Chapter 20
"Harry." The look Sirius gave Harry was painfully pleading. "Is that true? Is Reggie still alive?"
"It's the only thing that makes sense," Harry offered his godfather with an uncertain smile. "But I have no idea what happened or where he is."
Sirius frowned heavily, his whole forehead creased as he glanced down in concentration. "I only ever heard from Andromeda that Reggie had been killed by Voldemort, and she'd heard it from some second cousin who was still occasionally in contact with the bad side of the family." Sirius' lips quivered while he swallowed hard. "And now there's no one left alive who might know what really happened."
Just as Harry thought that perhaps topping up Sirius' glass with some more fire-whiskey to help drink away his sorrows might be a good idea, Sirius suddenly sat up, his face a mask of rock-hard determination.
"There is someone left who would know. Kreacher!"
With a soft pop, a very old, very wrinkly house-elf appeared who looked at Sirius as if he was seeing a steaming pile of fresh erumpent dung. "No-good Master is calling Kreacher?"
"What happened to Reggie!" Sirius demanded while he leaned over to glare at the old house-elf. "You know something, Kreacher, I know you do. So tell me. That's an order!"
Much to everyone's surprise the cranky house-elf burst into loud, wailing tears, pulling hard on his own ears as he bent double at the waist. "Master Regulus is making Kreacher swear not to tell anyone."
Sirius' face softened a little, and when he spoke next his voice had lost all anger. "Please, Kreacher. If Reggie is still alive, I want to know. What happened to him?"
Kreacher inhaled several deep, hiccupping breaths and his voice had a distinct wet rattle to it when he spoke. "The Dark Lord needed a house-elf and Master Regulus volunteered Kreacher." In between sobs and wails the whole story came out, of how Voldemort had taken Kreacher with him to a cave, only to abandon him there. How Regulus had wanted to know everything that had happened there and eventually decided to visit the cave himself to collect the artifact Voldemort had hidden there. And how hundreds of inferi had swarmed the small island while Regulus ordered Kreacher to leave with the artifact.
"But Master Regulus only ordered Kreacher to leave, which Kreacher did," Kreacher said while rubbing his runny nose on the pillowcase he was wearing. "Master Regulus never said Kreacher couldn't be coming back, which Kreacher did to save his beloved Master."
"Wait…you saved Reggie? How?" Sirius asked breathlessly, sitting on the edge of his seat as he listened to the story.
"Master Regulus had been pulled into the water. Kreacher is pulling him out again and taking him home. But Master Regulus is not breathing, so Kreacher is using magic to get the water out of his lungs and to make his heart beat again."
"He died," Harry said. "And you resuscitated him."
"That explains why his status changed to deceased on the tapestry," Sirius said, understanding dawning on his face. "That's why his vault closed at Gringotts."
"Master Regulus is telling Kreacher not to be saying to anyone he is still being alive," Kreacher said while he was still sniffling. "Master Regulus is being determined to destroying the Dark Lord's artifact. He is taking it and going abroad."
"Do you know where he is?" Sirius asked eagerly.
Kreacher started crying again, but quieter this time. "Kreacher knows. Master Regulus is saying Kreacher cannot be contacting him, but Master Regulus is not saying Kreacher couldn't be following him."
"Where is he?" Sirius demanded.
"Master Regulus is hiding in the Black Forest in Germany. Master Regulus is not doing so well, but Kreacher cannot be helping him because Kreacher cannot be contacting him. Kreacher is leaving food for him and clothes, but Master Regulus is not using them when he finds them."
Sirius sat back in his seat. "Yeah, well, I'm your master now, Kreacher, and I'm ordering you to get Reggie and bring him here right away."
The look of sheer relief on the house-elf's face was almost indescribable and without saying anything he popped away.
"What is going on, that Regulus wouldn't be using clothes and food and is hiding in a forest?" Remus asked with a concerned frown.
