Chapter Forty-Four: In Motion

After Harriette and Severus explained the situation to those in the room, they were met with a terrified silence.

The Dark Lord? Trying to break out of the under world's Azkaban, and find his way back into the land of the living? The Death Eaters were crazy, this they all knew, but what possessed them to think such a thing could ever be possible?

The dark group was highly desperate it seemed, but Harriette had a plan as well. She had them all set up groups, each of which would either use their connections to spy on the death eaters, both living and dead, and the others would find any sort of ritual that could grant the evil Lord his wish.

Harry had already spoken about his own ritual, but he was unsure if anyone could be used to open the gate, or if it would only work with a living breathing person on the other side. If it only had to be a being in the land of the living, whether they were alive, dead, willing, or forced, he would have to find out.

The Malfoy's stayed for dinner, as Harriette wanted them to feel welcome in her estate and with her family.

They spoke of inconsequential things, moments from their pasts that made them who they were, plus apologies over what had happened in their pasts. No one in the room was above admitting that they were wrong, and even the marauders gave Severus a proper apology for Merlin's sake. Severus apologised in his own way about the poison, and Narcissa forgave him easily, stating that it was a blessing in disguise.

Dinner went on spectacularly, though when the Malfoy's saw Dobby, Harriette had to regale them all of the story. How she had gotten Dobby, the Malfoy's former house elf, to become her own. Dobby had actually been a dowry gift to her relatives behind her back, however they'd given the elf a sock and after small prompting from Harriette, spoken the incorrect words, and he was free.

The woman had said that if they granted him a piece of clothing, and said it was his, he would forever be in their debt. The small lie was not hard to pull off, and in the end she had a bruised set of ribs and a new loyal friend.

Afterwards, Severus and his guards had to leave, while Harriette opted to stay home for the night.

Iana went with them, as the land of the living had the juiciest rats to eat. Plus she would help keep an eye on things above ground for her hatchling.

Dudley also stayed the night, but the Malfoy's had to go as well. Soon everything had quieted down, and Harriette retreated to her room for a night of sleep. As she got undressed, she slowly recounted the days events, praying to whomever listened that those poor souls found their place in the land of the dead. And that one day, they may forgive her for her role in their deaths.

She was not so blinded by self loathing that she believed it all to be her fault, but her complacency-- forced though it may have been-- was still a dig at their already numerous wounds. She felt horrid for being unable to comfort them in the least. One day she would attempt to make up for this awful day, but as it stood, the night was upon them. Most people, living and dead were attempting to gain some modicum of sleep, and she would have to join them for the night.

Her sleep was interrupted however, by the appearance of her mate. Harriette had at first been seated on a blanket, which was placed in the middle of a lush field. Wild flowers bloomed where her fingers grazed the ground, and the smell of distant rain filled her nose. Birds chirped and fluttered off past her sight, and for a long moment her only real company was a butterfly, his lily as it were. Neither Iana, nor Hedwig were in attendance, and while Harry felt their absence, it was no less a peaceful dream.

Soon the wind began to chime in, and Harry closed his eyes. The sounds around him were still buzzing and crescendoing like waves, until they seemed to mash together.

The birds were no longer chirping, and as he opened his eyes to see why, Harry paused in horror.

The terrain had changed. No longer was he in a grassy field of wild flowers. No birds were there to sing softly into the morning light. No scent if fallen rain in his nose.

Now, Harry was seated on a blanket of skin, pulled from the bodies of hundreds of innocents. He was running his hand through blood stained grass, and various pieces of viscera clung firmly to his pale blue skin.

The birds were no longer singing, for they had become the screeching of pain from those he had watched die just hours ago.

And the smell of rain, was no longer a comfort. It was a source now of agony as Harry realised that the smells invading his senses were that of death and blood.

Lily had vanished as well, and he felt that along with the insect, went his ability to leave the sullied fields behind.

An intense layer of fear and revulsion cloaked itself over the undead Lord, and not all of it was stemming from himself.

