CHAPTER 25
HARRY
"It's ten minutes to midnight, George and Seamus you are up first, as soon as the Anti-Apparition and Anti-Portkey wards break, we are on the attack," Harry said, as now the entire group was standing at a distance of about around a kilometre away from Stonehenge.
"Roger that boss," George said with a confident smirk on his face, whereas Seamus wiped a nervous sweat and then said, "Way to put pressure on someone".
"Oh come one Finnegan, you are an expert in explosions, you can do this easily without any real effort." Daphne teased Seamus.
Harry was having none of that right now, "Cut it out Daphne" "Fine Potter, no need to get your knickers in a twist" Daphne replied with a pout.
"The Dementor has been arranged, it is being kept in control for now but I can't guarantee for how long." Rolf Scamander told Harry.
"Ron, you and your team came up with the plan, so you are responsible for the bloody thing, tag a port key to it before you Apparate."
"Okay, Harry" Ron said a bit anxiously.
"Looks like they are about two hundred minions," Bill said after counting Nott's cult followers from his omninoculars.
"Do you see Nott or the children anywhere?" Harry asked to which Bill responded by shaking his head.
"Isn't he cutting it a bit close, he should be here by now, they are only seven minutes now to midnight?" Ron said.
Harry was about to reply, when he heard Bill gasp, "He is here and all the children, all ten of them are present. George, Seamus leave now!"
As soon Bill called out there name both wizards cast Disillusionment Charm on themselves and apparated away, near to the ward line of Nott's wards. "All teams be on guard, by the looks of it Nott does not have any creatures or beings in his forces so we have a big advantage" Harry addressed the others.
Bill than shouted, "I am going to kill that bastard, how dare he touch my baby girl." Bill Weasley only calmed a bit after Fleur held his hand and said in a sharp tone, "You are not going to lose your temper and get distracted, your daughter does not need a rage-fuelled father but a skilled Curse Breaker who can defend her without getting badly injured himself."
Harry was a bit taken aback with Fleur's approach but who was he to question her methods after all she still was married to Bill after fifteen years of marriage and that is a very long time in Harry's opinion.
A loud bang was heard all of a sudden and the shimmering shield-like wards seemed to fizzle in thin air, "The wards are down, we have four minutes to midnight, Apparate now!" Harry shouted and soon after white smoking streaks illuminated the night sky all moving towards Stonehenge. An epic battle was about to begin on the sacred altar of the Druids.
Harry as soon as he reached the Altar, he started looking for Nott, Ron and Tracey's teams were trying to free the children than finally, he spotted Nott in the middle of the chaos, Nott had a tight grip on Victoire's right hand and he was bringing her closer to the box sitting on the main altar.
Harry made his way towards him but his path was blocked by five hooded Wizards dressed in white robes with blue piping, "Look who decided to show up, saviour Potter to the rescue, how boring" Harry could recognize that voice anywhere.
"Vane, get the hell out of my way and take your three goons with you, or I am going to Reducto my way right through you."
"Don't get cocky Potter, you made a fool of me in front of Mr Nott in Heliopolis but not today, you see Lord Nott would love it if I present your head to him on a silver platter as an early Christmas gift. While I keep the remaining part of your body for my pleasure, all I did was give you was some potion laced chocolates and wanted a nice snog in a broom closet but no, your Mudblood bitch Granger reported me and you supported her in getting me expelled." Romilda Vane said as she pushed back her hood and looked at Harry with hungry eyes.
"You disgust me Vane, Bombarda!" Harry's spell broke the combined Protego shield which his four enemy idiots put up, 'My next spell would end them' he was about to fire another round of chain spells when he heard two female voices from behind him.
"Harry why are you wasting time on this bitch, one minute remains to midnight go after Nott," Ginny said,
While Daphne who was accompanying the redhead to Harry's shock, agreed with the former by saying, "Yes Potter, we have an old grudge we need to sort out with the cunt,"
Harry than dashed towards Nott, But he could still hear Romilda Vane's shouting in the background,
"So Greengrass and Weasley come to save the dick you both previously loved to ride. My, how times have changed, wasn't Potter's prick rights the reason you both ended your friendship, I am sure both of you could not be as good as me in the sack."
'Vane, you are dead now.' Was the thought in Harry's mind, when he finally came close enough to Nott after using the Sectumsempra on the two cronies who were guarding the malicious bastard.
"Potter, you have come at the right time, your niece here has been a pleasure to work with," Nott said with a grin showing all his teeth as he slashed Victoire's wrist and a drop of dark red blood fell on the box, time seemed to stop for Harry as he saw it happen, he was too late.
Blinding white light filled the space and every witch and wizard could hear a hissing sound in their ears, it was terrifying, a murder of big black crows started gathering in the sky above the main altar out of nowhere and every pillar of Stonehenge with a carved Celtic rune started to emit Gold light. The Moon itself all of sudden had a blood-red hue.
Harry's ear was still ringing with the hissing and he could not move his body just like the others as if some invisible force was holding them back. Victoire was now lying lifeless on the ground; her shallow rise in the chest was the only relief and indicator to Harry that the girl was still alive.
Nott was the only one able to move, he then poured vile after vile of red liquid on the box while speaking out loud the invoking words of the Ritual. Harry and others were now forced to watch the man like horrified mute spectators.
"Morrighan the Goddess of Death, Brigid the Goddess of Healing, Dana the Goddess of Nature, I Theodore Tiberius Nott, offers you the blood of a young virgin one-eighth Veela, a Slavic Nymph, freshly taken.
Shezmu who was sacrificed to bind the runes on this box, I offer the forcibly taken blood of an innocent untainted boy who united the lines of the Finnish High Elves and the Druids of the British Isles.