Sirius pursed his lips in frustration. "Don't know, but we'll find out soon enough."
Meanwhile, Harry shared a knowing look with V, who had hopped onto his shoulder the moment Kreacher mentioned an artifact belonging to Voldemort. Harry was pretty sure Regulus had stumbled upon one of Voldemort's horcruxes. Harry hoped for Regulus' sake he hadn't found a way to destroy it, or Harry was pretty sure even he wouldn't be able to spare Regulus from Voldemort's wrath.
Kreacher returned with a struggling pile of rags. It took Harry a moment to realize there was a man hiding inside that dirty pile of rags. Something else he noticed immediately was the stench. Regulus smelled like he hadn't washed himself and his clothes for many, many years. Not to mention he also smelled as though he hadn't bothered removing his trousers when using the bathroom for a very long time.
Regulus had long, black hair and a long, black beard, but they looked nothing like Harry's. Regulus hair and beard were matted and visibly contained dirt and food and what appeared to be vomit.
Regulus himself was thin, even skeletal, with sunken eyes, dry, chapped lips and sores visible on his face, hands and bony arms.
Regulus releases a gurgling sound as he turned onto his back and something gold slipped from inside the rags he wore.
It was a golden locket with an ornate S, attached to a golden necklace that hung around Regulus' neck.
"Bad soul, bad soul," V chattered softly, glaring at the locket with a suspicious gaze.
"Oh fuck," Harry breathed the moment he realized what was going on. He extended his powers and what he found was something completely new, something he'd never seen before. The soul part from the horcrux had partially devoured Regulus' soul, like a parasite that had latched onto its host and was slowly dissolving him. But Regulus' own soul was strong and had obviously resisted a hostile takeover and had spent the last decade or more fighting back with all it had. But judging by Regulus' deplorable state, his strength to fight the horcrux was close to running out.
"Reggie," Sirius said, sounding utterly heartbroken as he sank to the floor beside his brother, right beside Kreacher who stood there crying quietly. "Reggie, what happened?" Regulus gurgled mindlessly, eyes fever-bright but fixed on nothing. Yet the second Sirius put a gentle hand on his shoulder, Regulus lashed out, arms swinging wildly.
"Stupefy," Harry said, aiming his hand at the struggling man, who immediately fell quiet.
"Harry, what?" Sirius's cheeks were wet with tears as he looked at Harry in confusion.
"I know what's going on, and I think I know how to fix him, but we don't have much time." Harry got up from his chair and gave both Sirius and Remus an urgent look. "You need to levitate him to my castle. I have a ritual room we need. And I need to get Voldemort."
"What?" Sirius sounded close to panic now. "What the fuck is happening?"
"No time," Harry said with finality. "Just trust me, please."
Sirius looked like he wanted to protest, but Remus put a hand on his shoulder and said, "Let's get him moved to Harry's castle."
Harry didn't wait around for anymore arguments, but rushed out the dining room and through the corridors and out of Black Manor. He ran all the way to the end of the apparition wards. He'd briefly considered sending his Patronus to tell Voldemort to get his behind to Magica in a hurry, but then he realized that the island had moved since last Voldemort visited it, was in fact still moving and wouldn't reach its final destination until the end of the week, so Voldemort had no way of knowing where to apparate to exactly. So that left Harry with no choice but to get Voldemort himself. Thankfully Voldemort had sent the coordinates to his mansion just that morning in preparation of the move of his home the next day.
The second Harry was clear of the apparition wards, he apparated to Voldemort's home, which turned out to be a lovely, muggle mansion up on a hill near a muggle town. Harry landed just outside the main gates, and he pounded his fist against them once he realized they were locked. When that did nothing, Harry sent his Patronus, which was a barok, naturally, and had been for many decades now, ever since he'd created Keket.
That worked and within a minute the gates opened and Harry rushed up the garden path towards the mansion. Voldemort stood waiting for him in the opened doorway, eyebrows raised in obvious question.