The blanket of skin beneath him began to speak at some point, rehashing all of his insecurities and short comings. Whispers he had heard from both coven members and the Dursley's past servants. From advisors, past classmates and professors, and the Dursley's themselves, along with his fears being projected back through his own mates voice.

'A child! Hoping to lead us? I'd be surprised if the boy even dresses himself correctly in the morning rather than having mummy do so for him.'

He stood abruptly, pushing away from the skin, only to be drenched in the thick deep red blood flowing freely through the grass.

'Any children our Lord has would have to be unlucky if Lord Potter is the other sire. A klutz is what he is!'

He covered his ears but the sounds still bleed through, and he only succeeded in wiping blood on his face. The blood too had a sound, a harsh veil of anger, falling like flood rains into his ears.

'Oh he believes he has our king so wrapped up in his lies. He is like the rest, and he won't last.'

He started swiping at his skin and clothing, trying to find a dry patch to clean himself. It was to no avail, and he felt so dirty and just incredibly responsible for the carnage sticking happily to his person.

'So skinny, hardly fit to carry one, lest alone as many children as possible before he is too used up. Lord Prince may as well take a mistress now.'

The words were almost spoken straight into his ears, and he turned from one side to the next attempting to find its source. The blanket of flesh was not the only thing speaking now, as the wind tore at him with its taunts and accusations.

'How could he call himself a woman! Any true lady would know not to conduct herself so scandalously. He would make a harlot of a woman, of that I have no doubts.'

A silent sob escaped his mouth, only to be drowned out by the ever present blood.

'Lord Potter's hair is much too long--'

He attempted to stand, but the grass now clung to his ankles, keeping him stretched to the ground.

'I would never settle for just Harrison. Mate or no he would not be enough.'

He wanted to cry. His hair was weighed down by the sheer volume of blood, and his entire being felt sluggish.

'Lord Potter is entirely too childish--'

The blood started to rise, flooding the open expanse in a way that was unlike any he had ever seen.

'The novelty of having him beside me will wear off, and when it does he shall be the first to know...'

Lily came back...

'--Too frail--'

Only to be swallowed up by the flood.

'--Shoulders are too broad to pass as a woman--'

Just as he thought he may drown, the environment relented in its flood. The blood was in his mouth, eyes, ears, and nose. It was absolutely everywhere now, and even the streaks of pink caused by his tears did nothing to clear it. He was coughing up the blood that invaded his body, perched on his hands and knees trying to expel the unwanted substance.

'--Not nearly mature enough to be a man--'

He knew his worth, but dreams like these always shook him. He felt worthless, unable to block the voices as they threw their stones.

'--Any child--' A girls voice from his Hogwarts days surfaced, adding to the cacophony of hatred being slewn at him.

'--That girl creates--' His mothers voice rings out.

'--will likely never!--' His aunt continued.

'--Ever!--' His father added shortly, as if he could bring forth no more words in his disgust.

'--be mentally or physically formed enough--' Sirius' voice spat harshly.

'--To live amongst us properly!--' His uncle scoffed.

'A still born it would be!' Remus said in his calm manner.

'Indeed, one could only hope.' His mate practically growled out these words.

The voices trailed off, laughing and jeering as he was forced to watch those once dead bodies rise, and speak while surrounding him. They stood and circled his shocked form, pointing and staring at him as they went.

But as it was said before, Harry's sleep was interrupted by the appearance of his mate.

Severus had not slept that night, thus was unable to join Harriette when she fell asleep. Instead his brewing was interrupted abruptly by concerning voices speaking ill of his mate.

They were not coming through the covens mind link, as most of the voices owners were asleep, but he knew those voices well enough, having interacted with them all at one point or another.

Many were also unrecognizable women, or should he say girls, voices, and then he knew for a fact, that even when Harry was asleep, his mates mind was still an open book. Then he heard his own voice, spitting hateful words along with the group of other voices. He had to get to his mate, to reassure him that he would never hate him or shun him and their future children. Never take another to his bed or toss Harry aside as the fake Severus had vowed to do.

