The last few years, Harry found to have been bliss. Aside from the catastrophe in his first year, he had not been in any life-threatening situations. Part of that, he suspected to be because of Anakin Skywalker. The elderly professor had not only reclaimed Defense Against The Dark Arts permanently, but also solved several of the major issues since then. Fourth and fifth year had been completely free of anyone trying to attack him or the student body in general.
As a result, now in sixth year and thus two years from graduation, Harry had actually found time to study. He would never be an honour student like Hermione or Luna, but he managed. He also found he had a knack for Defense in general as many of the spells came to him quite easily.
Which was also why he wondered what made Professor Skywalker keep him back after class, expression unreadable. Harry waited until everyone filed out of the room before asking: "Is something the matter, professor?"
The older man kept his silence for a few moments as he took Harry in, brows furrowed in a way that made him feel a little uncomfortable. "You're a chosen one, Mr. Potter."
"...pardon?"
"You heard me the first time." The professor heaved a sigh and started to pace in front of the room. "I have been wondering about this for a while now. Why you of all people? It could have been anyone, yet it ended up being you. Lord Voldemort remains out there somewhere even while we move to destroy him for good, yet you are the one who appears chosen to end it. Something about you is different."
Harry understood that; he had asked himself similar questions over the years. There was no real reason for Voldemort to come after him specifically, or at least none he ever learned of. "I don't know, sir." Then he got curious about something else. "Does the Force tell you I'm different?"
The professor paused his pacing and threw him an appreciative look, even a little smile. "Good thinking, yes. It seems Luna passed on her knowledge without consulting me." When Harry made to protest to cover his friend, he waved it off. "Don't worry, she's not in trouble. I trust her judgement in this." Then he returned to the suject at hand and picked up his pacing again. "But yes, you are... odd, in the Force. Not radiant like Luna herself, but odd. Quite the conundrum, that; I never saw anything like this before."
A flurry of foreign emotions rolled over Harry for a moment, gone about as fast as they appeared, giving him no time to discern them. His favourite teacher turned to pace again and he almost felt like joining in. "How often do you find things you never saw before, sir?"
"Oh, it varies. Sometimes I find a dozen in a year, but sometimes only one in several years. There are many wonderful things out there, Mr. Potter." The professor sounded almost absent-minded now, making Harry wonder.
"So why tell me this now? You must have known for years."
His question brought a humourless chuckle from the older man, who turned back with a grim expression. "While Luna is coming into her own as a proper seer as the years pass, I rarely find myself having visions. A few days ago however, Mr. Potter, the Force showed me death. Death that is connected to you." Harry grew a little cold at the tone his teacher adopted, but found a bit of reassurance in his next words: "I can't say whether it was your death in particular, but I know someone around you is under threat."
So this was what the professor meant to tell him. Harry nodded slowly and felt his fists clench; he would not allow anyone to hurt his friends. For some reason, Professor Skywalker barked out a laugh once he thought that. "I can tell you're determined to not let it come to that. Good, Mr. Potter. Very good. In case Luna did not pass on this bit, do know that the future is not set in stone. Foreseeing death does not mean it will come to pass."
The older man's gaze then dropped to the ground and he sighed, losing his stern tone in favour of tiredness. "Yet somehow, you are being drawn into these matters time and time again. Be careful from now on. We don't know what might happen."
Harry nodded slowly, understanding and worrying a little himself. At the same time however, his teacher's reassurance about the future made it so he did not worry too much. "Alright, I can do that." He readied his wand the moment the older man turned to pace in the other direction. "Thanks for the warning, professor." Then he silently cast a stinging hex right into the square of his back. It connected.
Anakin Skywalker flinched almost imperceptively and stopped; Harry could not help but grin about it. "You should be on your guard too, professor," he quipped after a moment of baffled silence and received a huff that could be either amused or exasperated.
"Fifty points for Gryffindor, Mr. Potter. Good instincts, using a moment where I lower my guard. And congratulations, you are the first one to do it on your own, another ten points for Gryffindor for that." Word was that no one managed to hit the professor the first year he taught, so he offered the same challenge the following year; there, a group of three dozen got him by filling his entire surroundings with hexes so he could not dodge. The year after, it took several such ambushes before he could not weave through the barrages. It became more difficult each year as he adapted to the attempts.
Harry grinned and said his goodbyes, then grabbed his bookbag and left while whistling a little tune.
. .
. .
"I don't like this place, professor."
"Me neither. Me neither."
Anakin shuddered as the three of them came to stand before a normally inconspicuous wall. Albus could almost fathom what the two Force-users were talking about, for even he had this weak feeling of dread impose upon his mind. Likely a ward meant to make people leave the area alone; a cave at the sea, the entrance hidden beneath the waters during high tide. "But it is here, yes?"