"We need your help," Harry breathed, sounding utterly out of breath as he put a hand on his thigh to keep his balance. "Regulus found one of your horcruxes and he's been partially possessed by it for more than a decade. He's in a very bad way, and only you can safely remove it from his soul."
Voldemort's expression, which had been politely interested, instantly turned to stone the second Harry mentioned horcruxes.
"For fuck's sake," Harry said, this close to losing his patience. "No one cares what you did with your soul. Now let's go."
Blinking, Voldemort considered Harry's statement for a moment before nodding and hurrying after Harry, shutting the door behind him with a bang.
"We will be having a conversation later about how you know my most closely guarded secret," Voldemort said in a sharp tone, but he came along willingly enough, and that was all Harry cared about. The moment they were able, Harry grabbed Voldemort's wrist and apparated them to his castle, where they found Remus, Sirius, Kreacher and a floating Regulus waiting for them.
Voldemort stopped dead in his tracks in shock at the sight of Regulus, but Harry yanked on his arm to keep going and he led everyone through the entrance hall of his castle, down the stone stairs to his cellars and into his largest ritual room, which had permanent runes inscribed in the floor, walls and ceiling.
"Put him in the centre of the room," Harry said with a quick gesture.
"And then leave us," Voldemort added. Sirius immediately started protesting, loudly, but Voldemort turned to glare at him. "If you want me to save your brother, Black, you will leave this room. We will call you when it's done."
"Come on," Remus said the moment they'd lowered Regulus to the floor. "They know what they're doing."
Sirius still looked utterly defiant, but he did let Remus pull him along and out of the room.
Harry walked around the room, touching a string of specific runes to activate them, creating a protective shield around Regulus soul. "The horcrux has partially devoured Reggie's soul. It will fight if I try to remove it, but if you do it, I believe it will come willingly because you are the original soul."
"How can you tell what the horcrux has done?" Voldemort asked, watching intently what specific runes Harry activated. Harry doubted Voldemort was familiar with most of them, since there were runes from Santika that he was using.
"I can see it," Harry said, stepping up to Regulus' still form.
"You can see souls," Voldemort said, more than a little dubiously.
"I'm a necromancer," Harry said simply, unconcerned with Voldemort learning that particular secret.
Voldemort snorted. "So am I, but I cannot see souls."
Harry turned to give Voldemort an amused smile. "No, you're not."
"I assure you, Harry," Voldemort said, sounding rather condescending. "I have been using necromancy since I was still a student at Hogwarts."
"Ah," Harry said, while he raised a finger at Voldemort. "You use necromancy, yes. But that doesn't make you a necromancer. For that to happen, you have to walk the deathlands, and you haven't. I can tell."
"I have to walk the what?" Voldemort glared at Harry as though he suspected Harry was playing one giant prank on him.
"The deathlands." Harry sighed. "Look, I'm happy to educate you on what it takes to become a necromancer later. I'll even take you on as my apprentice, if you want, but can we focus on Regulus right now and save his life? He doesn't have much longer."
Voldemort's whole face pinched tightly at the insulting thought of him having to apprentice for anything, especially at his age, but thankfully he did let it go for now and nodded at Harry. "Tell me what to do."
"Crouch beside Regulus and hold the locket in your hand," Harry said as he stood beside Regulus and held his hands out above the body so he could focus his power where needed. "I'm going to very slowly unravel the horcrux from Reggie's soul."
Voldemort did as requested, but the moment he took the locket in his hands, Harry saw the horcrux latch on tighter to Regulus' soul, as if trying to get away from Voldemort's main soul.
"Try to be a little more inviting to the horcrux," Harry said, which earned him an utterly frustrated look from Voldemort.
"And how am I supposed to do that?"
"Try wanting the soul piece back," Harry suggested, feeling a little out of depth since he'd never had to do anything like this before.
