmm, that explains it," Slytherin said. "No wonder why the wards didn't tell me."
"So you stored all of your memories and magically guided consciousness in here rather than in a portrait like others?" Harry asked.
"Oh, what are you talking about?" Salazar asked. "All of us do it like this." He looked at Harry's face. "They don't?"
"Probably they did in your time," Harry said. "My name is Harry Potter and I have apparently ended up finding your secret chamber."
"You didn't reveal it to anyone else, did you?" Salazar asked. Harry shook his head. "But how did you get through the barrier? It requires a parseltongue to open it and no one but my descendants or those who have my blood can have that ability, not even all of them but a few."
"I, uh…I just used a recorder rune stone and played a parseltongue line in front of the entrance and it…it opened," Harry said nervously. Salazar looked horrified.
"It's that easy?!" he almost shouted.
"But not everyone can figure it out," Harry said, trying to make him feel better but obviously it wasn't working that well. "If it makes you feel better I don't think anyone is ever going to know about this chamber of yours. It is just a legend, more of a myth actually and to be honest I don't think you have any of your blood ancestors alive anymore…well, except for one although I don't know if he'll technically be counted as alive."
"You are talking about Riddle," Salazar said.
"You know him?" Harry asked.
"Of course I do," Salazar said. "Anyone who ever stepped foot in this chamber or who is my blood related ancestor knows about its existence and I know them all. It is an ancient familial blood magic that I had performed to keep track of my future generations just in case they were diverted from their original path."
"Original path?" Harry said.
"The path of peace and harmony, of course," Salazar said. "What? Isn't that the case anymore?"
"If this power of yours allows you to read someone's conscience then you'd probably know how much peace and harmony tom really wants," Harry said.
"Oh, I knew the moment he opened the barrier to enter this place," Salazar said. "He's the one who corrupted my beloved familiar which I now know you killed." Harry looked at him apologetically. "Don't worry about it. She was already too old and was in pain. You relieved her of that pain."
"She? Old?" Harry said. "I…I thought that basilisks were practically ageless unless they died of any physical attacks or traumas or sickness."
"Basilisks are as mortal as any other creature that exists in this world, my boy," Salazar said. "Nature has some rules and no one can escape from those rules. Mortality and a definite age is one of those rules."
"So…So how old do basilisks really get?" Harry asked.
"They can live up to twelve hundred years old," Salazar said. "Although my familiar was made to experience pain when Tom tried to take control of her forcibly. Do you know what a familiar magical creature is, Harry?"
"A familiar magical creature is one that bonds with its master's core," Harry said. "And that allows that creature to be attached and be controlled by its master's upcoming descendants."
Salazar nodded his head. "He abused that ability of the familiars," he said. "He wanted to take full control of her and use her for his own personal gains and although there exists no law to stop anyone from doing such vile things with their familiars but who does that? It was especially hard for me to watch her go through all that pain but I couldn't help her. All that torture and brutality he showed to her injured her and gave her an incurable pain. Since no potions or magic works on basilisks and since it wasn't healing by itself it meant she had it for life. You relieved her of that pain and I thank you for it. Also she wasn't herself because of that pain and she was an impending danger just waiting to explode."
Harry didn't know what to say so he kept quiet. He had lots of questions he wanted to ask this projection.
"I see you have a lot of questions," Salazar said.
"You…You can read my mind?" Harry asked immediately raising his mental shields to their maximum.
"As long as anyone is inside this chamber I can read every though of their but I also respect their privacy. It is just part of the construction of this chamber so I can't help it," he said. "Also no matter how strong your occlumency shields are you can't escape from it either. I am quite fascinated by your true self though but like I said I won't be probing you into telling me why you are doing this."
"I would appreciate that," Harry said. "Can any of your descendants know from your ability of reading others' thoughts?"
"They can't," Salazar said. "But you have intrigued me, my boy."
"You said you wouldn't probe," Harry said.
"I know," Salazar replied. "And as such I will respect your privacy. So, if you have questions you may ask them."
"Okay," Harry said. "We were taught that you had gotten into a dispute with the other three founders towards the end of this castle's construction. I wanted to know what happened because to me you don't seem to be the kind of person they said in the history books."
"It sounds like I am giving an interview," Salazar muttered. "No, Harry," he said a bit loudly. "I never had any disagreements with any of the other founders. We were close friends till the day we all died. I don't know who wrote your history books but they are wrong. I wonder why they'd do that though."
"You also said that witches and wizards…back in your days didn't have a portrait made of them but had something like…this this to store their consciousness before they died," Harry said, waving his hand around the place. "Does this mean this castle also has places like this where one can find a stored consciousness of the other founders?"
"I don't know about that," Salazar said. "During my time storing one's consciousness was considered to be a huge thing mostly because of this," he said pointing to where they were standing. "This setup requires a lot of magical power to keep it alive and in order to do that we had to depend on a really huge amount of raw magical power which generally was given by the very person whose consciousness was to be stored. Once that person died their bodies would be made to undergo a really slow decaying process so as to provide power to the runes to run his consciousness."