He received a nod from Anakin and a quiet "Yes" from Luna, though the girl hugged herself and looked around. "This place feels horrible. What kind of traps did he put on it to feel that way?" She shuddered again and Albus placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, feeling lithe muscles even through her thick sweater.
What Anakin told them gave both pause, though: "Those aren't traps, Luna. It reeks of death, feels of death, the Force is crying over so many precious lives lost for hubris' sake. It isn't exactly like the Dark Side, but it comes close. This pressure, the encroaching thoughts of anger and fear and sadness. Focus, it isn't directed at you. Are you sure this is the entrance?" He motioned for the wall and receive affirmatives both from Luna and Albus. "Then break it, apprentice."
Albus still tried to comprehend what Anakin told them and to put it to whatever happened here. He already had an idea for what they might find inside and quickly reviewed the fire spells he knew; the opponents he expected were afraid of nothing else.
He let go of Luna and left the girl to her concentration; two hands were raised with their palms pointed at the solid wall they identified as the entrance; every other part was warded far, far more. It likely required some offer to enter at the right time, but as Albus learned over the theft from the Lestrange-vault in Gringotts, Anakin preferred not to play another's game. They had borrowed young Harry's Invisibility Cloak and sent the man on his own... and thankfully, just as they hoped, no one could trace the destruction he wrought back to him with any conclusive proof.
Pressure built around Luna Lovegood, even Albus could feel it. Her body began to tense, winding up like a spring as that same pressure kept increasing. He took a step back just in case and wondered just where the limits of the Force were; she had sensed the horcrux hidden far away in the countryside, in the childhood home of Voldemort's mother, from Hogwarts.
A minute passed in silence but at the end, Albus could barely even breathe. He was almost thankful when the pressure released on a physical push of Luna's hands; a surge of raw power raced forward into the wall. It screeched and crumbled, the wards layered over it snapping one by one under Luna's will. But in the end, it held. Cracks ran over the entire structure, a moon-like shape flickered in and out on the surface, and the air began to flicker.
They watched for some kind of trap triggering on the attempt to break the wards with brute force, but it seemed that Tom's arrogance had been in their favour this time; he never would have expected his power to be found wanting. Yet the way was not free.
Luna cast a glance to Anakin, who raised an eyebrow at her. Albus hid a smile under his beard at how well they could communicate; the young woman started gathering her power again once it was clear the command still stood.
After a moment, Albus decided he might as well sate his curiousity to pass the time: "Out of curiousity, could you have done this in one go?"
Anakin just huffed. "Yes. It's not a lack of strength for her, but rather a lack of control. It has only been four years for her to learn. I am stronger in the Force, but few match me in that. Luna will have far better control than I when she had a few more years." Both men took note of how Luna stood a little straighter over the praise and Anakin began to smile even while he finished his explanation: "If I wanted to, I could crush this entire cave and everything in it, wards or no. Luna likely won't ever be able to do that, but I can see her just reaching through wards like these to pull out whatever she is looking for and never having to enter the place. Somewhere between ten and twenty years, if she keeps up her studies and practice."
As if to punctuate his judgement, Luna let loose another wave of Force that slammed into the wall with horrible grinding noises. Albus could hear the wards screech and pop before the stone itself crumbled and broke an instant later. The wall was reduced to rubble and launched into the room beyond, where it rained into an internal lake with loud splashes and little waves.
Then Albus saw just why Voldemort had not thought to have the wards fight against brute force. His worries were confirmed when bodies rose from the water, their forms bloated as the very skin was soaked with the cold liquid. Ashen faces with unseeing eyes directed at them, marching to kill the intruders.
Inferi. The living dead.
For perhaps the first time since they began to work together, Albus cast first. Great bands of flame sprang into being while his companions still took in the threat in surprise. The old sorcerer weaved a continuous circle around them for protection, then had great gouts of flame surge ahead and into the cavern; the foremost pair of Inferi shied away from the heat and light.
"Inferius," Albus lectured calmly, "a corpse brought back to un-life through dark magics. Loyal only to whoever raised it, the creature lacks any kind of higher thought and will continue to fight until destroyed." He took a moment to eye the cavern behind their makeshift entrance. "From the look of it, Tom turned this lake into a perpetual trap. Any intruder caught is dragged beneath and added to their numbers." Though they could not tell just how many were added after the fact. Albus shuddered to imagine such a fate.
Two lightsabers ignited with a faint buzz as the Force-users moved in front to guard Albus, master and student calmly assessing the situation. Albus himself began to advance into the cavern under their guard, an additional safety measure in case his own ring of flame was not enough. Larger rings were spun all over the cavern, illuminating it as if the sun shone inside. Many more wards would stand between them and the little island in the lake's center, but now that they could see, it would suffice. The fact everything was covered in fire kept their assailants away.
Albus peered at the island to make out just what exactly would be found there, but then Luna stiffened. "It's not here."
The lapse of focus her shocked claim brought almost made Albus lose control over his flames. He regained it after a moment and turned to her. "What do you mean?"
