This chapter contains part of the chapter originally uploaded Friday 12th under the same name, from the first line break is entirely new content, although I have made minor modifications to the first section.
Harry watched Lockhart collapse with a great sense of sympathy, although he was proud he was still standing. Of course, that wasn't counting the fact he still had his mage sense invocation active. As an archaic invocation, the spell took minimal magic to cast, with no magical 'upkeep'.
During their run from the campsite, his invocation had allowed him to see the spell path moments before it happened. It was a combination of divination runes and runes normally used to imitate true mage sight, which allowed anyone with a decent level of magesight to see the paths.
But, once the invocation was dropped the total cost would slam into him in one go. It was one of the main reasons invocations were hardly used during duels and battles, aside from the time it took to cast them.
With a grimace, he focused on the Philosopher's Stone and started drawing power from it, then deactivated his invocation. The magic cost was low relatively speaking, but it would've left him weak for several days without his gauntlet. With his senses returned to normal, Harry let himself relax.
His first action was to deactivate his shield, where it returned to his watch. It was always fun to watch it shrink and spin until it disappeared entirely, whereupon any damage would be fixed. It did unfortunately strip away his notice-not ideology, as the watch simply reverted the shield back to the original template.
Once done, he looked around and realised Tonks had moved Lockhart into another room, presumably a bedroom. Deciding to get comfy, he threw off his coat and collapsed into his favourite chair, cringing when he remembered he was coated in mud. He was broken from his relaxation by Tonks' jackrabbit patronus appearing out of nowhere.
Crouching down in front of the rabbit, Tonks firmly said "Find Albus Dumbledore, Quidditch campground attacked by Death Eaters, the three of us escaped without injury and are waiting in the main home."
Sighing, Harry awkwardly leaned over and grabbed his coat, then pulled out his messaging tablet.
"Oi, Tonks, don't worry about the patronus. I can send a message to Dumbledore instantly."
He quickly scribbled down Tonks' message and activated it, making the words fade on his tablet and appear on Dumbledore's. While he was at it, he also wrote a quick note to Luna and gave it to Corvus the first.
"While you're doing that, I suppose I'd better tell Old Bonsey that we're safe… Still don't feel right about that…" She finished in a mutter, making Harry extremely concerned.
"What doesn't feel right?"
"Answering directly to Amelia Bones, the head of department. Nobody should go from office junior to having the boss listen to their reports… it's unnatural."
Her patronus had just left when a large 'Crack' split the silence, Harry only lowered his gauntlet once he recognised Dumbledore. He knew the wards would only allow a very short list of people entry, but his nerves were too high strung to take any chances.
"Harry, Nymphadora." He greeted firmly, cautiously lowering the Elder Wand. For once Tonks didn't verbally react to the use of her first name, although her hair briefly flashed red before returning to her normal bubblegum pink. "You mentioned an attack?"
Tonks quickly rattled off a report, summarising the attack and their escape. It somehow made the story sound even worse, with all the emotion taken out of it. Dumbledore took the report with grim determination, a hard glint in his eye.
It was easy to forget, especially since the man hid behind his grandfatherly persona, but Dumbledore had fought on the front lines during two major magical wars. Such wars left behind marks, marks which showed themselves in times such as these.
"Do you know if anyone was hurt?" He eventually asked once Tonks had finished.
"We don't know, but there were killing curses being thrown around. There were definitely several people that were hit by the Imperious." Harry said wearily, the deadly green and the misty yellow curses forever seared into his mind.
They were interrupted by a second crack of apparition, his gauntlet had barely risen before he recognized Nicolas' scarlet magic swirling into the room. The man was clearly shaken, even his magic wasn't as tightly controlled.
"Perenelle is in a bad way." Nicolas said simply, although Harry detected a slight wobble in his voice. It seemed Dumbledore had also detected it, as he swished his Fir wand and summoned a bottle of Firewhiskey, before pouring a generous amount for the alchemist.
Normally Nicolas avoided alcohol, so it surprised Harry when he gladly took the tumbler and drained it in one gulp.
"What happened Nicolas?" Dumbledore asked gently, quietly refilling the glass and began pouring drinks for everyone else.
"I assume you know about the attack at the campsite? Well, we were right in the middle of it… we don't think Perenelle got hit, but she isn't dealing with the shock very well. Of course, seeing the dark again didn't help."
