And here's the forty seventh chapter of "A Year Too Soon"! Enjoy!
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Urgazhi, yes this Moody is the real one. No, he won't be covering the Unforgiveables - at least not with Harry's year. And also yes, this indeed is the year during which the 'Prisoner of Azkaban' took place.
magitech, well, no one seems to find it odd that a cut - even if it might be a rather big one - that isn't poisoned or Cursed takes far longer to heal than it takes to completely regrow every damn bone in an arm. Wizards often are weird idiots in canon.
mizzrazz72, he is in no hurry to, though.
IRanOutOfIdeasForMyUsername, you're going to love/hate this chapter then.
* AN: This chapter has not been beta-read.
Disclaimer: I DO NOT own "Harry Potter" franchise. No profit is being made. Same goes for any books, video games, anime or manga I may or may not use for ideas.
"speaking"
"parseltongue"
'thinking'
written text
spells
A Year Too Soon
Chapter XLVII: Attacked
Daphne's prediction turned out to be wrong and Lucius Malfoy did actually show up at Hogwarts two days after the incident. He didn't go straight to Dumbledore with any demands, though, and talked to Draco for a bit first. It was, of course, a private conversation behind the closed doors, so no one knew what was said there, but when they returned to the common room, the younger Malfoy was silently fuming with embarrassment and indignation.
Apparently, he failed to convince his father to take action against the beast that had hurt his dignity. Or, perhaps, even that his version of that day's events was the true one. Either way, it looked like Lord Malfoy wasn't ready to risk his political capital over the hippogriff incident. He wasn't willing to let it go either, though. So he went to speak with Draco's 'reputable' classmates - namely, Parkinson, Crabbe and Goyle - to learn more about what had happened during the Care for Magical Creatures class.
And while Pansy was smart enough to come up with a convincing lie that painted the whole thing as Hagrid's fault, Vincent and Gregory were too straightforward and told exactly what happened during the lesson when Lord Malfoy asked them. That certainly gave the older man a pause: no matter how much Lucius loved his son and heir, there was a limit to how much he was willing to protect him from the result of his foolish actions. And insulting a hippogriff - especially when explicitly told not to - was foolish.
He also had no reason to think that Crabbe Jr. and Goyle Jr. had lied to him in order to protect Hagrid, which meant that the oaf was actually doing his job of the Care for Magical Creatures teacher right - to an extent, at least. But to what extent? While he'd rather a proper wizard taught the course, Lucius was quite fine with the Professor being of a lesser standing if they were competent. Even if they were a half-breed. And if the gamekeeper indeed was sufficiently competent, then Lord Malfoy saw no reason not to let him continue teaching about beasts.
Thus, he went to 'interview' other Slytherins about Hagrid's teaching. And before long, he approached Harry, Flora and Hestia while the three of them were sitting in the corner of the common room, doing their Transfiguration homework.
"Heir Potter, Misses Carrow, may I borrow some of your time?"
"Certainly, Lord Malfoy." The green-eyed wizard replied. "What can we help you with?"
"I'd like to know what you think about your new Care for Magical Creatures Professor." Lucius said.
"Well… Despite the few classes he had taught under Professor Kettleburn's supervision the previous year, he is still quite inexperienced." Harry said. "And perhaps a bit too eager to show creatures he thinks are interesting. That said, he does know a lot about Magical beasts and with some more experience under his belt, I think he might become a good teacher." The twins nodded in agreement.
"And what about that ridiculous book he had assigned? My son, Draco, couldn't find a way to open it and neither did any of his classmates from what I've heard."
"A tamer book would certainly be appreciated." Flora inserted.
"According to Hagrid - and I don't think the man ever lies - he did write a note on the book's handling to be sent along with Hogwarts letters. That it wasn't is most likely not his fault." Lord Malfoy nodded.
"I see…" He said thoughtfully. "And what do you think of your classes with Professor Hagrid?"
"We haven't had that many classes with him yet, but hippogriffs he showed us this week were pretty cool." Flora said. "And the classes he taught the previous year were rather good too." There was a rather long pause, before Lucius spoke:
"Very well. Thank you for your time, Heir Potter, Misses Carrow." And with that he departed towards the next student he hoped to 'interrogate' about Professor Hagrid.
In the end, Lord Malfoy's little investigation into the hippogriff incident ended without him pushing for either Hagrid or the beast itself to be punished. The whole thing was almost certainly caused by Draco's own stupidity and since the only thing hurt was the boy's pride, Lucius saw no reason to waste his political capital on soothing his son's ego.