He looked once more at his potion, before labeling it a lost cause for the night. Even with it under a stasis charm, he would not be willing to leave his mates side long enough to finish it.

His experiment was once again wasted, though the man hardly thought on it as he vanished the brew and swept out of the dungeons.

He did not take long, simply apparating to his mates manor below ground, where he was caught off guard by his mates low mental cries and whimpers.

Wasting no time, Severus called to Dobby to let him in, and lead him to Harry's room.

Once there he opened the door, and Harry was writhing almost demonically upon the bed, his bed sheets wrapped haphazardly around his body while he twisted and turned.

Pulling his little mate away from the messy bed clothes was a bit of a hassle, but even with all the movements, Harry made not a single sound.

His eyes were wide open and glassy, and his mouth open in a silent scream. The vampiric Lord almost thought his mate was in another vision, but the tears and mental projections of apologies told him otherwise.

His mate was having a night terror that seemed to make his mind feel helpless, so his physical body was lashing out wherever it could.

The tall man pulled his mate to himself, a sense of panic coming over him as he realized exactly why his mate was in distress.

Harry was dreaming of the scene they had come upon earlier in the day. It must have snuck upon him as he lay down to rest, along with their new theories on the Dark Lord's plans for resurrection. He climbed into the bed, leaving the door as it was, and decided to hell with propeiety.

After a few attempts to pull the undead lord from his mind, he didn't speak, instead keeping his little mate from jerking in any detrimental ways.

He was getting nowhere by trying to talk his mate out of the nightmare, so he pulled the younger man towards his chest and let his mate run through the scenario in his head.

Hoping silently that his minimal body heat, his faint heart beat, something would help his mate realize that he was not alone.

It took a few minutes, but soon Harry settled down, pushing forward into the heat his mate gave off.

Green eyes fluttered open, blurred from sleep, but no less aware. The small man had no strength left to pull away from the man, or even question why the vampire was laying in his bed chambers. It didn't matter that he was supposed to stay away from such close proximity with his mate until their marriage. Neither did it matter that he would have a lot to explain to his family come the next morning.

No, the undead wizard only snuggled in closer, used the last of his strength to hold onto the mans clothing, and went back to sleep. The dreams he had for the rest of the night were full of warmth and he had his mate beside him both within his mind and outside of it.

HPSSHPSSHPSS

That next morning was truly one of awkward proportions. Harry and Severus were left trying to explain their close quarters the night before. Severus was entirely unrepentant, but Harry felt like melting into the floor.

The vampire had seen him in his sleep wear before, and had even partially undressed him on occasion. This was simply a new step on their journey towards marriage, and after an awkward morning for the dead lord and his family, the group managed to get over it.

In the long run, there was a more pressing matter to attend to. Severus had to leave to restart his potion, and Harry still had a few things to settle in the land of the dead.

So the two mates parted, Severus disappearing in a flash of robes and Harry taking a trip down to Gringotts.

He needed to see if there was anything he could do for the ex Malfoys. That and he was beginning to see that living in the same manor as his entire family line was taxing. The reanimated man needed a getaway for the moment.

After withdrawing a bit of spending money from his vault, he reviewed all of his properties, and bookmarked three. He would visit the library after this, before speaking with the Malfoy to see if they would accept anything for their help. It would be immensely degrading if he attempted to offer the proud pair any money or a new property, so the most he could do was unstrike Narcissa from the family tree.

Visiting the Malfoys was immediately struck from his list, as he instead used his time at the bank to correct the Black family tree.

However, while looking over his various connecting family trees, he found that he was the very last of each of the lines. It was the first time he had looked so far into the origins of his bloodline, but he wasn't upset about it at all. This was the perfect opportunity to have several children as he had hoped. He could help to reset the balance. Added to that, Remus and Sirius would soon be having a child, which meant Harry could pass the Black family ring and lordship to the child once the time came.

The passage of the lordship for the Black estates wasn't much of a problem for Harry, as they were never fully his to claim. His godfather left it to him, as the last remaining eligible child of his friends. Remus would have been unable to claim it in the climate they had lived in, so the only option was to leave it as an inheritance for Harry.

