Harry Potter is owned by JK Rowling. The members of the Secret Sealing Club are the creations of ZUN.

Author's note: I am speed

Chapter 19 – Solar Sect of Mystic Wisdom

At long last, he had finally found it.

The Lost Diadem of Ravenclaw, its location charmed out of the ghost of Helena Ravenclaw – a foolish girl in her life, and a bitter wraith in her death.

How anyone thought she belonged in the House of the wise astounded him. An artefact said to enhance one's intelligence, and she would stash it away in a random hollow in Albania? She should have put it on, and never taken it off, and plotted a way out of her situation.

In fact, he himself was having second thoughts about making the diadem a Horcrux, not if it would affect the artefact's own magic.

But the pattern must be complete. The symbolism…there was deeper magic behind it all, ritual more significant than just the mere properties of the number seven.

"Lacero." The dark Cutting Curse cleaved through the dead flesh of the tree, and its top half collapsed.

Sitting on the stump was a silver item that looked like a crown or tiara, old but untarnished. He reached out a hand, and put it on.

"You are too far gone, Tom Riddle." His own conscience spoke to him, the voice of sanity, the best course of action as he knew it. "Your soul is far too corrupt, and you risk descending into monstrosity should you go any further. It may be wiser for you to try remorse, and seek out your goals in another–"

With a cry of rage that could not be encapsulated in any curse, he cast the tiara off his head and threw it onto the forest floor.

Useless! ALL USELESS!

~~[q]~~

Strictly speaking, Ravenclaw's Diadem did not give one wisdom. If there ever was any magic to truly make one smarter, the inventor of such a magic would have recursively applied to themselves and achieved godhood in a single instant.

What it bestowed was insight. It connects ideas previously disparate, gathered individual points into constellations of greater meaning.

In the instant Harry put on the Lost Diadem of Ravenclaw, he saw the night sky.

A thousand fragments of memory, from his own, stolen from Voldemort, roused from the depths of his unconscious – they came together, and Harry grasped the scheme of things entire.

Unfortunately, the Diadem was also a Horcrux, which Voldemort himself had cursed after the revelation it brought upon him. In his curse and the shorn-off portion of his soul he poured his rage, his malice, and his lamentation.

All of which Harry now channelled.

~~[q]~~

"A possible solution." Harry spoke. "To all of our problems. But first…"

All that know of our weakness must be cleansed.

"Luciferion Ignis." A torpedo of Devil's Fire shot forwards, right at Luna–

–who immediately dodged out of the way and raised the alarm. "Harry's possessed! Get that thing off him!"

Neville reacted first. "Stupefy!"

The red spell shot forward, only to be swatted aside with a causal wave of Harry's wand. "Are you stupid, Longbottom? Really, a Stunning Spell–"

"Stupefy! Stupefy! Run, Luna!"

It was perhaps a good thing that pragmatism in combat was one of the Club philosophies. "A real fight is not a duel," Harry had lectured. "there's no rules when you're running for your life."

Back in the room, Harry sidestepped the two spells easily, and began slowly walking forth.

"Sommium! Stupefy! Harry, wake up!"

Luna shot from the left, and Harry once again dodged, a casual motion as if taking a walk in the park. "I'm already awake, Luna. In fact, I've never been more–"

"Stupefy! Reducto! Stupefy!" Neville peeked from cover and shot. One Stunner was batted away, and the other avoided, but the Reductor Curse blew up the ground at Harry's feet, sending up a plume of smoke.

"It appears that the both of you lack common courtesy," Harry drawled, and continued to advance.

Merlin's pants, I wonder if this was what Harry felt when he was fighting Voldemort, Neville thought.

Meanwhile, Hestia was trying to remain as inconspicuous as possible. "Inflammare. Inflammare." The ropes binding her began to smoulder. Finally, with a wrench, she broke free.

But not before attracting Harry's attention. "Hestia Carrow."

"Harry fucking Potter." Hestia spat. "You can go burn in hell."