~/ *** \~
Saturday morning saw Dumbledore threading a narrow path towards a certain cave not too far away from where the Wool's orphanage once stood. According to his research, this was the most likely location for Voldemort's final horcrux. Indeed, this rather inconspicuous cave held a special place in Tom Riddle's rotten heart as it was where he first began experimenting with his Magic.
Alas, the horcrux detection ward remained silent, meaning that the artifact wasn't actually there. Of course, the ward wasn't perfect and so Dumbledore couldn't discard the possibility of it being thwarted by whatever protections the Dark Lord had used to safeguard his soul anchor. Or that the cave was bigger than he thought and the horcrux was simply out of the detector's range... Either way, he could feel some subtle wards trying to turn him away. This cave was definitely meant to hide something.
Which meant he had to venture inside to make sure that the horcrux indeed wasn't there.
The cave appeared to be a single, non-branching tunnel a hundred or so feet long. At its end, though, there was a suspiciously flat wall that most definitely had a Magically-hidden door in it. And while he couldn't yet say what lay behind that door, he could feel that it was something big and full of powerful Magics. He could also sense that in order to gain passage, he'd need to shed some of his blood. Doing that would almost certainly also put some sort of a weakening Curse on him.
How very clever of Tom to make those seeking to destroy a piece of his soul weaken themselves in order to get any closer to it.
With a small sigh, Dumbledore cut the tip of his finger and drew a line in blood down the center of the wall. For a moment of two nothing happened. Then the blood began glowing and spreading, quickly drawing an archway in the stone. A couple of seconds later, the drawing finalized itself and a passage opened in the stone.
Hesitating for a moment because he was about to step right into the Dark Lord's trap, the old warlock walked down the newly-opened tunnel. It led him into a huge underground chamber with a sizable, nearly circular, inferi-infested lake occupying most of it. Near the center of the lake, there was a small island with a stone pedestal on which stood a pail filled with greenish liquid. And a goblet.
Whoever came to steal the horcrux would likely have to drink that nasty potion - which would definitely impair them even further - before having to fight a horde of undead. Clever.
Or it would be if the horcrux was actually there. Which it wasn't. The detection ward was not picking up any soul fragments in the area. And this time Dumbledore knew it was exactly because there were none of those in the cave.
Yet, this place was definitely designed to house a horcrux, and the Hogwarts Headmaster had only two possible explanations why it wasn't there. Either Voldemort didn't get a chance to put one there, or someone had come and stolen it.
He briefly considered the possibility of Tom moving his horcrux elsewhere himself, but quickly dismissed that idea. The cave didn't look compromised and Tom was too proud of his Magical accomplishments to change the hiding place of his soul anchor otherwise. Plus, had he actually removed his horcrux from this cave himself, it definitely wouldn't be in the state it was right now.
Either way, the horcrux wasn't there, possibly taken by a third party. That was a big problem.
Later that day, Dumbledore called for a meeting with Saul and Amelia to share his findings.
"You said you have some news for us, Albus." Madam Bones said as she stepped into the room their little team used for the meetings. Croaker was already there, sitting across the table from the Hogwarts Headmaster.
"Indeed." Dumbledore confirmed. "Earlier today I went to scout a possible horcrux location we had identified earlier. The cave by the orphanage Tom Riddle spent his childhood was definitely meant to house his horcrux. The bad news is, it isn't there."
"Are you certain that the cave wasn't a decoy meant to set us on a false trail? Or that the Dark Lord didn't remove his horcrux from the cave himself?" Amelia asked.
"That place likely wouldn't be in the state I found it in had Tom decided to relocate his horcrux." Dumbledore said. "And creating such deceptions isn't his usual modus operandi. We, of course, can't dismiss that possibility, but it is far more likely that he either never got a chance to put his horcrux there in the first place or that a third party had stolen it at some point in the past."
"If it is the latter, we have a big problem." Croaker spoke up. "We can't assume that these unknowns were successful - soul anchors are notoriously difficult to destroy, after all. And tracking them down to confirm the state of the horcrux might be a daunting task." Dumbledore nodded in agreement.
"I believe we should inspect other possible locations for the horcrux first, to make sure it's not there." He said. "And if it turns out that the cave was indeed where the soul anchor was supposed to be… I guess we will have to go inside and see if we can find any clues about its current location or about the person who took it."
"Let us hope that the horcrux is stored safe in one of the other possible locations you've determined, Albus." The Unspeakable said. "Tracking the Dark Lord's little trinkets was hard enough the first time around, even with Albus's knowledge of the man and his habits. I can't foresee tracking them again, now in possession of an unknown third party, to be much easier."