"But I don't want it back," Voldemort pointed out with a far too pleasant smile. "I created it for a reason."
Harry rolled his eyes and extended his powers to take a look at Voldemort's main soul piece. He hadn't done it before, not knowing if perhaps a dark wizard like Voldemort might notice him doing so. But apparently Voldemort didn't have much of a clue when it came to souls, so Harry felt safe doing so.
What he found was the soul-equivalent of a hellscape. Voldemort's soul was broken and jagged and crumbling. Harry actually inhaled a sharp gasp as he first saw the damage Voldemort had done to himself, and that was with a large piece of his soul he had apparently glued back to his original soul sometime in the last few years.
Souls had an amazing capacity for healing. Harry knew that if they could remove the horcrux safely, Regulus' damaged soul would heal over time, even without a ritual to help the process along. The same went for Sirius' dementor-gnawed soul.
But Voldemort's soul looked far, far worse than that. It looked much like Rylan's remains had done after Keket had been finished with him.
No wonder the horcrux didn't want to return. It probably no longer recognized Voldemort's soul as its original, and honestly, Harry couldn't blame it.
"V," Harry said as he glanced at the raven on his shoulder. "We need your help to convince the horcrux to let go."
V bobbed his head and flew down, landing on Regulus' chest. Voldemort gave V an utterly disgusted look, which Harry found rather hilarious, all things considered. But it was also rather sad and depressing, that this smart and powerful man was so out of touch with his own mangled soul that he didn't even recognize a piece of it when it was literally staring him in the face.
V pecked at the locket, feeling for the soul piece inside of it and gently pushing against it. That worked a bit, enough for Harry to focus his own powers on carefully peeling back to strands of the parasitic soul that were stuck to Reggie's soul.
It was strange to see such a phenomenon, and as he worked, Harry realized that this might have been him, this breathing skeleton who was more dead than alive because a parasitic soul was trying to take over his own. Harry had come to the conclusion a long time ago that the collars Karakas made them all wear to imprison their magic actually held back the powers of the horcrux in his head enough that it never could attempt to do to him what was happening to Regulus. And the Figures in the deathlands had ensured the horcrux could never attempt something like that in the future either by turning it into V.
"Keep going," Harry told his companion. The horcrux recognized V as part of itself, and was willing to then accept Voldemort as well, at V's insistence, and slowly but surely Harry was able to release Regulus' soul.
"Almost," Harry said, sweat beading on his forehead as he frowned in concentration. This was precision work, but it was also something new and exciting, so Harry enjoyed himself as he saved poor Regulus' life. It was obvious what had gone wrong. Regulus had meant well when he wanted to destroy the horcrux, but he hadn't counted on the horcrux having a mind of its own. Regulus had probably worn the horcrux as not to lose it while he searched for a way to permanently get rid of it, and the rest, as they say, was history.
"There!" Harry peeled back the last strand and released a deep sigh. "Take the locket, it's yours now."
Voldemort yanked the necklace off, snapping it, but Harry couldn't blame him. It would have been impossible to slide it off over Regulus' matted beard and hair.
"Oh, that doesn't look good," Harry said as he took in what was left of Regulus' soul. It looked far worse than Sirius' soul, as though whole chunks were missing from it.
"Yes, he needs a healer," Voldemort said as he got back up, completely misinterpreting Harry's comment. "I'll fetch one right away." And with that, Voldemort swept from the room, leaving the door open.
"Harry," Sirius said in an anxious voice as he stuck his head into the room. "How is he?"
"Come in," Harry said, walking around the room to activate more runes so he could help heal Regulus' soul. "Voldemort is fetching a healer. I've removed the parasite on his soul, and I'll now heal what I can of it."
"His soul?" Sirius asked as he crouched beside his brother and placed a hand on his chest, as if to check to see if Reggie was still breathing.
