Chapter 5: Salazar's Clause

I stood atop of the Coetus Templum, one of Hogwart's smaller southern towers, using magically enhanced vision to scan the school grounds. Sirius was combing every inch of the Forbidden Forest. Lupin checked places only the infamous Marauders knew about. Other members of the Order of Phoenix were somewhere in the area. With Dumbledore absent until further notice, Professor McGonagall was our acting commander-in-chief. And our standing orders were "find Ginny Weasley, no matter what it takes." So, here we were.

Our search was complicated by McGonagall's reluctance to "scare the children". OK, so a student vanishing from Hogwarts was fairly unusual, but that was no reason not to tell the students what was going on.

A large black dog came out of the forest. I whistled. Calling his appearance "a mess" would of been too kind. His expression made it obvious that even after he went through he came back empty-pawed.

I picked up my broom and flew to the other side of the lake.

"Fumonnifusu!" I cried as soon as I landed, shielding us from the prying eyes.

Sirius changed into his human form. He looked as bad as he did a few moments ago. His new robes were splattered with all kinds of colorful substances. Parts of it were ripped to shreds, revealing a little more then I ever wanted to see.

"Vestimentum Reparo!" I screamed in panic, pointing my wand as Sirius. In a flash, his robes were good as new.

"Thanks," Sirius allowed a brief hint of a smile, "speaking of clothes, I see you are back to your Muggle rags."

 Like I said before, I don't like wizard clothing, so I used the search as an opportunity to change into a black duster, black pants and a black shirt. I kept the shoes.

"The duster is kind of like a robe, isn't that enough?"

"That thing is called duster?" he rolled his eyes, "Muggles… I swear, sometimes…."

I raised my hand to cut him off:

"Did you find anything?"

"No," Sirius' expression hardened, "nothing, zip, zilch, nada."

"McGonagall is not going to like this…"

"You know, Tom, next time you want to tell your life story, do us all a favor AND MAKE SURE THE WORLD DOESN'T END BEFORE YOU ARE DONE!"

"She was unconscious, for Kannon's sake! How was I supposed to know she would decide to vanish into the thin air!"

Sirius looked away.

"Well, she couldn't have disapparated," he mumbled, "We know she isn't anywhere in Hogwarts, unless Remus turns something up… If she left Hogwarts, the watcher charms at all the major entrances would have been triggered. I don't know how about you, but I am all out of ideas."

I shook my head:

"The charms, spells and curses that guard Hogwarts are designed to protect against Merlin magic. This gives a wizard familiar with several forms of magic a weakness he could exploit."

"How many wizards fall under that category?"

"Last time I checked, less then a dozen…  Oh, bloody hell! "

"I don't like the sound of that…"

"Voldemort is one of them."

"Do you think.…"

"He knows what his diary did to Ginny! He could of…"

"Professor Riddle?"

I spun around, pointing my wand in the direction of the voice.

"Ginny?" I gasped

"Yes, sir. Where am I? What's going on here?"

Sirius quickly changed into a dog and ran out of sight

"What was the last thing you remember?" I asked

"I remember you telling Harry and Cho who you really were…"suddenly, her eyes filled with tears, "oh, I am so sorry I attacked you. How could I've been so foolish?"

 I hugged her, letting her tears soak my  "Muggle rags":

"Don't worry," I smiled, "I get that a lot."

As soon as Ginny calmed down, I took her to see McGonagall. Naturally, the deputy headmistress was very pleased to have a student back. I wanted to question Ginny, but McGonagall insisted that she needs rest. Knowing that it would be futile to point out that this may be a matter of life and death, I shrugged and went to find Hermione Granger.

By that time, Harry told his friends about my true nature. That probably didn't stop Hermione from doing more research anyway. After all, magic is a constant learning process.  Besides, she will always be "an instinctive know-it-all".