"Hell?" Harry laughed out loud. "I've been there ever since I was born–" he sidestepped another Stunner, from either Neville or Luna. "I'm trying to talk here. Expulso. Expulso. Expulso."

Large explosions blew up the mounds to Harry's side, and he turned to face Hestia again. "As I was saying, I've been there since I was born. But things are about to change. After all, I am the Chosen One."

"Really, now." Hestia's eyes darted around, looking for Harry's friends. She was tired, and willing to bet that Potter was tired as well. Something in Potter's face told her that he wasn't going to let her leave the room alive.

Keep him talking, buy some time for Longbottom and the other one to recover…

"Yes, really. But look at yourself, stalling. What for, I wonder?"

Well, I could run for it, but he's between me and the door. Besides, the bastard has dirt on me, and would probably twist it into something more.

…

These three idiots better owe me a Life Debt when all this is over. Hestia concluded.

"What do you think, Potter?" she snarled. "Relashio!" She brought her hands up, wandlessly blew sparks into the possessed boy's face. At the moment of his flinch, she turned tail and ran for cover.

"Longbottom! He has my wand! Diffindo his pockets!"

"Diffindo! / Diffindo!" Two answering cries came, and Harry snarled in response.

"You want your wand back? Take it!" He threw it into the air, where it was followed by– "Firaga!"

You're a piece of work, aren't you? Hestia reflexively reached out for her wand, then aborted the action as the fires came. If you set my wand on fire, I'll skin you alive, Potter.

"Relashio! Relashio!" It was all she could do wandlessly, send out sparks, and as Neville reappeared and re-engaged Harry, she scrambled again for her wand–

–which was whipped out of reach as her fingers began to close around it.

"Did you really think I'd make it so easy?" Harry taunted. One hand suspended the wand in the air, while the other cast and parried, held off Longbottom's assault.

Where was the Lovegood girl? Did she run for help?

Her question was immediately answered by a soft voice to her right. "Telum Glacis," Luna cast, a hexagram traced in the air.

A spear of ice in piercing colors of white and blue shot forth, and Harry turned, Summoned an old cauldron to block–

–dropping Hestia's suspended wand, which she immediately grabbed. "Firaga!"

Furniture moved into her way to block the fire spell.

Meanwhile, Neville changed tack. "Aguamenti!"

A jet of water blasted forth, and Harry dodged with an annoyed hiss. This was followed up with a cry of "Glacialis!" before returning to a barrage of Stupefys.

The wet puddles flash-froze to ice. Harry took a step back, stumbled, but did not lose his footing–

Luna caught on. "Aguamenti! Flipendo!"

Ice slicked over with freshly conjured water. Harry dodged the Trip Jinx, stumbled again, gave another hiss of frustration. "Bombarda!" The pressure-based explosion missed Neville directly, but still blasted him to the side.

Hestia advanced, leaped forward over burning wood, her wand held aloft, her face furious, not just at the duel, but also at what she had been forced to do. "Surtr Laevaetain!"

The sword of fire descended on Harry, and he turned, grabbed it with his bare left hand–

Hestia snarled, closed the distance between them, and headbutted Harry on the nose. The both of them toppled to the ground–

–and Neville darted in, snatched the diadem and tossed it into the distance.

"Stupefy." Luna delivered the coup de grâce.

For a while, there was silence, punctured only by the sounds of heavy breathing, and the drip, drip, drip of water falling from somewhere to the floor.

Hestia lay on her back, staring up at the high ceiling, wand held loosely in her hand.

Merlin and Morgana damn it all. Well, whatever happens, happens. And if Flora gets in trouble, I'll just, I don't know, let loose Fiendfyre in the cottage and run for it. I don't really care at this point–wait, what are those two doing?

She sat up at the commotion, only to see Luna Lovegood tearing at Harry Potter's robes.

You cannot be serious. She's into that kind of thing?

More unsavoury thoughts came to a halt as the girl extracted some kind of pendant from around Potter's neck, which she then flung aside with an unusual vehemence.