"Yep." Harry spread his arms out over Reggie again as the runes around the room activated and he gently poured his power into Regulus' soul to start the healing process. And since Sirius was there anyway and thoroughly distracted, Harry poured some of that power into his soul as well, to help him heal faster.
By the time Harry was done with the ritual, Voldemort stepped back through the door with a woman following him. She was a tall woman, looked to be in her fifties, and she was carrying a large, black suitcase.
"Healer Tabitha Calderon," the woman said by way of introduction as she took out her wand and waved it across Regulus' prone form. "Can we move the patient? Preferably to a bed?
"Yeah, we're done here." Harry nodded at the healer. "I've got guestrooms upstairs, we can put him in one of those."
Sirius nodded as he got up as well to give the Healer room to levitate Regulus. Healer Calderon's eyes widened briefly as she recognized Sirius, who should be dead, but to her credit she quickly ignored him and went to work moving her patient.
"Igor, bring a basin of water, soap and towels!" Harry yelled as they all moved across the entrance hall and up the main staircase. "And some of my pyjamas!"
"Eurgh!"
Harry quickly waved his wand around the second he stepped into the nearest guestroom to get rid of dust and other dirt that inevitably collected in rooms that were barely used. Then he peeled back the blankets on the bed with a quick charm so Healer Calderon could gently place Regulus on the mattress.
"We'll have to clean him first to assess his wounds," Healer Calderon said while she carefully cut off the rags with precise cutting charms before pulling them away from Regulus' body. What they found underneath was heart-breaking, and both Sirius and Kreacher burst into tears at seeing the state of Reggie's body.
Thin as a skeleton, bruised, covered in sores that oozed pus and there was one large, blackened wound on his thigh that looked, and smelled, like gangrene.
Healer Calderon also removed all of the matted hair on Regulus face and head, leaving an uneven layer of stubble behind and also revealing more sores.
Igor shuffled inside and placed all the requested items on a nearby side-table. Healer Calderon soaked the towels and used them to loosen some of the caked-on dirt around Reggie's groin before removing it all with a few careful charms. Then she started cleaning each individual wound with many different kind of potions from her suitcase before dressing them with salves and clean bandages.
"He'll need a liquid diet for the first week or so. Soups and yoghurt are fine. Many small portions many times a day. I'll give him potions for his dehydration, but you have to make sure he drinks plenty."
Regulus gurgled, his eyes rolling in their sockets when Healer Calderon rolled him onto his stomach so she could clean his back and dress the wounds there.
"I want to see him again tomorrow." Healer Calderon looked around the room with obvious worry written on her face. "He's in very bad shape. Someone needs to stay with him around the clock for now."
"I'll make you a voice-activated portkey to my castle," Harry offered.
"Kreacher will stay with Master Regulus."
"Yeah, me too," Sirius whispered as he wiped a handkerchief over his eyes while Remus had an arm around his shoulders in support.
"If we can get him through these first couple of days, he'll make a full recovery," Healer Calderon said before turning back to Regulus and spelling a whole collection of potions into his stomach.
After the healer left, Sirius insisted on staying with his brother throughout the night. Remus offered to get some sleep now, so he could take over and allow Sirius some rest in the morning.
"We can postpone moving my mansion," Voldemort offered as Harry walked him to the front doors.
"Nah," Harry said with a shake of his head. "There's nothing here to do for us but wait. I'd much rather keep busy."
"Very well," Voldemort said with an agreeable smile. "Then I will see you tomorrow morning."
"Yep. And thanks, for helping tonight," Harry said as they stepped out into the cold air.
Voldemort pulled the locket out of his pocket, running it between his fingers. "It does make me wonder why Regulus would have this in his possession."
Ah, yeah, Harry was going to try to nip any plans for retaliation from Voldemort in the bud if he could help it. "Whatever the reason," Harry said in his most convincing tone. "Regulus has been punished enough."