"And how many locations do you still need to check? Three more if I remember right." Amelia said.
"Four, though one of them is a very long shot." Dumbledore corrected her. "Either way, we should be able to scout them all out by next Sunday. And if it turns out that the cave is indeed the place where the horcrux was supposed to be… Well, I guess we will have to explore the cave and see if we can find any clues about the horcrux's current location there."
"I have no issues with this plan." Croaker said. Amelia nodded as well.
"Alright then." The Hogwarts Headmaster continued. "Let's hope we have some good news to share when we reconvene next Sunday."
~/ *** \~
As the end of September approached, the classes began in earnest and while learning new and useful Magics and other interesting things was great, the great amounts of homework the Professors kept assigning was no fun. The students still were expected to do it all, though, and so this afternoon Harry once again found himself sitting in 'his' corner of the Slytherin common room, poring over the textbook as he worked on yet another essay.
Flora and Hestia had promised that they would join him soon before disappearing towards the girls' dormitories to change out of their uniforms, but that was like forty minutes ago and they haven't shown up yet. Of course, the twins could've been delayed by something completely innocent, but for some reason Harry couldn't help but worry that something had happened to them.
"Move, Potter!" Suddenly and without a warning, a shout from Salazar's portrait cut over the hum of the common room. And without thinking, Harry moved. Which turned out to be a very good thing as just a moment later a nasty, rust-colored Curse burned an inch-wide hole through the armchair's backrest right where his left shoulder used to be.
Looking up, Harry immediately spotted his attackers. And much to his surprise, they turned out to be a pair of adults, a wizard and witch in their early thirties. They both had their wands drawn at him and their faces were twisted with hatred clearly directed at him - something that really confused the young Potter as he was sure he had never met either of them before. Why were they after his blood?
He didn't get to dwell further on that question because the witch fired another Curse at him, this time a purple one that cut several deep gashes into the armchair. A dark-red spell left the man's wand a moment later and Harry had to drop onto the floor to avoid it.
By now the students began recovering from the shock of witnessing outsiders attacking one of their own and the Slytherin common room descended into chaos. Most, especially the younger years, were screaming in fright or trying to make themselves invisible. A few brave upper years have drawn their wands, ready to jump to Harry's defense. And several more tried to make a break for the door to escape the common room and inform the Hogwarts' staff about the attack..
They failed as the man quickly summoned a wall of cursed fire to block the exit and prevent anyone from leaving the common room.
"Shut up and stay put!" The witch barked as she half-turned her head to look at the crowd while keeping her wand pointed at Harry. "This is a Sacred Twenty-Eight business. Try to interfere with it and I'll have you choking on your own traitorous blood once we're done teaching this upstart spawn of a mudblood whore a lesson." And to make sure no one doubted her words, she used an underpowered Blasting Curse to strike a sixth year student - one of those who had their wands out. The miniature explosion was quite painful but did little actual damage beyond destroying the front of his robes.
Meanwhile, forcing himself to leave the insults to his mother's honor unanswered, at least for now, the Potter scion used his attacker's momentary distraction to flip over the heavy wooden table to provide himself with some cover. It likely won't do much to protect him from spellfile but it was still better than nothing. His sudden movement, however, instantly drew the evil duo's attention back to him. Thankfully, they were still toying with him, so between his cover and his Protego shield, Harry was able to completely neutralize whatever Curse the man threw at him next.
"Look, dear brother, the little shit thinks that being able to wave around a stick makes him a real wizard. How disgusting." The witch said in an unpleasant, sickly-sweet voice.
"Indeed." The man agreed. "He needs to be taught a lesson about his place in the world." He then fired a powerful piercing Curse that punched right through the table as well as a shield Harry had hastily re-summoned. Thankfully for the green-eyed teen, the man couldn't see him in his cover and his aim was a bit off so the Curse only tore a hole in his clothes and gave him a small scratch.
It was still quite bad in a sense that it showed just how perilous Harry's situation was. He was facing two fully-trained and decently-powerful Magicals who really wanted to hurt him and it looked like there wasn't anything he could do to defend himself. Not even for long enough for help to arrive - there was no way Hogwarts' wards wouldn't inform the staff about this attack.
Then, a memory of his first DADA lesson with Professor Moody jumped into Harry's mind. In particular, that bit of 'wisdom' the retired Auror had shared with his students just before the bell rang: if avoiding a confrontation was impossible, the best way to avoid getting hurt was not giving your enemies a chance to hurt you. And while the green-eyed teen really doubted he could overpower his assailants, distracting them for a bit should be within his abilities.