"The dark mark?" Tonks asked, startled.
"Yes, I had assumed you had seen it… sometime during the attack somebody cast the dark mark, which seemed to be the sign for the death eaters to escape."
"We must've left before then… this isn't good."
"The dark mark is Voldemort's symbol right? The giant floating skull and snake." Harry asked slowly, wanting to make sure he was remembering his facts correctly.
"Yes Harry, during the last war the dark mark became synonymous with death. Distastefully ironic considering Tom used the runes for death and stealth to create his mark, although I have never figured out if he intended for it to be read as 'Death from the shadows' or 'Hidden from death'... or perhaps both." Dumbledore said softly, clearly lost within memories.
"Given how he got his followers to brand themselves with the mark, I imagine he intended it to mean the latter. It's possible he hoped that he saw the mark as another means of obtaining his immortality…" Nicolas mused, swirling his now empty glass absentmindedly.
"Would such a thing work?" Tonks asked.
"Yes and no. You cannot stop death with runes alone, but in theory they could stop you falling sick or succumbing to certain magic… If you had something to keep your soul tethered to the world, then runes would be enough to keep your body healthy."
What was left unsaid was that Voldemort did have a way to keep his soul tethered, the seven Horcruxes scattered anywhere around the world. However, for now Dumbledore had decided to keep the information from Tonks, both for her peace of mind and because it raised the risk of a loyal death eater finding out.
"Then why don't more people use runes?"
"Mainly because in order to see any decent results you would have a huge power constant requirement, which is pointless considering potions and charms do a decent enough job without the drain. On the other hand, potions require time to make as well as both needing someone to be aware of an illness and able to respond. In his current form, Voldemort is capable of neither." Nicolas explained easily, falling back into his teacher role.
"St. Mungos use specific healing runes under their beds, which draw upon the leyline under the building. Hogwarts beds have similar runes, although they are more general purpose. I know Lord Andreas Greengrass has runes under his bed to fight off his rheumatism." Dumbledore added.
Whatever Tonks was about to say was cut off by Corvus flying through the wall, landing gracefully on the arm of Harry's chair. Quickly unrolling the parchment Harry let out a relieved sigh.
"Luna and Xeno are okay! Because of how far away they were from the stadium they were able to make it to the edge of the ward and escape home before the fighting got too bad. Sir, Xeno wants to know if it's okay for him and Luna to apparate here."
"He has my permission. I will feel better if we are all safe here… do you want to bring Pernelle here Nic?"
"Thank you, but it's fine. She's gone with the family back to France, hopefully the warmer weather and familiar sights will be good for her."
Sending off Corvus with the confirmation, they settled into an easy silence. When Dumbledore refilled Nicolas' glass for a third time, Harry found himself longing to have his own glass. As if reading his mind, Dumbledore summoned another glass and handed it to Harry, although he noticed he received less whiskey compared to everyone else.
"I assume this means Nymphadora finally worked up the courage to give you Firewhiskey?" Dumbledore said with a chuckle, which made Harry feel uneasy in case Tonks was about to be told off. "Oh, don't worry, it is something of a tradition for a young witch or wizard to be given Firewhiskey by an older relative after their 14th Birthday… a tradition I never got to experience regretfully."
"My mum has a picture of me on my 14th, with steam pouring out my ears from where I drank an entire glass in one go. Of course, while I was panicking as I thought I was losing my throat my hair chose to turn the colour of flames and shoot out in every direction… Then this git just drinks the entire bottle and enjoys it!"
With Luna and her father's arrival, the house was starting to get cramped. Fortunately, they were wizards with expansion charms, so after making the room twice as large and conjuring more furniture everyone had somewhere to sit. Due to the lateness of the night, Luna, Tonks and Nicolas had already fallen asleep, although Xeno and Albus were still talking.
Surprisingly, they weren't talking about the Deathly Hallows, instead they were trying to speculate on why the death eaters attacked the campsite.
"This doesn't feel like something Tom would do, he gains nothing from doing this and it risked drawing in foreign powers."
"Definitely. This feels like the death eaters that avoided Azkaban getting drunk and deciding to give some people a scare." Xeno agreed.
Harry found himself falling asleep as he listened to the two talking, only to be shaken out of unconsciousness by something. He reached out with his magic and just caught his magical signature rising from the ground and condensing in front of him, before a sunbound yellow core was created within the green.