Sure enough, Hermione was sitting at the same library table as yesterday, only this time it wasn't quite as cluttered. She was reading an old edition of Daily Prophet. As soon as I stepped though the door, she looked up:

"What time is it?" she yawned

I glanced at my watch, earning a curious look from Hermione:

"17:30. I can't believe it! How did I manage to waste an entire day?"

"Well, rumor has it you were looking for Ginny. "

"So much for Professor McGonagall's attempts to keep it a secret."

"This is Hogwarts. Nothing stays secret unless it's in plain sight."

I sighed:

"Too true, too true."

We paused, regarding each other curiously.

"How come Chinese wizards can fly?"  Hermione blurted out

"Excuse me?"

"I mean, it's common knowledge that there is no spell that can actually make a person fly. Yet Chinese wizards seem to have no problem doing it. Why is that?"

"Ah," I smiled, "have you ever seen Hong Kong action movies?"

"No, why?"

"Never mind. Anyway, Chinese wizards don't really fly. They simply came up with an incantation that allows them drop their weight to the point where a casual jump becomes a huge leap. The spell only works for six minutes, but if you are a fast enough, it can come a long way."

"Oh, I get it now. Thank you."

"Any other questions?" I smiled

"I don't know where to start. There are so many things I…."

The rest of the sentence was blocked out by a loud telepathic cry:

Dad!

Ayumi? I answered, what's going on?

Dumbledore told me to tell you that Voldemort is on his way to Hogwarts!

I swore under my breath.

Thank you

I knew Voldemort would find out about my presence at Hogwarts sooner or later. As a matter a fact, I was counting on it. But I never expected it to be this soon. We were not ready! 

Normally, I would hesitate to use telepathy to contact the others, but this was hardly a normal situation. I visualized Sirius and called out to him:

This is Tom. Get the Order to Hogwarts NOW!

I didn't wait for Sirius to reply.

McGonagall, Voldemort is coming to Hogwarts. Get the students to safety

Hermione was staring at me strangely. Considering how I must have looked, I couldn't blame her.

 "Come with me," I ordered her. She must have sensed how serious it was, because she dropped the newspaper and followed me without another word.

I ran to the main entrance, using magic to get there as quickly as possible. All around us, the students hurried to their Common Rooms. Thanks to special enchantments that kicked in when Hogwarts was threatened, they were the safest places in the castle.

Ever since the beginning of the conflict between Voldemort's Death Eaters and Dumbledore's Order of Phoenix, people wondered how come Voldemort never attacked Hogwarts. Many assumed Voldemort was afraid of Dumbledore. The reality wasn't quite so simple.

It all started a thousand years ago, when Hogwarts was founded. Soon after the school began to admit it's first students, differences between the Founders began to emerge. Godric Gryffindor became concerned that those disagreements may erupt into a full-fledged feud, so he asked Rowena Ravenclaw for advice. She came up with what seemed like a perfect solution. It was an incredibly complex spell that required the life forces of four casters. If one caster kills another on Hogwarts ground, ALL casters die. She realized that no matter how much the Founders may disagree with each other, they would never endanger their own well-being. Even Salazar Slytherin agreed it was fair.

After the Founders died, the spell passed on to their descendents. Today, there is hardly a wizard in Europe and Americas that doesn't have at least a pint of Founder blood. Triggering the spell now would kill Voldemort and wipe out most of his lieutenants, not to mention a very good portion of wizard population. Voldemort may be a ruthless bastard, but he knows that such a catastrophe is not in his interest.

I opened the front gate, motioning Hermione to get behind me. McGonagall came down the staircase, wand ready. Sirius emerged from somewhere on the right. The rest of Order followed suit.

I glanced around and took a deep breath. My wand was in my right hand, concealed by the sleeve of the duster. Hermione looked around, probably wondering what she was doing here. I am sure the others wanted to know the same thing.

I could only hope Hermione figured out what my hint meant.

My heart beat loudly against the silent halls of the castle. I tried to distract myself by imagining all the possibly strategies the Dark Lord might use, but it wasn't working.