"Reducto!" The spell didn't destroy the object, not fully, but it cracked, sending out a cloud of glittering dust. "Reducto!" She shouted again, and missed. The third Reducto only sent it spinning towards a sideways cabinet, and, as she looked ready to cast a spell more destructive in nature, Hestia made a decision to walk over and lay a hand on her shoulder.

"Paonazzo Tuono." A bolt of purple lightning-fire crashed down on the object, with an accompanying thunderclap.

There was a flash of blue, and silence descended on the room once more.

"Carrow." Longbottom spoke. "What happens now?"

"Morgana knows." Hestia replied. "Before you two attack me, however, my oath: I won't lay my wand on you for the next two hours."

Neville nodded. "Fine by me. Luna–"

"Girl's not in a state to talk, I assume." Hestia said gruffly. "Oh, and everything that you heard? You better forget it all, or else."

"I'm fine," Luna spoke up suddenly, then stood. "We should go to Professor Merry. Now."

"And if he's still possessed?" Neville spoke up.

"I don't think he is." Luna said, "but you both might want to get out your wands. Rennervate."

"Luna, you–" Neville spoke, but Hestia held up a hand. "There will be time for that later." she spoke. Her tone was clipped, but proper.

Wonder how many times she and Flora switched places. Neville mused.

Harry began to stir, and the two (or one and half) Gardeners raised their wands. Somehow, Luna had teleported into a kneeling position, and was now cradling Harry's head and chest in her hands. "Harry?"

"Luna." Harry groggily spoke. "Shit. The Horcrux…"

"The what?" Neville spoke, while Hestia closed her eyes, being the only one to recognise the Dark magic involved.

"It's Ravenclaw's Diadem," Harry muttered, and tried to sit up. "It needs to be…I know the rest. They need to be…I…"

"Calm down, Harry Potter." Luna continued supporting him, and spoke gently, slowly. "One thing at a time."

"Ravenclaw's diadem, that thing just now," all four of them looked in the direction where Neville tossed the object, "is a Horcrux. It contains a piece of Voldemort's soul, and as long as it's not destroyed, Voldemort cannot die."

"So we need to destroy that." Neville jerked his thumb at the tiara, lying several feet away. "And?"

"It's not that easy. There's a lot of protections on it, and having the soul be bound to an object makes it nearly unbreakable…wait, I need to write this down before I forget." Harry ruffled in his robes, extracted a notebook and a Muggle pen, and began to scribble. "Cup…Gringotts. Locket…lake. diadem…diary…ring…snake…and…"

His hand began to tremble, and Luna gently grasped it. "I said slow down, Harry."

"Can't. Before I forget…need to write it down. Prophecy…power to vanquish, born as seventh month dies…" His hand began to shake again, and this time he closed the book. "That should be all of it. Now we deal with the other problem." His wand flew into action. "Stupefy!"

Hestia Carrow crumpled over, surprise on her face.

"Harry–"

"She attacked me, Nev." Harry slowly got to his feet. I was watching her just now. She knows what a Horcrux is. A piece of the Dark Lord's soul, Neville. Any follower that brought it to him would alert Voldemort that we were hunting him, and he would change or strengthen their existing protections which I now know, and then Voldemort would remain basically unkillable–"

"We get it, Harry." Neville sighed.

"I'll move the body." Harry said. "No–you can move the body. I'll handle the Horcrux. And Luna, make sure we don't get caught."

"Harry, you quite literally were just possessed by that thing a few minutes ago." Luna pointed out.

"And now I know how it works." Harry said. Looking around the room, he Summoned an old jewellery box, just big enough. He then carefully levitated the tiara over to it, and slammed the lid shut.

"Neville, you mind sealing this. Just a normal Colloportus would do."

Neville acquiesced, and Harry tucked the box into his robes. "Just to prevent temptation. Now, let's get going."

"To where, Harry?"

"To–" Harry stopped.

