I have either under or overestimated the female population of Hogwarts. Women in the Last City had no problem walking up to me and asking if I was available either for a social outing or a night of uninhibited fun. Getting shot at by aliens makes asking the cute guy with glasses a walk in the park.
Hogwarts female population had no backbone in that regard. All those whispers and giggles behind my back were more annoying then whatever purpose their makers intended.
Thanks to my stubborn pride I wasn't going to ask any of them to the Yule Ball until one of them could at least muster the courage to speak to me outside of class.
This gave me more time to think about Dumbledore's letter. He probably shouldn't have looked at the Taken memory before the others. I still get a chill when I think about them.
He asked to meet in person. Something I knew he would request, and I wouldn't do, for now. This was just to establish a dialogue between us. Impressionable Harry Potter may not be able to get Albus to spill the beans, but Iron Lord Loki has him eating out of the palm of his hand.
Figuring out how to complete the next challenge was another concern. Having my ghost run that horrible screech through different audio filters allowed us to figure out that putting it underwater would do the trick.
Underwater is outside my wheelhouse.
Objective in the void of space? No problem. Hostile Vex planet? Must be Tuesday. There is a reason that current scientists know more about space then they do the bottom of the ocean. Unlike space you have the weight of the water above you hindering everything you do but the locals who generally have big teeth, have no problem. Bottom of the black lake is not as bad. I could use my helmet to solve the breathing problem but everything else would take to long to adapt to aquatic environments.
I'm going to have to go all magic on this one.
The bubblehead charm and a self-transfiguration were some of the first options I found but both had their downsides. The charm left me with just arms and legs to swim with and self-transfiguration was a different skill from the animagus transformation which took me years to muddle through. I don't have years. That leaves only one viable option.
Potions and their ingredients.
Snape was a last resort, so Nevil was my current bet. Hopefully, he will have something useful for me.
Speaking of Nevil. Turns out he already got someone to take to the ball. At this rate it will be just me and Ron left.
"Oi, Hermione, you're a girl." Ron stated.
This is not going to end well.
"Oh, well spotted." She replied, picking up on the same thing I did.
"Come with one of us?" he asked before Snape could hit him over the head for not paying attention to his studies.
"Come on. It's one thing for a bloke to show up alone. For a girl it's just sad."
You idiot. I've seen post collapse cavemen with more manners.
"I won't be going alone, because belief it or not, someone's asked me." She spat.
Pausing in her rant she went to hand her work to Snape.
"And I said yes!" she finished.
"Bloody hell. She's lying right?" was his intelligent response.
"Ron, you're my friend." I put my arm over his shoulder. "And as your friend I say this with all the love and respect I can muster." I paused.
"You're an idiot."
He blinked a few times in surprise.
"You don't insult a woman while asking her out. Even if she is lying, which I don't think she is, she's going to find someone to go to the dance with just to spite you. If it were me, I would find another girl to go with just to prove that I'm better at picking up chicks then you are, or Krum."
His face soured after that.
"I'm just going to grit my teeth and do it. Tonight when we get back to the common room, we will both have partners agreed?" Ron declared.
"I make no promises."
Before Snape could try and push our heads into our books I turned around abruptly.
"Thank you, professor." I said while handing him my completed work.
I left before his befuddlement wore off.
Sirius had sent me a letter this morning, said he had something he wanted to show me and to meet him in the Dreaming City.
After he recovered and we made him a new wand from the trees in the Dreaming City I left a floo connection in the Room of Requirement next to the gate to the Dreaming City.
The Techeuns were witches of earth before they left on that colony ship and became Awoken. One was a wand maker and designed the implants they used for their new abilities. She taught me how to make wands and how to use the new exotic resources we had at our disposal. Over time they had forgotten most of the spells they used with wands in favor of their new abilities that did not require one.
I was waiting in the training grounds for my wayward uncle. Thinking about my current problems and all the previous ones I had to overcome to get here. Becoming an Iron Lord, then a guardian. Exploring the solar system and its alien secrets. Navigating the Vex gateways and the Infinite Forest to eventually stumble upon my way back home.
Was it worth it?