He blinked away his mage sight and came face-to-face with Dobby, who had apparated right in front of him without any noise. Even Dumbledore hadn't noticed the elf, which was an impressive feat.
The elf had gone through a radical change compared to the last time they had talked a year ago. He was now over six feet tall, almost twice his original height. His skin was also a very pale orange, like the colour of a sunrise, with bright green veins that glowed with some inner light.
His muscles were quite well defined, although the elf was still extremely wiry. The width of the elf's entire forearm was about the width of Harry's hand, despite this the elf had a sense of strength. It basically looked like somebody had taken Dobby's old body and stretched it until it was taller.
It was only the face that remained almost untouched, aside from the skin tone. His ears seemed springier and didn't droop, while his green eyes had become brighter and lost the pupil. He also had the beginnings of small curvy orange horns that began in front of his ears and curved back and around them.
The last time he had seen Dobby, the elf had been wearing a large t-shirt and jeans. Now he had an unbuttoned dark green leather long coat, with an abnormally long collar. But despite how long it was, the collar stopped just short of the elf's jaw.
Underneath the coat Harry could see a plain brown medieval tunic, with several bead necklaces overtop, although not quite as many beads as Luna. However, unlike Luna's beads, each block had a unique rune carefully etched into it, which glowed with Dobby's true yellow signature.
"Greetings Harry Potter Sir, I bring… bad news." Dobby said solemnly, alerting Dumbledore and Xeno to his appearance. His voice was no longer the high pitched squeak it had been during his enslavement, but it also wasn't the low rumble he had the last time they had met.
His voice had gone back to being higher than an average wizard's voice, but there was now a clearness that had been missing before. In short, it sounded inhuman. Despite the fact the elf hadn't spoken loudly, his voice had carried across the entire room easily, every word laced with magic.
"Mr. Frank Bryce is dead." Whatever he had been expecting Dobby to say, he hadn't expected that. He hadn't thought of the man since the summer before his 2nd year, although it seemed Dobby had been keeping an eye on the man.
"Do you know when he died… Dobby?" Dumbledore asked slowly, eyeing the elf cautiously and keeping a hand on his wand.
"He died two moonrises ago, killed by a wizard."
"So, two days ago? Well, it can't have been Tom then." Harry said off-handedly, only to have Dumbledore turn and stare at him intently.
"And why would you know I cannot have been him?"
"Did… did I not tell you?" Harry said, chuckling anxiously. "So… basically the night before the match I had a dream vision thing, Hypnokinesis he called it."
"Dream manipulation… That's a rare skill." Xenophilius mused, butting into their conversation.
"Yeah. Anyway, Tom called up and was like 'I don't have any reason to fight you, you don't have any reason to fight me, let's call a truce.' so I was like 'Eh, fair enough. I have better things to be doing anyway, but do something wrong and I will end you.' Apparently Tom had been trying to break into my dreams for over a year, but he couldn't. My guess is my mithrilium was stopping him, but he said he found a miracle that allowed him to make the connection."
"What were his exact words?" Dumbledore asked suddenly, losing all colour in his face.
"Something like 'The only reason we are talking now is because I accidentally discovered this miracle.' Although he's probably talking about the ritual he was in."
"What ritual." Xeno asked, as Dumbledore finished his firewhiskey in a single gulp and collapsed into his chair.
"Um, well as Tom was talking I split my consciousness, which was weird, and used Corvus the 2nd to follow the connection between our magic. I ended up in Stonehenge and Tom was sitting in the middle surrounded by a seven pointed star made up of triangles and a heptagon made out of blood."
"Very powerful magical symbol, although I imagine the blood would've had to come from an unwilling witch or wizard… I dread to think who it could've been." Xeno mused grimly, for once being deadly serious instead of his normal airy nature.
"Bertha Jorkins has been missing for a while now…" Dumbledore added darkly from his chair, Dobby hovering awkwardly beside him.
"She was seen in Albania Albus, I highly doubt Riddle would travel across Europe for a single witch. It's far more likely to be a witch or wizard who got too drunk at a pub and kidnapped by Riddle." Xeno pointed out.
"So bad Tom Riddle did not kill Mr. Frank Bryce?" Dobby asked impatiently, having silently moved across the room without Harry noticing.
