Chapter 48

The battle for the soul

Albus Dumbledore was finally understanding who Lord Black was. His attempts to outmanoeuvre the Black Paterfamilias as Harry's guardian had been doomed from the start. He had thought himself going up against a misinterpreted will and Pure Blood politics, not the rightful guardian of the boy. Sirius Black had fooled them all. How he had escaped death, how he evaded all the detection spells and truth revealing charms at the ministry, he couldn't say. But the fact of the matter was, the young man he had feared and mistrusted and then felt remorse for doing so, had done so and now he was effectively winning against Voldemort. Only the young Lord couldn't win, because he didn't know what Albus knew. The Diary, the Horcruxes, Harry Potter. Voldemort could not be killed.

'Remus.' he spoke softly but the werewolf startled all the same. It was clear from his awe struck face that Lupin knew nothing of Sirius being alive. A rift in an old friendship that was likely never to mend.

'I didn't know.'

'None of us did.' Albus spoke. 'But Sirius needs our help. He can't defeat Voldemort just yet.'

'Why?' asked Amelia who had been close enough to hear their conversation.

'Voldemort is tethered to life by the darkest magic. There are pieces of...there are artefacts that need to be destroyed before he can truly die.'

'Why didn't you say anything about this before?' asked Amelia

'It was just a theory until last year. And I had hoped I had more time to investigate and prepare.'

'Well, you could have let the DMLE in on it. We need to inform Black. Whatever he has planned won't work.' she turned towards the creatures close to the forest and beckoned them to her.

'Madam Bones, do you like Blacky's performance. He's always had a flare for the dramatic.' Roy snickered just as Voldemort's left arm was blasted away.

'This isn't a time to be complacent. Black can't kill Riddle.' Amelia said

'And why not? Do you want the guy to be put on trial? You forget, Black Land, Black law. He is entitled to deal with trespassers as he sees fit.'

'This isn't Black Land. And that's not the point.' Amelia grew annoyed, there was something that Black had done that was not legal, she knew it.

'Mr...' started Dumbledore

'Call me Roy, old man.'

'Roy, your friend doesn't know all the facts. Voldemort can't be killed just yet. He's made...anchors for himself, anchors that only young Harry can-'

'Let me stop you right there. Blacky knows about the Horcruxes. So you can relax.'

'How?'

'Well, he is the Black Lord, he could tell what the diary was. Then he had us searching. Granted we didn't find much until his brother helped us.'

'Regulus Black is alive?' Lupin asked astonished.

'Sadly no. But he did steal one creepy necklace from Tommy and Sirius found it. He hasn't found all of them, but he doesn't need to.'

'What do you mean?' asked Dumbledore

'Watch and learn. No one can escape the servants of Death.' Roy grinned.

As the werewolf said this the swords flew from their place as lines started forming between the spots where the swords and been impaled before.

'Judgement is upon you, cousin.' Sirius said turning to where Pan was still holding Bellatrix prisoner only for the elf to cut her throat and her blood to soak the newly formed lines. Silver light rose from the septagram, the swords had not fallen randomly. Sirius and Voldemort stood in its middle. And then the blades came down once again three of them impaling Riddle while the other four hovered in front of the Black Lord.

'Death Lord, you have summoned us.' came the eerie Voice of the first Charon that sounded a lot like Bellatrix.

'Death Lord, you may command us.' came the eerie voice of the second Charon.

'Four pieces of soul remain from the mangled soul behind you. Destroy them and drag the soul to the deepest circle of hell.'

'Death Lord, we obey.' came the eerie voice of the third Charon. And taking each a sword in their silver hands the four took off in the screams of the dying Voldemort.

Sirius relaxed as the four servants of the underworld departed. It would soon be over and Harry would be safe, he would have time to explain and allow-

'SIRIUS!' Adam's cry snapped him out of his almost peace. The vampires that had gathered under the shade of the forest were fighting against one of the Charon. Why? There couldn't be a Horcrux hidden with one of the Circus members. Then he saw Harry as Adam pulled his charge away from where the others were trying and failing at keeping Charon away.

Harry...Harry was a Horcrux?!

The silver dog that was his way to protect Harry against anything and everything manifested sensing the danger and he felt himself stagger and fall to one knee.

When the silver Grim manifested and took the blow for him, Harry saw his godfather staggered and collapsed. That was when he understood that the soul protection required great risk and sacrifice. Everything that the Grim took on itself affected his guardian.

Sirius pushed himself up and didn't waste any time. He hadn't been rendered unconscious and that was the only good thing about this. The spell that allowed him to split his soul and create the protection for Harry pulled him into Death's realm each time Padfoot manifested, only because he summoned Charon the land around them was temporarily turned into Death's realm. He could remain conscious but that didn't mean he would be fine long term. He chose to shelf those thoughts and pulled one of the swords out of Voldemort. With a speed spell he was in seconds between his godson and Charon, Padfoot dissolving as he arrived.

'STOP!' he shouted as the black blades clashed.

'A sentence was given, a sentence will be carried out.'

'And it will be. But I need a few minutes.'

'Death does not wait. The cursed one must be sent to the abyss as our Lord commanded.'