Was it worth leaving behind the friends I made for the friends I lost? Sure, I may be able to return to them the long way but what if I can't?
Did I abandon all those who depended on me for my own selfish desires? How was I any different from the Warlords I so despised?
No, the worst of them would torture those whom they should have protected. Negligence was not the same as abuse and I think many of those friends from the Last City would understand my decision.
If only Saladin could see it that way.
Once the Last City was established, I sought out Vex instillations looking for a way home. I was so engrossed in my search that I was unaware of my friends seeking out SIVA. I knew Felwinter's secret and would have known that SIVA was a trap set by Rasputin.
Saladin didn't know any of it. He didn't know that Fellwinter was Rasputin's son. That him being graced with the Traveler's light stole him from his father. Nor how much the theft angered him. All he knew was that when our friends perished, I wasn't there.
And he never forgave me for it.
Neither did I. I drowned myself in my personal quest for years. Till I decided to take a break and visit the cosmodrome in old Russia, it was on my way to Fellwinter Peak.
It was there that I met my second ghost.
He had just found and lost his guardian to the Hive. He like me was feeling empty and hollow. We talked for a bit, shared our pain, and then a stroke of genius hit me.
Others would call it madness.
Ghosts can revive other guardians not their own provided the original ghost still lives. I discarded my old name and title and became a new guardian fresh from the Cosmodrome.
Saving people, going on missions. A purpose beyond my own selfish desires. It brought light back to my life.
After countless defeated foes and new titles, I stumbled my way back home while checking up on the Vault of Glass.
Ghosts can revive other guardians not there own provided the original still lives. I discarded my old name and title and became a new guardian fresh from the cosmodrome.
Saving people, going on missions. A purpose beyond my own selfish desires. It brought light back to my life. And after countless challenges I stumbled my way back home after doing a sweep of the Vault of Glass.
Sirius walking up to me broke me out of my thoughts. He had a bag in his hand. Probably with an extension charm on it.
"So, Sirius, why did you call me out today?" I asked.
"Dumbledore asked me to test something for him and I wanted your opinion on it seeing as you have that weird pistol." He answered.
The pieces came together and thinking about it, it made sense. Someone who stayed relatively intact while in Azkaban would be ideal to use Bad Juju.
My godfather reached into his bag and pulled out said gun.
"So, what do you make of this thing?" he asked.
"Funny you say it like that considering I did help make it." I replied.
His eyes threatened to leave his skull.
"Harry! This thing reeks of dark magic. How could you have made it?" He near bellowed.
I was unmoved by his concern.
"When you live as long as I have light and dark begin to blur. All that matters is who you are and your own code." I explained.
"This is not even the worst weapon I have in my collection. Walk with me." I said while walking out of the training area.
Sirius followed without protest.
"Why didn't you bring up such concerns when I used the Lumina?" I inquired.
"The Black family was known for not shying away from dark magic or cursed items. Living in such a place and becoming an animagus, I've learned to literally sniff out dark magic and light magic." He explained.
"Your, Lumina was it? Has the strongest scent of light I have ever come across and the Bad Juju is the same for the dark." He continued.
"Intriguing, and to answer your unasked question. The reason those two weapons smell so strongly to you is because you have not come across something stronger. I on the other hand am unconcerned about Bad Juju because compared to some of the things I have come across. Bad Juju is relatively tame."
He paled at that.
"What could be worse than that thing?" he asked.
"Bad Juju is a Weapon of Sorrow but only because it uses the same dark principles. It cannot corrupt its wielder like the true Weapons of Sorrow could."
The moment of silence was tense.
"A Weapon of Sorrow grants power to it wielder but in exchange it warps them into something better suited to the weapon. If someone were to get ahold of one of these weapons, they would make Voldemort look cute and cuddly."
On that note we made it to my destination.
The Vault.
A place deep within the Dreaming City that I keep all of my most dangerous weapons in. Before the city became my throne world, I kept them all in a chest warded to high heaven with everything I and Eris could find and then it was shrunk and kept in my extended pouch.
The Vault was a definite improvement.
The big amethyst doors began their unlocking sequence as soon as we started to walk up to them. By the time we reached them they were starting to open. Once we walked past the threshold, I heard Sirius gasp.