"I consider it unlikely." Xeno said diplomatically "For a start, Riddle was on the wrong side of the country. Plus, he wouldn't have had time to set up the ritual and kill Frank, and a Muggle's blood wouldn't have the necessary power to complete such a ritual."
"Plus, Tom is terrified Dumbledore is looking for him, so he wouldn't do anything big like a well known magical." Harry pointed out.
"I don't suppose you know how Frank was murdered, Dobby?" Dumbledore asked, apparently recovered from his earlier shock.
"Dobby does not know, Master Dumbledore sir. He only knows that magic was involved. Dobby had stayed with Mr. Frank Bryce five moons ago, before Dobby finished his own abode. Dobby was using his magic to keep track of Mr. Frank, which is how he knows Mr. Frank died two moonrises ago."
"You've made your own home?" Xeno prompted curiously, drifting back into his airy persona.
At this, Dobby nodded eagerly, his ears flapping wildly. "Indeed I is sir! Dobby has been teaching himself how to, his magic works differently than he remembers. He has even learned to imbue his power into charms, that be keeping Dobby safe."
"Could I see one of these charms, Dobby?"
Dobby gladly handed over one of his necklaces to Harry, he ran it through his fingers as he Looked at it. It was the strangest magical signature he had ever seen, almost as if it had been written in another dialect of the same language.
"At its core, it looks like a notice-not, very similar to my own. It's tuned into basically everything, especially magicals and muggles. In theory, you could wear this and walk straight through Diagon Alley without being seen… Although, I don't understand why you would need this, considering I'm fairly sure you already have a near infinite supply of magic."
"How to explain… Using Harry Potter sir's magic is like cooking with bare hands. Dobby has all the magic he needs to cook the meal, but he cannot make the meal without getting hurt. Dobby's charms allow him to cook his meal and avoid getting hurt."
"Oh, I didn't know. I could try and make the magic easier to use if you want?" Harry offered.
"Dobby is used to the feeling, his dryad has been teaching Dobby how to handle the magic without being burned." The moment Dobby finished he slapped his hand over his mouth and with a muffled "Dobby has to go!" faded away. With his magesight Harry was able to see Dobby's yellow magic burst apart and get absorbed into the green nimbus of his green magic, then the green magic lost its consistency and sank into the ground.
"Huh, that's cool. Dobby seems apparates by merging his own magic with his 'Family' magic, aka my magic. Then he sends it into the ground and moves it to his location, where he then recreates his own magic from the family magic… Meaning that in a sense, whenever he apparates he is effectively vanishing his body and conjuring a new body."
"That is indeed interesting, I imagine that explains why he was able to penetrate the wards. Although, I consider the fact he let slip he has a dryad far more interesting" Dumbledore said, stroking his beard thoughtfully.
"I didn't think dryads were actual creatures." Harry admitted. He of course knew about dryads from his various books, both Muggle fiction and Magical non-fiction.
"They were thought to have been hunted to extinction some 200 years ago, mostly by wand makers. The wood from the tree of a dryad was supposed to make incredibly powerful staffs, such as 'The wand of Merlin', which was a staff fashioned from an ancient Yew dryad."
Dumbledore informed him, before reaching into his robes and withdrew the Elder Wand. "It is said the Wand of Destiny was made from the branch of an ancient elder dryad, where they used the death of the dryad in a ritual to combine the elder wood with the Thestral hair."
"So… did Dobby find a dryad… or did he somehow make a new dryad?" Harry asked slowly.
"That is an excellent question." Xeno said, rubbing his hands together eagerly. "But you know what this means? If the dryads are returning, then we may yet find a Crumple-Horned Snorkack!"
Things I think need explaining:
- This entire chapter takes place over one night, with the line break being only a few minutes.
- The reason Dumbledore collapsed into his chair is because he now strongly suspects Harry is a horcrux, previously he only knew Voldemort had made horcruxes.
- Dobby! Yeah, he's still a character that will influence the plot. Also, once he shows up you have all the main 'good side' characters. (Harry, Dumbledore, Nicolas, Dobby, Tonks and Luna, plus Xeno and Lockhart were there too)
- Dobby 2, his apparating is basically teleporting from most sci-fi, like Star Trek, while true apparating is basically wormhole travel. If your having an issue visualising it I suggest checking out 'The Trouble with Transporters' by CGP Grey on YouTube.