Where are you, Voldemort?

The sky above Hogwarts suddenly darkened as the wind picked up speed. It whirled around in circles, forming a pitch-black tornado. It flew across the lake, growing in size with every passing meter. With a loud crash, it touched down in front of the gate.

The castle's defensive spells kicked in, creating a barrier to protect us from the debris. When the dust settled, a group of black-robed wizards stood before us, completely untouched by the destruction around them.    

I had to give Voldemort credit for one thing: he knew how to make an entrance.

The lead wizard took off his hood, revealing a demonic, snake-lake visage that haunted my nightmares for the past eighteen years.

"Ah, good old Hogwarts," he smiled, enjoying the damage he caused, "how I missed thee."

"What do you want, demon spawn?" McGonagall inquired coldly

"Why Minevra," he sneered, "this is not a way to treat a former classmate. I thought Dumbledore taught you better then that."

McGonagall's face showed nothing.

"I am not here to make trouble," Voldemort continued, "I just want to settle an old score with the member of you faculty, that's all."

"I will not allow it, " McGonagall declared sternly.

"I could, of course, attack Homestead instead. You may be able to stop us from killing everyone, but a few innocent people are bound to die before the battle is over. So what would it be – a duel that might end my life or a battle that is sure to end many innocent lives?"

"You know perfectly well what happens if you kill Professor Riddle on Hogwarts grounds."

"You mean Vitaorigo Munimentum spell?" Voldemort looked genuinely amused, "According to the Salazar Clause of the key incantations "If a wizard challenges oneself to a duel to right a wrong, then the bound of the spell shall be revoked till the duel ends." "

Everybody looked at me, hoping that I would deny it. I simply nodded. Back when Voldemort and I were one and the same, we uncovered Salazar Slytherin's diary. When the spell was composed, he insisted that his clause would be inserted into the incantations. Otherwise, he simply wouldn't participate. The other Founders didn't see any harm in it, so they agreed.

Years later, when I discovered the truth about what I was, I remembered that Tom Marvolo Riddle learned about the purification ritual from Salazar's diary. I realized that my ancestor knew about its side effect and hoped that someday, one of his descendents would undergo the ritual. It was the only way anyone could ever take advantage of Salazar's Clause. Sure, Voldemort and I were very different people, but we were parts of the same being. As far as the magic was concerned, that was enough.

"True," Hermione chimed in, "but according to Rowena's Clause "if dueling, none but the duelists shall be harmed or the spell shall return." "

Wait to go Ms. Granger! I knew I could count on you.

Voldemort growled and gave Hermione a stare that promised a painful death sometime in the near future. The Death Eaters, who hoped that Salazar's Clause would give them opportunity to slaughter some mudbloods, moaned in disappointment. Meanwhile, the entire Order of Phoenix looked very pleased with itself. Even McGonagall smiled.

"Very well," spat Voldemort, "do you, Tom Riddle, agree to settle our score honorably and fairly?"

"I do."

"Good," a small smirk crept across his face, "Death Eaters – attack Homestead!"

I didn't bother pointing out that he lied. It was in his nature. Besides, I was bound by Salazar's Clause to finish the duel. Until Voldemort was dead, there was nothing I could do.

The Death Eaters produced brooms from their ropes and took off, cackling like supervillans from Muggle television.

"Oh no you don't!" Lupin cried, "Sagitto!"

Eight arrows shot from his wand. Four of them found their targets, slicing the Death Eaters' brooms in the half. The rest got caught in Death Eater's robes.

Before Voldemort could say anything else, I invoked another clause of the protective spell – a right to choose where the duel takes place:

"Adactus Coetus Templum!"

Before I could even blink, we appeared on the first floor of the tower. This was a place where fifty years ago, Tom Marvolo Riddle almost lost his life to Grindelwald. This was a place where Voldemort was born. This shall be a place where Voldemort will die.

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust

"Let's do it."