"This room must be throwing you nose completely off."
He only nodded.
"Looked around, ask me anything you want, and I will answer as best I can."
He walked up to a gun that had yellowed bone spikes and a glowing eye like lens inside it.
"What is this one called?" he asked.
"One thousand voices. It was made from the bones of Riven and one of her eyes." I answered.
"What was she?"
"She was what we called an Ahamkara. Wish granting shapeshifters who regularly took the forms of dragons and so were given the nickname wish dragons. They fed off of the energy created when they granted wishes so they would do all they could to keep people wishing so even if your wishes were granted you would almost never leave satisfied. Provided they let you go. Eventually they were hunted to near extinction, but their spirits remained attached to their bones, driving people mad. That's why this weapon is kept here.
He moved onto another. This one was a sniper rifle that glowed like the Taken.
"This one smells of darkness." He declared.
"For those who follow the sword logic. Death is just another part of life. A metamorphosis. The unsacred union between destroyer and destroyed. Though Xol was killed he fed richly from it. Now he exists as a tool of death. Hoping to become the proof for sword logic. Sitting here pisses him off to no end."
Before Sirius could ask, I answered.
"Xol was a Hive worm god."
After my godfather rebooted, he moved onto a black hand cannon that oozed wrongness.
"What is that abomination." He asked. His face pale as a ghost.
"A replica of the first Weapon of Sorrow. Thorn."
"This is only a replica?" he squeaked.
"Yes. The original started out as a normal weapon wielded by a guardian and called Rose for the red flash it would make when fired. He journeyed to the moon and killed a Hive Wizard's betrothed. She cursed him as he took the bones of her betrothed and adorned his weapon with them."
"What happened to him?" Sirius whispered.
"He was a hero to the people, a selfless warrior but after that he slowly changed into a monster. He abandoned his ghost when he started murdering guardians and civilians alike with his cursed weapon. Dredgen Yor became the boogeyman that was real."
"How was he able to kill guardians?" My godfather asked.
"13th Understanding, 7th Book of Sorrow. To rend one's enemies is to see them not as equals, but objects—hollow of spirit and meaning. The how is a paracausal nightmare. But the results are easier to explain. Rending someone is to destroy them both in body and spirit by denying that their spirit even exists. Which in itself gives power to the weapon."
"He stopped seeing people as people all for power?" My honorary uncle spat.
"In that he and Voldemort are the same, but his cruelty had a clear objective and end result. Voldemort does it because he thinks it makes him superior. Like a baby thinking if it acts like an adult it is one."
Sirius barked with laughter at my roasting Tom.
"So, what happened to Dredgen Yor and his cursed gun?"
"Dredgen Yor was killed by a guardian named Shin Malphur who took his gun and hid it from the Shadows of Yor. Dredgen's sorta fan club. They made the replica you see before you, it's been watered down so that a guardian could wield it without falling to madness. I keep another replica on me in case I need something really dead." I answered.
"Why didn't Shin destroy it?"
"Sword Logic makes destroying such things difficult. It's more likely you will just spread the corruption when you can contain it to the weapon." I replied.
He grew pensive.
"And he believed it held a greater purpose." I tacked on.
"How could anything good come from something worse than that!" he shouted while pointing at the replica.
"Because the real Thorn is right here." I calmly answered while drawing Lumina.
I should have taken a picture of his baffled face.
"Shin gave me the original Thorn to do with as I pleased. I think he thought I was crazy when I decided to try and cleanse it and make it a weapon of light. Bathing it in my light took months to remove the darkness from it and countless challenges to make it bloom into the Lumina. Now I hold proof that an object is not evil because it is dark. That from darkness can come our greatest champions of light and justice." I declared.
"Don't be afraid of Bad Juju. Give it the respect it deserves, and it will not fail you. That was your original concern yes?" I asked.
When he spoke, it was as if he were afraid that if he talked to loud the world would crumble around him
"I never liked my parents and what they stood for; the feeling was mutual. Your father's family took me in, and I never looked back at the dark. It's going to take time for me to wrap my head around this." He whispered.
"I didn't expect you to. Perhaps I can show you all the functions of Bad Juju before you try it with Dumbledore?" I offered.