"Let's go to Professor Merry's office, Harry." Luna said.

"But she–"

"Just shut up and listen to me, Harry." Luna said.

"Okay."

Neville gave a faint smile, and the three of them (well, four, to be accurate) began to leave.

~~[q]~~

"I do hope all of you have a good explanation for all this." Renko said sternly, closing the door of the office. Hestia had been revived, and, while she looked angry, could only glower at them in the presence of a Professor.

"Well, yes." Harry outlined the events of the night, beginning from Hestia's attack. He omitted all references to horcruxes, instead referring to the diadem as a cursed object. He extracted the box from his robes, and set it down on the table.

Then Luna filled in the blanks of what happened when he had been possessed. She described how they fought a possessed Harry, and how she destroyed the–

"You destroyed the Time-Turner?" Harry asked. He wasn't quite sure what to feel.

"Yes." Luna glared at him. "It…it's..."

"What I think Miss Lovegood is trying to say is that temporal magics are highly dangerous, both to ourselves and to existence." Renko's voice was sharp, cutting. "I know not of any cautionary tales told in Britain, but the tale of Urashima Tarou and the tragedy of Akemi Homura are both well-known to Japanese magicians. You do not mess with time. You do not mess with causality."

Prophecy. The word popped into Harry's mind. The moment of transcendent clarity provided by Ravenclaw's diadem had long faded, and even now the image of everything was beginning to lose resolution, but main tenets remained. Born as the seventh month dies…

The kettle whistled then, and Renko poured everyone a cup of tea (as was custom by now). "The question remains," she said, "of what I should do with all of you. Miss Carrow is correct on the fact that you would both likely be expelled were this to be taken to higher authorities–"

Everyone quietly sipped and reflected on their actions.

"–even if she was the one that instigated the attack." Renko's glare turned to Hestia, and the Sixth-Year seemed to wilt slightly in her seat. "Not that I don't understand why you did it, but actions are actions."

"And you, Mr Potter." Harry jumped slightly as Renko focused her ire on him. "Using a potentially dangerous magical artefact, and playing with Time. Again, I do understand your actions, however…" she took a step closer to him, "you might want to consider what might have happened if your possessed self had been smart enough to use your Time-Turner."

And escape into the past and wreaked all manner of destruction wearing his face. Harry swallowed.

"The both of you can count yourself ridiculously lucky." Renko took a long drink from her cup, then set it down on the table. Now, stay here quietly while I wake Merry."

"No need." Merry had opened the door connected to the adjacent room. Her face was wan, but her expression was more cheerful than not. "All of you will simply sign this," she said, brandishing a Secrecy Scroll, "after carefully looking at the wording, of course. Mr Potter's punishment is detention and an essay, the time and topic of which is to be decided at a later date. Miss Carrow's punishment is also an essay, two feet on Divination–"

"Professor, I'm not in Divination." Hestia pointed out, caught off-balance.

"You're not? Three feet on any topic of your choice, then." Merry waved a hand.

"Wasn't it two feet?"

"It's now three and a half feet. Write about something you're passionate about, Miss Carrow. For you, I suggest fire magic, judging by Mr Potter's account of your duel. And please do put some care into it – properly articulating your thoughts is a valuable skill. You can only go so far with instinct and natural affinity, after all."

Hestia nodded dumbly.

Merry's gaze swept over the room, where she noted that Neville was having trouble signing with his left hand, his wand still clutched firmly in his right. "Mr Longbottom."

"Yes?" Neville jumped. "Err, I mean–"

"Locked fingers, I see. Try to open your hand."

Neville tried, but his fingers would not move.

"Okay. We'll do this the difficult way. Tell me if you feel pain." Slowly, Merry peeled back Neville's fingers, one by one, until his palm was fully open. Embedded in his hand were the remains of his wand – two pieces corresponding to halves, and many other smaller splinters of wood where the wand had messily snapped in two.

"Right, you'll need to go to the Hospital Wing for this. I don't want to accidentally reduce your hand to ashes. I do hope you're not too attached to the wand, though."