'I am your Lord, and I tell you to stop.' Sirius said angrily as he parried another attack.

'Our Lord's commands are absolute.'

Sirius cursed again as he felt his muscles tremble with each blow from the inhuman creature. He may be Lord of Death but he was still alive. He was at a disadvantage.

'Adam.' he parried and side stepped before attacking, keeping Charon busy. 'Get Harry to Heide, tell her to use Avalon and get Riddle's soul piece out of Harry.'

'But-' Harry's frightened eyes caught Sirius's and one small moment of hesitation was enough for Charon to land a blow in his shoulder. He grunted and blocked again, he needed to concentrate or he would die, and then there wouldn't be anything to stop it from getting to Harry.

Adam dragged Harry away but didn't need to go far. Heide had been hovering near by and had come to them.

Harry had felt sick seeing Bellatrix Lestrange being sacrificed. The other Death Eaters' deaths he could have filed into self defence, or laid at the feet of the Hell Hounds being mindless beasts, though Harry knew all too well his godfather was in control of everything, but what happened to Lestrange was deliberate, was cold blooded murder. And while Pan had been the one carrying it out, it was still Sirius that had killed, and there was no remorse. His guardian was as Black as his name.

He was lost in his thoughts and barely understood what was happening when Adam pulled him away abruptly and the other vampires tried to shield them. They were being attacked. Adam's scared cry for help had the Black Lord rushing to save them but by then more than ten Vampires had been killed by the creature, then Padfoot and the revelation of his protection seemed to freeze him in place.

Sirius' angry shouts turned desperate as he struggled against what he himself summoned. Then he was hurt and Harry was being dragged away only a few paces until the little fairy Heide arrived.

'Harry, I want you to focus on me. I need to get inside your head.' she said quickly. 'I need you to lower your mental shields.'

Metal shields, he had none of his own, he was still working on it with Ari-Sirius. Before he could think of what she meant Charon had managed to land another blow on his godfather.

'Look at me! Focus, I need you to focus and remove the shields. Harry, the only way to help Aries is to get the soul piece out.'

'I don't have mental shields.'

'You do, your mind is impenetrable. It has been ever since Halloween.'

'I...' he looked down at his hand and the ring appeared.

'Take it off, just for a few minutes.'

Take it off? But his father said never to take it off...Sirius as well...only Sirius wasn't who he thought he was. Could he trust him? Could he trust anyone? He looked at his godfather now visibly struggling at keeping Charon away from him but fighting more fiercely than ever.

There was laughter in the air.

Laughter? From where?

He looked around and saw Voldemort still struck down by two black swords looking at Sirius' struggles and laughing. He shuddered.

'Harry, please!' Heide cried out pulling him out of the horrors of the situation. He couldn't let Voldemort win. He pulled the ring off and felt pain. His scar was in so much pain that he collapsed. Heide cried out something but Harry couldn't understand. He wanted it to end, so much pain, it wasn't worth it…

Sirius was on his last string. His thigh had been pierced through with the black blade, his shoulder was hurting like a thousand needles and now the blow just below his ribcage. But he couldn't focus on the wounds. He had to focus on the fight. He needed to buy Heide as much time as possible.

Remus found himself running towards where Sirius was fighting. He sent a few spells at the creature but whatever it was, it was immune to magic. He looked at where Voldemort was laughing watching Sirius struggle. Sirius was using one of those Black swords. Maybe if he-

'You can't help.' the house elf, Pan Remus remembered the name, spoke from near him. The once elegant house-elf looked almost skeletal and there was blood trickling from his ears and in the corner of his mouth.

'Someone has to.'

'There is no one but the Black Lord himself who can fight against the servants of the Underworld. You would only be in the way.'

'So we're supposed to just look and do nothing?' Remus asked angrily.

'You can do what he won't be able to do after today.' Remus looked startled. 'Take care of the young master.'

Pan looked towards the forest edge where Harry had collapsed and the fae was doing whatever it was she was doing to save him.

Harry.

His feet took him to his old friend's son. He knelt down and positioned Harry's head in his lap, taking out a clean handkerchief and wiping the teen's brow as Heide worked her magic. He didn't look up from the face of his student, too afraid to see the moment when Sirius would be killed. Each sound of blades clashing was like a drum inside his head, would it be the last? Would the next cry of pain or grunt of fatigue be the last sound his friend ever made? It felt like an eternity until Heide finally pulled out a silver tainted dark strand and linked it to a rock that was near by.

Adam took it and threw it far away.

'SIRIUS IT IS DONE!' the vampire cried out.

It was only then that Remus dared look up from a now tranquil Harry only to see his once friend dodge out of the way of the Charon that chased the soul ridden rock and within seconds returned to where Riddle was still laughing and joined the other three silver shades that had completed their tasks and dragged Tom Malvolo Riddle into a prison of torture for all eternity. It was over and he felt Harry stirring awake.

There was a weightlessness that Harry had never remembered enjoying before, as if his entire life had been under pressure and now the pressure was finally gone. He blinked and saw Heide's tear stained face and Lupin's worried one and then it came back to him, where he was, what was happening. He pushed himself in a sitting position aided by his professor and searched for his godfather. He didn't have to search for long. The man was still standing and there was no sign of either Charon or Voldemort. It was finally over.