"I was going to ask about that. Why did you give him one of your weapons?" he asked.
"Either Voldemort or one of his followers is behind this farce of a tournament. I have no doubt that the conflict is going to spread past a single school year. And that Dumbledore will try to keep me out of the loop for some misguided reason. Creating this persona and offering a taste of knowledge ensures that when I ask, he will answer willingly." I replied.
"How very Slytherin of you Harry." He said while smirking.
"The hat actually tried to put me in Slytherin and would have if I did tell it exactly what I thought of the idea." I puckishly added.
On that note the conversation devolved into current events namely me getting a date for the Yule Ball. Turns out the champions have to open the Ball with the first dance. I may just have to swallow my pride.
As we departed my throne world, I was mulling over who to ask. My thoughts were circling so bad that I didn't even notice when I got back to the common room. The thing that broke me out of my daze was someone saying it's alright Ron.
"What happened to you?" I asked.
"He just asked Fleur Delacour out." Ginny replied.
"What?" Hermione wondered.
Go Ron was all I could think of.
"Nice, what did she say?" I decided on.
"No of course." Hermione stated like it was a forgone conclusion.
All Ron could do is shake his head and groan.
"She said yes?" Hermione quietly exclaimed in that way that only girls could pull off.
"Don't be silly. There she was, walking by, you know how I like it when they walk."
Can't fault him for that and my shrug was the closest verbal response anyone made.
"I couldn't help it. it just sort of slipped out."
"Actually, he sort of screamed at her. It was a bit frightening." Ginny added.
"And then you high tailed it out of there?" I asked already knowing the answer.
"Yah, I'm not cut out for this Harry. I don't know what got into me."
Before I could dig into him a pair of voices spoke from behind me.
"Hi Harry." The Patil twins spoke in unison.
I guess Karma does exist.
Dumbledore POV
The Eliksni were the last memory I looked at.
What a fascinating people. Their culture being a mix of noble honor and piracy when desperate. To think they would change themselves so drastically to find a new way to flourish. First with that red infection called SIVA. Then using dark ether to become the horrifying new race called the Scorn. As if that wasn't enough. A new group called upon darkness itself to empower themselves.
Stasis.
In my youth (relative to now) I sat in on muggle university lectures about theoretical physics to see how they saw the world. One theory was the big freeze. A point in time when the universe expands to the point that all matter cannot interact with each other through the fundamental forces. Is the darkness phantom energy? That would explain how the Dark Kell was able to cause temporary heat death within a finite space.
And why it drove her mad.
A force that wants everything to become one single form. It cares not how it gets there only that the final destination is cold entropy. All it would want is to speed up the process so of course it would pretend to want to satisfy her every desire and burn her out.
So how did L break away from temptation? I saw his memory of Eramis's death. How he was almost frozen to death until he managed to wield the darkness on his own and remain himself, what was the light? Was it a manipulation of the fundamental forces of creation? Darkness was so difficult to get a grasp on if my theories were even close. Could that have been the difference? Light counteracting the temptation of the dark.
Does L give me this knowledge just have me running in circles? If so, what is it that he wants to keep me from noticing? But these threats to the world are too big to ignore.
Sirius was given the Bad Juju to test on the spider problem in the Forbidden Forest. Ollivander couldn't do anymore tests on the weapon without damaging it. not that either of us thought it would bear fruit. Whatever it is that makes that weapon tick wasn't created by a physical property of its composition. A purely theological engine of death.
With Sirius taking time to come to grips with what I asked of him. Not that I could blame him, I also have a similar view on dark magic. I had more time to focus on the mysteries surrounding the Tri Wizard Tournament.
Who would have thought that I would think that finding a wizard trying to murder one of my students was a much more relaxing activity then trying to uncover the secrets of the universe?
But I did get a peak at what lies behind that curtain so perhaps that is the source of my unease.
Hooray! It didn't take an entire year to update this story! Though if I had waited another couple of weeks it would have been.
I could tell you every single reason that it took so long to update this story, but I think you guys already know that having multiple stories on the go with COVID and regular do do's of life. Eats up time. As always, reviews are appreciated.