Voldemort glanced up at Harry with a knowing smile, as if he was more than aware what Harry was trying to do. "Perhaps." And without waiting for a reply, Voldemort apparated away.
Before heading to bed, Harry took a pot of tea and some ham and cheese sandwiches to Sirius and Kreacher, so they'd have something to help tide them over through the night. Regulus was sleeping fitfully, but his pale complexion already looked a bit better.
"I already asked Dilby to make a big pot of soup for Reggie," Sirius whispered as Harry put a hand on his shoulder to offer him some comfort. "Thanks, Harry, for whatever it was you did in that ritual room."
"It's probably best if you didn't know," Harry said honestly, remembering Voldemort's extreme reaction to finding out Harry knew about his horcruxes.
For a second, Sirius looked like he might argue but then he shrugged. "Seeing as how it involved Voldemort, I'm willing to remain in the dark. Maybe Reggie will tell me when he recovers, or maybe not."
"Goodnight," Harry offered and went in search of his own bed.
The next morning, after making sure Regulus was still alive and Sirius and Remus didn't need any assistance, Harry apparated to Voldemort's mansion where he found the man already waiting for him.
"I would like to observe what sort of magic you'll be using today," Voldemort said with an utterly polite smile and a keen glint in his eyes.
"Sure, you can tag along." Harry didn't mind having someone watching him work, especially not someone who was genuinely interested in his magic. "I'm going to start with placing the needed runes around your ward-line."
Voldemort's property was much smaller than Black Manor had been. The mansion itself was of a large enough size, but the grounds were downright tiny compared to the hundreds of acres that Sirius Manor sat on, so that made things much easier and quicker to move.
"Wat this sort of magic used often in Santika?" Voldemort asked as he followed Harry around the garden.
"Not a lot, no. It's more like a foundation of this magic existed, to move small structures, and I added to that, expanding the rituals until I was able to move large swaths of land." Harry looked at Voldemort with an expectant curve of his eyebrow. "Where do you want your mansion to sit? I can put you right beside the coast, to the north of my castle. That way you'll have a lovely view."
"That sounds acceptable," Voldemort said as Harry started opening a portal to the correct spot on Magica. "I've already spread the rumour in town that the property has been sold and the new owners are razing it to the ground. So none of the muggles will be surprised to see bare earth where the estate used to be."
"That's smart." Harry gestured for Voldemort to stand right beside him in front of the portal so Harry could fold up his property into itself. It didn't take more than a few minutes to step through the portal to Magica, position the estate and lower it to settle it into place.
"And there you go," Harry said with a huge grin as he closed the portal with a wave of his hand. "One mansion, as ordered."
"It can't be that simple," Voldemort said in a disbelieving tone as he stared at Harry with wide eyes. "I am starting to get rather jealous you were the one who got kidnapped and grew up in a world where this kind of magic exists."
Harry laughed, but it was a rather dark sound. "Growing up in Santika came at a price, though. I spent my first twelve years there as a slave."
If Voldemort was surprised to hear this, he didn't show it. Instead he gave an elegant shrug and said, "I grew up in a muggle orphanage. It can't have been much worse than that."
"Perhaps," Harry said agreeably, and he couldn't help but wonder what would have happened if a young Voldemort had ended up in Karakas' school. Interesting things would have happened, that was for certain.
Over the next few days, as Voldemort settled into his old mansion in a brand-new location, Harry spent his time between checking up on Sirius and Regulus, and helping Remus welcome more residents to Magica.
The first day, Regulus was still pretty much out of it, but Healer Calderon was optimistic enough, and by the second day Regulus was awake and aware but still very, very weak. He did manage a very small smile when he saw both Sirius and Kreacher sitting at his bedside, which caused Kreacher to burst into tears once again.
Harry also spent a few hours with his new construction specialists, teaching them how to build houses, and he mapped out locations for new streets, and then he let them have at it while he went to assist Remus as new residents were port-keying in.
