Chapter Twenty One: The First Step
December 26th
7:22am
Ministry of Magic, London
Harry
The ministry was in a sorry state. Not only was everyone keenly feeling the loss of life at St Mungo's, they were also terrified that it could happen again at any moment, in any place. On the walk from the atrium to the conference room, Harry saw many witches and wizards clutching boxes of personal paraphernalia as they fled the ministry building, and likely the country, in fear.
The conference room was a stark contrast to mass panic, even though there were fewer representatives than in October, the men and women were still practically salivating to learn the details. Tonks left him then, Scrimengour had asked him not to get too cosy with the aurors in public as it made him look bad, especially when they failed to protect St Mungo's. In her place, however, stood Daphne but she was missing a key component of today's conference.
"Morning," he greeted, neglecting the 'good.'
"Morning," she replied. Both of them looked haggard, with the clean up efforts lasting into the early hours of today, neither had gotten a full night's sleep in two days. Not to mention the haunting images both saw when they closed their eyes, any amount of shut eye they did manage was plagued with faces of the dead.
Scrimengour, and Harry, decided that the country needed to be told as soon as possible but decided that giving them the news on Christmas was a terrible idea. Families that came to the hospital looking for their loved ones were told in private and although word did spread, much of the community got to spend their holiday in blissful ignorance.
"Where's your father? He's meant to announce a stimulus for the potions that were lost in the raid." His concern came from a place of doubt that had formed in the wake of the massacre. The reality of how vulnerable they were hadn't impressed upon him fully until then, if one of the most public and important places in their community could be so callously attacked then was anywhere safe?
"Change of plans," Daphne spoke before leaning in to whisper in his ear, "he's following a lead from the orphanage."
That changed Harry's mood instantly. Progress on the horcruxes was much more important and he had thought the orphanage lead was going to die. He nodded and caught movement to his left, the minister had arrived. The man looked as haggard as he did, for he had participated in the investigation and clean up as much as the others. Despite his less than stately appearance, the room stood when he entered and was seated when he motioned for them to do so.
Harry and Daphne joined the department heads behind the man and Scriemngour began at once. "Good morning everyone, I want to be clear this will be a report only, no questions will be accepted at this time." The room looked frighteningly disappointed at this news, two men even stood and left which Harry felt was foolish… unless they already knew what happened from an inside source. "At approximately one in the morning, December twenty fifth, the dark lord and an unknown number of death eaters attacked the hospital in force. They killed the aurors outside and in, with particularly vicious dark magic then moved on to killing each and every person in the entrance, admissions department and alchemy room. Every body found was confirmed to have been hit with the killing curse, with the exception of any aurors."
'This is where we deviate from the truth,' Harry idly mused.
"The patients were found dead in their beds. With no one left to protect them and much of them asleep, they were murdered without resistance. We are still confirming the exact number of casualties but as it stands we lost four aurors, fifteen St Mungo's staff and forty seven civilians."
The shocked faces of the reporters held for a moment before chaos ensued. Their jobs receded into the back of their minds as they stood and shouted in outrage. Harry didn't blame them, this was the largest mass murder in recent wizarding Britain history.
"Sixty dead!"
"How did this happen?"
"Traitor!"
As the group of reporters got more and more rowdy, aurors flooded into the room to form a barricade. The minister's personal detail escorted them out and to the elevators where the man Harry remembered as Dawlish and another auror he didn't recognise travelled with them up to the minister's office.
"He knew the defences well," Harry commented once the minister was seated. The office hadn't changed one bit, still plain as ever.
Scrimengour looked at him angrily and confrontational replied, "what are you saying? That I gave up the hospital?"
"No," Daphne interjected, "but someone did. It may be wise to investigate your house, minister."
The minister looked troubled, fiddling with the hem of his robes and refusing to meet their eyes. 'He thinks he looks weak,' Harry assumed, 'another minister who puts too much weight on appearances, at least this one is doing something though.'
"Thank you for your help yesterday and today," Scrimengour spoke as he rose from his seat, "I will take your words into consideration."
Harry and Daphne understood this to be a dismissal, and after the past few days, they were glad to return to the castle. They walked over to the floo and left in a flash of green flame, leaving the turmoil of the populace to a captain, struggling to keep his ship afloat.
January 4th
2:22pm
Black Chateau, Isle of Man
Damien
The past week for Damien could be described as one of the most tedious weeks in his life. Whilst he didn't envy the horror that the others experienced, the week had left him mentally drained in a different kind of way. He had finally done it, located the cave from the old caretaker's tale and it was nowhere near easy. So he had called a meeting, Harry had stressed that any information about the horcruxes was to be brought to bear without delay.
It seemed, however, that not everyone was prepared to assemble on such short notice. Moody and Tonks were held up at the ministry attempting aid in the damage control and Sirius was nowhere to be found. With Harry, Daphne and Remus sat with him at the end of the table, he recognised the sorry state that they were in.