The Cat Sidhe I offer you the forcibly taken blood and hair concoction of an innocent five-year-old girl, may her magical strength satisfy your demonic hunger and release your binds on the runes which your malicious blood guards willingly.
Apophis the evil one, may you triumph Ra, the Sun and satiate yourself on the Dementor willingly brought by the enemy and the souls of all my followers who have pledged to you sacred cause of the annihilation of Atum-Re.
Three girls of nine, three boys of nine, a single boy of seven will bare your magical redemption, Heed my wish and open this vessel."
As soon as Nott was finished, the effect was immediate, Harry noticed that Dementor which Ron had Port keyed combusted in white searing flames, all of Nott's remaining cult members were now giving out painful screams and small spherical blue orbs were released from their mouths before they fell to the ground. Harry realised they were souls which were now steadily moving and sinking into the box.
The children, who were now free from the pillars which they were tied to, started clutching their chests to Harry and their parents mounting horror.
So Harry did the one thing which came to his mind, he willed his magic to cut his arm using a cutting curse, he focused hard and in the end despite no movement, his blood was splattered on the box and his arm fell beneath the altar. Harry was in agony but he was still glad that the children were no longer enduring any pain.
Nott, who was currently in a euphoric state, now gave out an angry and hateful shout, "What the fuck did you do, Potter! Your bloody self-sacrificing hero complex ruined my years of hard work and meticulous planning, you have lost your arm, why not lose your life as well, Avada Kedavra!"
As the malignant green light hit Harry straight in his chest, his vision started to blur but he was still able to see that his companions had gained back their mobility and were now approaching Nott and him, he could hear Daphne and Ginny mournful screams from his position.
'Alex, Lily, Albus, James, Goodbye my family" was Harry's last thought before he collapsed.
"Mr Potter, finally you are awake," Harry heard a female voice when he rubbed his eyes open. He was currently in Stonehenge, but no one else was there, Harry could feel his right arm, which was even stranger.
The woman who had said those words had lustrous flowing midnight black hair and was wearing a red dress. On her shoulder, a black crow was perched. A crown of black roses was placed on her head. She radiated an aura of danger and beauty, 'Could it be?' Harry thought shocked.
"You assume correctly young mage, I have many names and monikers, Celts worshipped me out of fear, but you may call me Morrighan."
"But how can I see you? I am dead sure but to get a visit by the Phantom goddess, to take me to heaven, this is such royal treatment." Harry gave out a nervous and shocked laugh after he said those words.
"Calm your hysteria young wizard, I may be the Celtic goddess of death but I am the goddess of faith as well, and as you mortals say faith is a cruel mistress."
"I was genuinely impressed by your true sacrifice, which was not made due to selfish and greedy reasons, so I am giving you another chance to correct your wrongs which you made till now; I am sending you back to the time when you first laid eyes on my protected container"
"Why? What is in that bloody box anyway?" Harry said with suspicion.
"Long time ago, seven young witches, all of them were slaves who worshipped different pantheon gods bonded together over their shared plight. Each of them had a special talent in magic but could not escape their cruel enslavers. They decided to exact revenge on those who wronged them and made an abomination of a cursed ritual which would bring eternal damnation on the target.
A young Egyptian priest who was also a slave master found out about what the women had done, so he stopped them from executing the ritual by getting each of the young women assassinated. He thought he was successful but the last witch remained alive, so she took the scroll where their ritual was written and hid it within an Egyptian container and bound it with my runic marks of the crow mixed with the Lord Ra's sacred symbols, her slap to the heritage of the priest. The twist in the tale is that witch who bound the box used the blood of various cats that were very sacred to Egyptians."
"But Ron and Nott thought it was Shezmu and Cat Sidhe blood that bound the box, and not various mundane cats?"
"Your friend and enemy were not wrong as the box was passed down the family of the witch for centuries and each young witch in the said witch's bloodline increased the potency of the runes which now surrounded the box. So they started adding their original runic schemes with mixing Celtic and Egyptian runes as well as using the blood of various magical beings of Egyptian and Celtic myth"
"Even if all this happened, why are you sending me back?"
"It is very simple, I want to not only give you a chance at life again, and I want you to right a wrong as well. Have you ever heard of a witch named Celia Warren?"
"Nott's mother, the reason for which Nott wanted to open the fucking box, was that he thought he could find a cure for her, what is she got to do with anything?"
"She is the last living descendent of the witch in the story whereas her husband descended from the Priest's line. Their child was destined to have a doomed faith. All this can be avoided after I send you back you have to just find a way to annul the blood contract between them rather than finding ways to open my box."
"How is that going to help? Nott would still try to open it."
"No need to worry mortal, Nott's cursed soul will perish the second the contract is invalidated and all his followers would lose their magic, a curtsey gift from my side."
"This sounds convenient, I am sure there would be a price to pay for this?"
"Indeed, you will forget immediately that you ever met me after you have done the deed which I ask, all the events which have happened till now would vanish but the real cost is that you have to find a cure for Astoria Greengrass, a girl who descended from the Finnish High Elves and the bloodline of my only faithful follower among the Celtic Druids, solve the mystery behind her malediction."
"Of course I would accept that, is that it?"
"Goodbye Mr Potter, May the Dagda be merciful."
Disclaimer: Harry Potter is owned by J.K Rowling and Warner Bros Entertainment Inc
P.S: This was a tough chapter to write, hope you all like it, Epilogue is next and this fic is officially over. Thank you, Hank1967 and all the followers of this story for being supportive and for your kind and insightful reviews.