Rachel, the young woman who Harry had hired as his natural development officer, was the kind of person who had endless passion for whatever project caught her fancy, and she visited several muggle second-hand bookstores and bought every book on ecology and biology and the natural world she could find and taught herself what she needed to know.
"We need more trees," Rachel told Harry when he went to meet with her. "Different kinds. Also, we need many more different species of plants. Ferns, shrubs, that sort of thing."
Harry handed her a large bag of gold. "Just bring me the receipts. There's more if you need it."
And Rachel had grinned in a way that Harry knew she'd be spending all that gold within the week and Magica's flora and fauna would start thriving soon enough.
Harry still conveniently forgot to summon his family, utterly unsure how he was going to explain to them that his new next-door neighbour was Lord Voldemort, murderer of his parents, with whom Harry was cultivating a very interesting friendship.
And then the day of the first task dawned and Voldemort stood on Harry's doorstep just as the sun peaked the horizon with a large bottle of Polyjuice potion in his hands, plus a small bag of different human hairs. "For Black, if he wants to join Lupin in watching you get eaten by a dragon."
"Thanks," Harry said with a grin. "You'll be there, too? Old man with grey beard?"
Voldemort nodded while his eyes crinkled in amusement. "Yes, I'll be sitting with Barty. I wouldn't miss this for anything."
"You don't even know what I'm planning to do," Harry was happy enough to point out. "I might not do anything at all."
"Oh, I'm sure you'll dazzle me." And without waiting for a reply, Voldemort turned on his heels and strolled back to his own home.
"That man," Harry said with a shake of his head. It was becoming evermore clear that Voldemort was the kind of person who insisted on always having the last word.
"Yes, of course I'll come," Sirius said when Harry showed him the bottle of Polyjuice, and then he gave his brother a concerned look. "But if you need me to stay, Reggie, I will."
Regulus had enough strength to roll his eyes and wave a trembling hand at Sirius, as if to shoo him out of the room.
"Yeah, all right," Sirius conceded, with a glance at Kreacher. "You won't be alone and I'll be back as soon as possible."
"All right. I'm off, because according to the schedule the champions should be there early." Harry couldn't help rolling his own eyes when Sirius started looking worried for him. "I'll be fine. See you later."
Harry had his staff and wand in his satchel, and that was all he needed. V sat on his shoulder, as usual, and Harry considered telling him he might not be allowed to participate with Harry, but he figured if that was the case the officials would point it out and V could stay in the spectator stands for the duration of the task.
Harry apparated to the gates of Hogwarts and walked towards the doors of the castle, where three very eager assistants lay in wait for him.
"Harry," Neville said while they all swarmed him. "We know what the task is!"
"Dragons," Harry said with an amused smile at seeing all three kids deflate before his eyes.
"Oh, no," Neville said with a quiet groan. "I spent an hour in some thorny bushes watching Hagrid awkwardly flirt with Madam Maxime for nothing."
Laughing, Harry patted Neville's shoulder in sympathy. "I really appreciate the effort, Neville. My thanks."
"Do you have a plan?" Hermione asked eagerly. Harry was sure if he told her 'no', she would have at least a dozen solutions ready to go for him.
"Yes, I do. Don't worry about me." Harry frowned when he saw Cedric Diggory leave the castle. "Worry about the other participants. They're much younger than me, and much less experienced."
"They'll be fine," Ron said with a dismissive wave of his hand, even though he looked a bit pale.
"We don't know that," Hermione insisted while she glared at Ron.
"I meant to also thank you for your latest research project. It was very helpful." Harry had received a whole stack of lists of what magical plants and animals the trio thought one should add to a new country, including a three-foot long essay from Hermione on why freed house-elves were important to add as well.
Harry had never even thought about house-elves being enslaved, and honestly, that didn't sit well with him considering his own history, but he also didn't have time to give that any thought at that moment. Another project for another day.