As if knowing he was looking at him, Sirius turned and their eyes met. Old, near ancient, silver eyes, Harry had never seen them look so tired before. He grew concerned but didn't have time to voice it when the silver dog appeared in front of him and Harry felt something tickling his right wrist. He looked down and saw a silver chain crumbling to dust. That wasn't right. He looked up only to see Sirius had fallen to his knees as the Grim left Harry's side and returned to his master.

He didn't know how he got up or how he stumbled his way to his godfather. All he knew was that his throat was hoarse but he couldn't hear his own voice. The grim looked at him as he settled his guardian's head gently in his lap and Padfoot settled on the slowing chest of the older man.

Albus Dumbledore had never been so scared in his life. What that foolish man had done was to place everyone in danger more mortal than anything Voldemort could have concocted. Opening a gate to the Underworld shouldn't have been possible to anyone, but Sirius Black was not anyone and Dumbledore was left in awe at what power could be wielded so terribly, so terrifyingly. And for what? His thoughts of doom turned however to sadness when the man, who was not really a man but so much more than that, and yet still human, had sealed the gate shut and rid the world and his godson of Voldemort. The lone victor stood tall on the field of battle, the silence in the wake of the fighting was somewhat soothing. Albus saw the Black Lord turn to the boy that started it all, and his heart started beating slower. All this was nothing but a man's love for his godson. It didn't justify the extreme means that Sirius had gone to to ensure Harry's protection but it had all been done for love and he had no doubt that the price Sirius would pay was a high one. Just as his thoughts contemplated that, the man finally collapsed from the wounds he had suffered.

They had all approached tentatively as Harry's desperate run to his godfather had finally broken the silence and the shock that had kept them from moving.

'Please, please, don't leave me!' Harry cried as he held onto a bloodied hand. His eyes were staring into the Grim's as the man in his lap had been unresponsive. The huge silver dog was beginning to fade and Harry's pleas grew more frantic. 'Help him, save him!' his eyes searched for Adam, for Heide, for Pan, for Lupin or anyone, anyone who could help.

'There is no way to save him, Harry.' Dumbledore said as he approached aided by Flitwick. 'He will finally get some rest.'

Harry started shaking. No, this was not right. He had so much to say to him, Sirius couldn't die, not now, not when Harry finally understood.

'No! You can't leave me! Heide, can you heal him?' Harry asked looking at the fae. She was crying as she shook her head. 'Then get someone, anyone, who can!'

'Harry, he can't be saved.' Dumbledore said as gently as he could.

'Shut up! He can, I'm sure he can, he saved me from impossible odds. He, he can-'

'You must let him pass on. His soul is being pieced together, he is in pain, but he will have a peaceful afterlife.' Explained Heide

'His soul…but if he doesn't get pieced together, he could still live.' Looking at the fading Grim

'Harry, a half-life is not a life, it is his time.' Dumbledore said finally understanding the extreme Sirius Black had went to in ensuring Harry's Patronus like protection.

Harry turned towards Dumbledore 'How would you know? You've lived a hundred years, he's a wizard, he could live just as many. This is not fair!' he said spitefully his eyes were clouded by tears as he stroked Sirius's black hair.

'I…he…I have so much to say to him. To make up for lost time. I need him. I never-' he stopped when he felt an ice cold hand take his and looked down to see Sirius staring up at him, tears in his eyes. He took that hand and kissed it.

'Don't go. Please.'

There was still so much hidden in those grey eyes. Harry saw so much there, so much love, so much pride. But they were closing, they were closing fast just as the grim faded completely and the older hand fell limp in his.

'DON'T DIE!'

A/N: And I am going to be Crucio-ed for this cliffhanger but it has been planned for a long time and I am evil :) I promise I'll try not to leave you hanging if I get snow next week :P Also remember that if you wish bad things to happen to the author you won't get the next chapter, so no curses please.

Thank you all for your reviews. If any of you are thinking Harry was a bit too quick to dismiss Sirius's actions, it's just because the man is dying. There will be a time when the teen will analyse everything his guardian did and what he will decide to do is anyone's guess. Do you think Sirius was justified?

About the fact that Sirius didn't know Harry was a Horcrux: Harry didn't have any fit or pain or nightmare to indicate his connection to Voldemort. Hogwarts medical reports wouldn't have shown anything either, since it is such an obscure piece of magic that not everyone can recognize. While Sirius, having created his protection of Harry similarly, would have been able to identify the scar as a Horcrux, he had no reason to make a thorough investigation of it. The only clue he knew of was Parcelmouth, but that gift he attributed to the Peverell family, as both Slytherin and Harry share a common ancestor, very far back. Also, Heide didn't delve too deep in Harry's mind when she helped with his nightmares after the Chamber since the Fae didn't want to invade his privacy. Subsequently the Potter heir ring hid Harry's connection with Voldemort since Harry didn't pick up that Voldy was getting stronger.

As usual, stay happy, healthy and review if you feel like it :)