Having made his decision, Harry raised his wand over the edge of the table and fired a Knockback Jinx in the general direction of the evil duo. He immediately followed it with an Aqua Eructo Charm, sending a powerful water jet at his attackers.
"The little bastard dares to attack us, his betters?!" The witch asked, bewildered. "This cannot stand! Confringo!" Her Blasting Curse hit the table a moment later, obliterating the half Harry was hiding behind and throwing him backwards a couple of feet while peppering him with wooden shrapnel.
Quickly recovering from this, the green-eyed youth rolled to avoid a nasty yellowish Curse from the unknown wizard before taking cover behind the remaining half of the table. Along the way, he also grabbed a pillow that had fallen off 'his' armchair at the beginning of this fight.
Taking a few moments to catch his breath as well as to pluck out a splinter out of his left hand, he tossed the pillow at the evil pair. Praying that it sufficiently distracted them, he popped from behind his cover a second later and fired a moderately-sized fireball at the witch.
His feint indeed worked, and his assailants sent their curses at the pillow, blowing it up and creating a small cloud of falling feathers. And then Harry's fireball ignited these feathers, turning the whole thing into one giant explosion of fire. It looked far scarier than it actually was, but it still forced the evil duo to cover their eyes as a wave of heat washed over them. And it singed their hair and robes a little.
"Now you've done it, Potter!" The man hissed angrily as he deflected a Knockback Jinx Harry tried to hit him with. "No more games!" Heeding this warning, Harry immediately summoned his strongest Shielding Charm in hopes of protecting himself against whatever Magic the other wizard was about to throw at him. "Confringo!" The Blasting Curse struck the shield with overwhelming might, destroying it in a blink of an eye and throwing Harry against the wall hard enough to make him see stars.
And before he could even start recovering from that, he got hit with a Body-Bind Curse. The witch lowered her wand slightly and unhurriedly walked up to him.
"Your time is up, scum." She said. "You're going to pay for befouling our dear nieces with your mudblood filth." So these two were the other Carrows twins, Alecto and Amycus, Harry thought. He remembered Flora and Hestia telling him about their Aunt and Uncle and how those two wouldn't be welcoming towards him. It looked like his girlfriends had severely understated just how much those two disliked - hated - him. Alecto must have somewhat guessed his thoughts by watching his eyes, because she then added with a very disturbing, sadistic grin. "And don't worry about little darlings. We've already taught them the lesson they wouldn't be forgetting soon. Their screams as they repented for sullying the Carrow name were delicious." She then summoned a whip made of what looked like liquid fire from the tip of her wand.
A moment later she struck Harry across the left side of his stomach with it. This searing-hot pain made the green-eyed wizard want to scream, it made him want to twist away from the fire whip. But the Body-Bind Curse didn't let him move a muscle.
"Did you know that the Body-Bind Curse only locks your body up and doesn't stop it from trying to move?" Alecto asked then, giving the young Potter a sadistic smile while striking him again. "Isn't it wonderful how that will make your body break itself as it tried to get away from pain? Too bad it makes you unable to scream." And she struck him again, giving him yet another dose of scorching torture.
"Let me help you, sis." Amycus spoke up as he leveled his wand at Harry. "Sanguis Ambustio!" A deep-red Curse struck the helpless teen right at the center of his chest. For a few moments nothing happened. Then his body - his blood - began heating up. Within moments it became uncomfortable before transcending into nigh-unbearable. And it showed no signs of stopping.
"Alright. My turn again." Alecto said gleefully as she raised her fire whip for the next strike.
But before she could do anything else, the Slytherin common room's door exploded inwards and a very determined Professor Moody forced his way inside, moving with swiftness one would expect from a man on a peg leg. He was followed a moment later by an angry Professor Snape.
"Carrows!" The retired Auror roared. "This time you won't escape Azkaban! I will personally drag your sorry asses to that dementor-infested pit and lock you up there for the rest of your wretched lives!" He then fired an extremely-overpowered Knockback Jinx, sending the male twin crashing into the wall so hard that he was instantly knocked out.
Alecto whirled around to face the new opponent, but before she could even cancel her fire whip, she got hit with a Body-Bind Curse courtesy of Professor Snape. A moment later Professor Moody had her wrapped up in Conjured chains.
Harry, however, barely saw any of that as his mind was slipping into darkness under the excruciating pain caused by his very blood being seemingly turned into red-hot lava. The last thing he saw before finally losing consciousness was his very worried Head of the House rushing towards him, his wand glowing with a soothing-blue light.
That's all, folks!
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