Anakin frowned at the island while the girl turned around, wide-eyed. "I found this place by how wrong it felt in the Force. Horcruxes feel wrong like that, too. But the Inferi and all the wards made it only feel like there is one here. I can tell now, there is no horcrux in there."
A moment later, the island exploded up and raced toward them. Albus blinked at it owlishly before realising that Anakin had his hand raised. Wards attempted to prevent it but were ignored as an unstoppable force simply hammered at them until they gave. The former island crashed into the shore by their side and Luna then proceeded to tear off the singular stone basin on it in the same way. All three grimaced at the nasty-looking green potion swirling in it.
Anakin stepped forward and swung his lightsaber to cut the structure's bottom off as well, then he reached inside and pulled out a simple locket. "At least there was something in there," he told the other two over the crackling flames. Albus received the item and pocketed it for the time being, then turned his eyes to the Inferi.
"Quite true. If you would excuse me for a few minutes, I would like to clean up this mess my student made. Would you be willing to crush this entire place afterward, Anakin?" The men exchanged glances and there was no need for a verbal response; Anakin liked this refuge at the sea even less than Albus himself.
The next hours he spent tearing the place apart; every single Inferius was methodically burned to ashes and the remains covered with a half-dozen charms to disperse remaining traces of magic. Every ward once layered over the area was either figured out and dispelled or broken by Anakin and Luna, depending on its complexity and how long the dispelling would take. The potion originally guarding the horcrux vanished under Albus' spells to never return. Then he withdrew the tide and his companion collapsed the entire cave, crushing it into fine rubble, never to be used for evil again.
It was the middle of the night when they finished. All three stood tired after a long day of work, Albus feeling his years and Anakin yawning widely. Luna rubbed her eyes, but did not step away yet; the three of them looked down from further up the coast, beholding their work.
"The Force is at peace," Luna mumbled at last. Albus could not feel it himself, but he could agree nonetheless; the odd feeling he got from this place before was gone.
After a few minutes, he gently took her and Anakin's shoulders. "We did all we could. Let us return to Hogwarts and rest now. Tomorrow we will deal with this fake horcrux, and next weekend we will take a break. I have some external meetings to attend."
He received nods and apparated back to the school with the two of them; Anakin never learned the skill to move instantly between spaces while Luna was too young yet.
. .
. .
Harry still pondered just why Luna looked so tired the whole week; Ginny joked about how she must have found a boyfriend or girlfriend to be busy with, but they could tell that something odd happened to their friend. She looked positively haunted on Sunday, though that quickly regressed over the week.
More importantly however, she had not told any of them what this was about. Not a single word no matter who asked, the same as whenever else Professor Skywalker took her on one of those excursions.
Harry was pushed out of his pondering when he heard a yelp from further down the corridor, followed by a flash of red. Instinctively drawing his wand, he started forward to investigate who was throwing spells at others; that specific tone of red meant a stunning spell, most likely.
Turning the corner, he found Susan Bones crumpled to the ground, but no one else in sight. Harry squinted at the area and made a calm turn around to find where the attackers might have gone, then he saw it. A weak reflection where none should be, contours against the wall. "Stupefy!"
His stunner hit the disillusioned form dead center and made them drop, but in that moment another hit him in the back and he blacked out.
Standing over him, the camouflaging spell fading away, was a form of indeterminate gender in black robes; their face remained hidden by a skull mask, hair covered under a black veil attached to it. They silently cast a charm to revitalise their stunned ally, who gasped and got up slowly; meanwhile, the first figure brought an enchanted mirror to the mouthpiece of their mask and a deep, male voice rang out: "We have Potter. Drop the sneaking act and reconvene at the entrance with haste. Go loud at will."
"Damn," his companion ground out as he picked up his wand and levitated the stunned Harry. "That kid is good, caught me despite being disillusioned."
The Death Eaters exchanged nods without a further need for words, calling no names. Then they moved off and through the hidden passageways they had never truly forgotten; it was not yet dinnertime on a Saturday, meaning that the castle appeared almost deserted. The living portraits began to scream everywhere, but a response from the teachers had been calculated for; none would be swift enough to figure out which of the dozen teams was the main threat.
All but one of this number met up in the large entrance hall within minutes, any errant student crossing their way immediately stunned.
"Where is Bellatrix?" one asked the group as a whole, only for another figure to raise their hand without a word. "Ah, alright. So the last two were probably caught. Let's move out."
More nods, followed by turning heads as the large gate began to open on its own. Pressure pushed down at the gathered Death Eaters for a moment.
A metal wand was drawn as tension built, then it ignited to form a blade of ugly red. None of them had met Anakin Skywalker before, but as one they knew this lone figure was him; the man their contact had told them not to underestimate. Harry's unconcious form was placed in a corner and under a shield while the rest drew their wands.