"I'd best be off." Harry waved at his assistants while they wished him good luck.
Harry and the other champions gathered in a tent, where they waited in silence until some of the officials came to offer them a bag to stick their hands into. Out came tiny dragons.
Harry, of course, picked the Hungarian Horntail, which he'd read were particularly aggressive even on their better days.
"Your bird is not allowed in the ring," Barty Crouch Sr pointed out while he glared at V.
"He'll fly to the stands before I start the task, promise," Harry said agreeably, and that seemed acceptable enough because they left him alone after that.
Harry listened to the other Champions compete with half an ear, just to make sure no one died or something, but they all came out alive and with the golden egg. Good for them. Harry still couldn't care less if he got the egg or not.
What Harry really wanted was a dragon. And thus he'd come up with a plan to kidnap the dragon, with the dragon's consent. Imagine having a dragon on your island as security against intruders! Harry thought that was an excellent plan.
Initially Harry had considered doing to the dragon what he'd done to Keket. Place the soul of a loved one inside the violent beast, so the beast became a friend instead of a foe. Harry was sure his second cousin Rigel, who'd died at 15 from a magical wasting disease would enjoy being a dragon for a while. But such magic was absolutely forbidden and while the tournament itself stated that all magic was allowed, the tournament did take place on British soil and Harry didn't want to test the laws of the land and find himself in prison.
So he figured that he could simply communicate with the dragon using Legilimency and transport it to Magica using a portal. There were no rules in the tournament rulebook that said the champions couldn't take home some souvenirs.
Finally, it was Harry's turn. Right as he stepped out of the tent, Harry nudged his shoulder up. "You've got to go, V. Find our friends in the stands."
V bobbed his head and peered at Harry for a moment. "Watch back." And with that, V opened his wings and took to the sky.
Harry swallowed, inhaled a deep breath, and walked inside the waiting arena. He kept himself low and immediately sought shelter behind a couple of large rocks so he could calmly observe the situation. This earned him some booing from the stands, but Harry ignored any and all noise coming from that direction. He simply wanted to get a good feel of the land before taking any action.
The dragon, which was fucking huge and looked possibly even more menacing than Keket, remained calm while she sat on her nest, looking around carefully for any threats.
Harry extended his powers and found that the dragon had a soul, though it was a rudimentary one. Still, that meant that the dragon was sentient and could be reasoned with, so Harry was confident in his plan to kidnap the dragon.
Slowly, Harry raised himself up, still a good distance away from the beast, and carefully made eye contact. The dragon rumbled and huffed in response, small whisps of smoke drifting out of her nostrils. Harry slowly, carefully connected his own mind to hers and what he found was a fiery inferno of fury.
Death the dragon shrieked in her own mind. Smell death. Danger.
Okay, so Harry surmised the dragon wasn't a fan of necromancers. That complicated things, but Harry was sure he still had a shot with her, so he pushed an image of Magica into her mind while he slowly stepped away from the rock, revealing himself.
No death! the dragon roared. Death bad! Never death!
And because Harry was focussing on her mind, he almost missed the dragon inhaling a deep breath to ready her greatest defence. Harry got a shield up in the nick of time, but it wasn't strong enough and a stream of fire hit him square in the face, burning his hair, skin and his beloved fur cloak.
"Fucking hell!" Harry yelled as he stumbled back, mind yanking away from the dragon's with a painful crack. On sheer instinct, Harry pushed his necromancy powers towards the threat before him, and shoved the soul right out of the dragon.
The dragon, which had been getting ready to let loose another stream of fire, fell to the rocky ground in a big thump that shook the whole arena, utterly dead.
"Well, crap," Harry breathed as he stared at the dead beast, his face hurting like a bitch while his hair and beard were smoking.
Everyone in the audience remained completely silent in the face of this unexpected turn of events, save for two individuals who couldn't contain their loud cackles.
V was one of them. The other one was an old man with a grey beard.