With a small but happy sigh, Harry thanked his advisor Kilmoth by wishing him a wealth of gold, before taking his leave.

His second stop for the day was the library, where he inlisted the help of Minerva to make sure there weren't any rituals that would possibly help an evil entity leave the land of the dead and its confines.

He had been here before, while researching his own ritual, and at the time there hadn't been much, but everyone was burning books lately, so the library might have more materials. The witch helped him look for any related tomes or books, but once again they found nothing of importance. The man was happy with this. It was a good thing, as the library was public, so anyone could have found the information needed to bring Voldemort back.

Minerva was brought into the loop of what they had found, and after the woman agreed to look out for any weird books or patrons, Harry returned home. He was feeling a bit hungry, and while he could have asked a house elf to prepare something, he decided to make something for his mate.

After entrusting a short note to Spinle to deliver to Severus, the reanimated lord set to cooking. It would be quite nice if they could have a lunch date in the underworld, as a way to cut down on their mounting stress.

But instead of the calm afternoon he was looking forward to, Harry was instead met with a new development in the debacle with the dark. Severus had to turn down his invitation to deal with a new Death Eater attack. He was still attempting to uncover whomever was in the group, but he told Harry to stay put in the underworld for the next few days.

It seemed that the death eaters were already trying to find the undead lord or lady that was walking amongst them. Severus wanted to make sure that his mate would be safe to come and go as he pleased without the group looking for him so fervently.

That did not mean that the two would be separated for the entire time. Severus would just meet with his mate in the manor, but they would have to keep everything quiet.

So no more public dates until the vampire felt Harry was safe... Harry was unsure of when that would be, so with a sigh he finished cooking, and called his family to eat.

In the end it really did take almost a week for Severus to find out who was at the center of the attack. His mate was still on edge, and Harry understood why. In the time since they first parted, Harry had only found one piece of a ritual that might break the barriers of not only death but also the confines of Azkaban, and it was not one he wanted to be a part of.

It was a ritual that called for the 'flesh of a virgin, the bone of family, the blood of an enemy, and the sacrifice of a servant'. He had no clue of what it would do to him, as the only real information he had was of the ingredients needed and that it was a summoning ritual for the dead. Of the four, he was already in possession of two of the ingredients.

He had gotten the snippet from Minerva, and after reading it, locked it away in a small lock box, which he cloaked with concealing magic, then hid away. The only person he told about the ritual was his mate, through their mind link. Severus had a serious suspicion that he had a leak within his coven.

Even with the wards that they had set up to keep sensitive information from getting out, it was hard to keep those with mind links from circumventing the magic.

Harry had already revealed so much to many of the members of his mates coven. They all knew that he was both Harry and Harriette, and if any one of them saw fit to betray his mate, he wasn't sure just what havoc they would set into motion.

Harry was still trying to put the pieces of this ritual together, and the fact that they were only finding pieces was concerning in itself.

Books usually made it below ground of their aboveground counterpart is destroyed in some sort of way. From book burnings, to floods, dilapidation or the breakdown of thei books fibres and pages, to even being ripped apart, or buried in some kind of way.

Pieces of books are usually either ripped out or burned to keep sensitive information from those still in the land of the living. Which meant that someone aboveground likely knew a great deal about the rest of this ritual.

It was an intimidating thought, and Harry was having a hard time staying calm. It helped that his mate was there with him, and that his family hadn't left him to his own thoughts and devices since the big revelation about the Death Eater's motives.

But with old members popping up once again, from the Lestrange's, the Carrow's, the Bulstrode's, and the Parkinson's... and those like Malfoy, Fenrir Greyback, Peter Pettigrew, Dolohov, Crabbe Sr. and Jr., and Goyle Sr. and Jr. It was a massive group of well known pureblood families who were being gathered once again after nearly four decades without their original leader. According to Albus the group were staunch supporters of Voldemort's vision of killing all muggles...