"It was my father's." Neville said in a flat voice. "Gran's going to be pissed."

"And now you have the chance to get a wand that fits you." Merry nodded. "Do let me know if you need an official recommendation from a figure of authority."

"Er, yes. Thank you."

As Merry had been bustling around, Harry gave a wry smile, noting that Renko had poured herself a fresh cup of tea, which she immediately downed in a single draught.

"Now, has everybody signed the scroll?"

The wording of the scroll was vague: just general promises to not talk about this night, nor about Hestia's true feelings with regards to her family, Laden with many loopholes to escape consequence, Harry got the feeling that it was more symbolic than not, and that the Professors really just wanted this out of the way with minimal fuss.

Not that he disagreed.

The four of them signed, swept away by the whirlwind that was Merry.

Symbolism…

"Now, Professor Usami will escort Mr Longbottom to the Hospital Wing. Miraculously, since it is not yet curfew, the rest of you will return to your dorms. Mr Potter, leave the cursed object here. You can come back tomorrow after dinner to pick it up, whereupon we will have a lengthy discussion regarding your actions."

Harry winced.

"A long, overdue discussion, yes." Merry's voice was gentler, and Harry let out a breath he hadn't realized he had been holding.

"Professor, that item…it'll tempt you, whisper to you," Harry spoke up.

"Of that I have no doubt. Have you noticed that I haven't even asked you what it is?" Merry waved a hand. "Off to bed, all of you. And once again, consider yourselves lucky that your injuries are limited to a few cuts and bruises, along with Mr Longbottom's hand."

She shooed them out. But before Neville and Renko left–

"Sorry about the hand, Nev." Harry immediately blurted out.

"Least I'll get a new wand now. See you in the morning, Harry." Neville gestured with his uninjured hand and left.

Wait, hadn't he been the one to levitate Hestia's body the whole way just now? How could he…Harry filed the information away for later consideration.

And then there were three. A frosty, awkward silence came upon them.

"Well," Hestia said. "You. Are still a bastard. But I think you've earned my respect. I'll see you again." She stalked off and left.

Harry wisely decided not to point out that the whole incident had been started by her attacking him. He turned to the other girl.

"Luna–"

–who promptly delivered a right cross to his cheek, causing him to stumble backwards against the wall, which he reached out to for support.

"I was worried about you, Harry. Neville told me you were close to going off the deep end–"

"He did?"

"I all but forced him to. Not that it wasn't obvious at the end." Luna's was breathing heavily, recovering from the first proper punch she had ever thrown. "That's for making me worry, and for not confiding in me."

Just you, huh?

"As for the rest…" Luna looked as if she was about to draw closer, but there was a cough from the direction of the Divination Professor's office, the doorway at which said professor was now standing with a raised eyebrow.

"Never mind!" Luna shook her head, and then ran off.

Harry stared at Professor Merry. "What?"

Merry continued gazing serenely.

"What?" Harry repeated.

"I'm simply reflecting on my good fortune that I never have to deal with the obliviousness of men." Merry gave an impish smile. "Here–" She tossed Harry a small cloth bag, which Harry caught and fumbled with.

"What–"

"Ice for your cheek, Mr Potter. I find that it works better than Charms." Merry's grin had disappeared, but she still looked cheerful. "Off to bed with you!"

Merry, Merry, Merry. She's fun.

A note about the Carrow Twins: they were planned as characters from the start, and it was always supposed to be ambiguous which twin was being shown. Halfway through I got the bright idea to make them one person with two magical personalities, which I was trying to get at in Between The Lines 3, but then I changed my mind again. No point putting in a twist for the sake of having a twist. So yes, that is why things are the way they are.

A note about the note about the Carrow Twins: mental illness is not a joke. If I find out anyone is making up multiple personalities to be edgy, I will send their asses to Brazil.

Constructive criticism about my fight scenes (or about anything, really) is appreciated.

Review please!