"So does that mean…you…"
"That's right," Salazar said. "I was buried here, right under this giant head statue of mine. Not many know that as I had them into a magical contract…the people who knew this secret of mine and the founders weren't among them because they were too powerful individuals to be kept in a bind of a contract. Anyways, that's how it was in my time."
"So…so the entire ward that is around this place is…is coming off of your dead body?" Harry asked Salazar nodded. "Lord Slytherin, that's way more powerful than the wards of the castle! How can that be possible?"
"It is possible because the castle's wards are not what it used to be," Salazar said in a serious tone.
"What do you mean?" Harry asked.
"Your doubts about how this chamber's wards could be more powerful than the wards of the castle of Hogwarts is exactly right because the castle had a lot more powerful ward back in the day," Salazar said. "It all changed when he became the headmaster."
"Who?" Harry asked.
"Albus Dumbledore," Salazar said. "I don't know how but just like you he once came into this chamber. Due to the wards around this place my consciousness was immediately notified. Although he could never find my familiar or this place but he did manage to tap into the wards of this place when he tapped into the wards of Hogwarts. Because of the intentions that I felt in his head that day I used whatever power I had to barred him from this chamber. He's been trying to get in since then but that is not the problem."
"What is?" Harry asked.
"He's feeding off of the castle's wards, Salazar said. "The fact that this chamber has its own wards but is directly underneath the castle makes the wards of those two link at some point and it is because of that linkage that I was able to figure out that Dumbledore was feeding off of the castle's wards."
"If that's true then it makes sense why he won't leave his post for headmaster even when he's been offered way big and influential posts before," Harry said. Salazar looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "He's been offered the post of the minister of magic itself countless times, not to mention the head of the education board and a very important chair-member spot on the international confederation of wizards but he would not leave his headmaster's spot. That's because he's feeding off of Hogwarts' wards using that position as it gives him access to the castle's rune chamber."
"If that's what you think but he is feeding off of the castle's wards," Salazar said. "And it won't be long when he starts feeding off of this place as well. No one realizes it but the wards of the castle are way too weak to withstand a combined attack of over a hundred people…if someone tried to do that that is."
Harry couldn't believe that. No wonder Dumbledore was so powerful. Anyone would be that powerful if they were to feed off of such raw magic. "But…But wouldn't his body disintegrate taking in such raw magic directly?" Harry asked.
"Magicals are more flexible to adapt to things," Salazar said. "He's been absorbing very little a time to keep a constant flow of magic into himself. Over the years his body adapted and so he increased the dosage. Now he's absorbing at the rate that would kill at least ten people easily but his body and core has adapted to such an intake of raw magical power and not to mention a huge credit for that goes to the power he stole from the castle itself. That man is even more vile than Tom when it comes to increasing one's powers."
"But can't you do anything?" Harry asked.
"My wards are connected with the castle but it is so very mild," Salazar said. "It won't matter because I wouldn't be able to do anything. Even if by some chance my wards are linked more so with that of the castle then I am just a consciousness. It would be highly doubtful if I will be able to do anything even then and if he gets a glimpse of that then he would start feeding off of mine as well."
Harry nodded, understanding the risk in that. He couldn't take it. He knew how to link two wards together but of this intensity it would rip his core apart which would mean he would die. He couldn't risk it. Not a hundred people could risk it together. It was way too much raw power to be handled by them.
"We have to do something though," Harry said. "It's not like absorbing magic would make him grow old. We all know that the stronger the core is the slower that wizard age. That's a proven medical fact and that would mean Dumbledore's core is ripping powerful at the time so he will age a lot slower than normal wizard lifespan. Which could mean that he might live for another fifty years at least. By that time he would've stole a lot more power than what he's stealing now and then there would be no stopping it."
"There's probably no stopping him now," Salazar said. "Magically you can't compare yourself to him even I can say that. I measured your potential and while it is a lot higher than normal you are still nothing compared to Dumbledore."
Harry didn't know that. It created a new problem which Bart needed to know as soon as possible. If it came down to a face-to-face duel Harry was sure he would not be able to win against Dumbledore in that. He might've more agility than the old man but Dumbledore's years of experience and add to that the fact that he was almost as strong as the wards of Hogwarts would mean Harry's death.
Bart needed to know this. He would know what to do. This was a new problem Harry knew no one would like to know about but it was equally important as others because Dumbledore was an integral piece in their plan and his stopping needed them to figure out a way to stop this problem first or else they would get to nowhere.
Harry hated this. He truly and really hated this.
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A/N: Thanks for reading…
Also, I've been notified of the grammatical errors in my stories. The reason for that is that I don't re-check my chapters….i just write for fun. You can have a look in my bio. I am not a serious writer so I don't bother re-checking my grammar. As you'd have noticed that English isn't my first language. Be that as it may I apologize if you had problems reading my stories…Also, whatever errors I can find and manage too fix is during typing on Word Doc…I fix whatever mistakes and errors it shows me…