He had never seen his daughter so by anything, she always insisted on maintaining the flippant attitude no matter what. But there she sat, hair in a hastily tied bun, mouth set in a permanent frown and large bags under her eyes. He knew from his wife that Daphne had barely left the training room, not even to eat, having convinced their house elves to serve her in there. A side effect of her independence was that Damien found it hard to connect with her at a more personal level, forcing him to ponder how to pull her from her slump.
"Where's Sirius?" Harry asked, having to clear his throat as it came out as a croak more than anything.
Remus replied softly, "he's taking… the incident, quite poorly."
Harry's frown deepened and he seemed to wrestle with something mentally before raising his head and looking at Damien. "What have you found, Damien?"
Damien leaned forward, despite the mood of the room, he was proud of his achievement. "I have discovered the location of the cave in which Voldemort tortured his first victims."
Harry nodded, he understood the significance that it held in regard to Tom Riddle. A place of triumph, a place to remind himself just how superior he was to muggle filth, a turning point in his journey to becoming a dark lord. "You found the muggles then?"
"Yes," Damien confirmed, "as the woman at the orphanage had told us, the muggles were married up in Essex and lived there for their entire lives until the wife passed away recently. The husband, however, was living in an aged care home by himself. I simply continued the Scotland Yard charade and had the man detail the exact location of the cave and, upon confirmation, I wiped the memory of my visit from his mind."
Damien watched Harry's eyes grow optimistic and some life flooded back into his figure. "Well done," Harry complimented, "we'll go there now." Surprised exceptions exploded onto the faces of Remus and Damien.
"Harry," Remus tried but was cut off by Harry.
"I'll need fifteen minutes to get ready. Damien, you'll apparate Remus to the cave first then you'll both come back and bring Daphne and I there. We won't be waiting for Sirius." Harry stood and walked off, presumably towards his room, and left the rest of their council at the table.
Remus stood next, intent on following Harry and cautioning against brash action but Damien stood too and with a look, Remus allowed him to instead. He didn't manage to catch up to Harry immediately, he had to knock on the boy's door to garner his attention. Harry opened the door and his expression signified he wasn't opening up a conversation.
"Look," Damien started, realising he didn't actually have a plan in mind, "I understand that we're under a lot of stress right now but that doesn't mean we need to rush into this."
Harry stared at him, hard, Damien believed that his expressionless face was stolen from Daphne's repertoire. He cracked though, something Damien knew he wouldn't catch Daphne doing, and sighed. "I know, but the reality is, we need a win. You weren't– you weren't at St Mungo's, you can't possibly understand just how sorely we lost that day. Daphne and I have barely slept, Remus has disappeared more times than I can count and Sirius is drowning himself in a bottle, we need this."
Damien listened throughout Harry's rant, a new understanding of their position forming in his mind. Harry was right, they were breaking. Whatever the dark lord had done had seriously impacted their mental health and if Harry thought getting win was what they needed then it had to happen soon.
"Alright," he replied and rested a hand on the boy's shoulder, "but don't lose your head out there or we might all die."
Harry nodded, they both knew it was obvious but it had to be said. They walked together to rejoin the others and upon seeing Harry still in what could be described as combat gear, Remus gave Damine a pointed look.
"Listen, please," Harry directed at Remus but he felt Daphne could use it too. "I know we're not one hundred percent right now, half our manpower is missing and we're not at our best individually but that doesn't matter. We've got an opportunity here to put a part of that madman's soul on the executioner's block and there is no way that I'm going to pass that up. We lost at the hospital, it is true, but we have a chance at a real victory today, don't ask me to ignore it."
Harry's speech had a noticeable effect on Remus, whilst he still looked wary, he had reconsidered the gravity of the situation and had found himself agreeing with harry. Daphne had chosen to stand half way through the speech, in a show of support. Damien knew his daughter needed to feel strong because she had been her whole life, helping to kill a piece of the dark lord might bring her that strength back.
Harry turned to him and granted him a look of gratitude, whether that was for finding the cave or not convincing him to stay he did not know but one thing was for sure, it was going to suck if there wasn't even a horcrux inside this cave.
January 4th
2:45pm
Seaside Cave
Harry
The first thing he noticed when Damien side-along-apparated him to the destination was the heavy rain pelting him upon arrival. They had landed on a rock out at sea, facing what he assumed to be the coast of England which had a cavernous hole in the side of the rock face.
"Why are we so far out?" he yelled over the sound of the ocean's waves crashing against their little island.
"Precaution," Damien yelled back.
"I see a platform in the rock face!" Daphne cried, "half way down, to the left of the cave entrance!"
"I see it!" Remus confirmed.
He searched for the landing in question, squinting his eyes against the licks of water on his face. He found it, just where Daphne said it would be and called out, "go!"
The four of them apparated and appeared on the precipice where the noise pollution was much more tolerable than out at sea. A brief glance around told Harry that there was nowhere to go from this small outlet and that they would need to get inventive to even get into the cave in the first place.
"I can see the mouth of the cave down below," Remus said as he leaned over the edge.
Harry joined him on the edge and formulated a plan. He pointed his wand at the wall of the mouth, closed his eyes and willed his magic to follow his commands. The rock face protested with a rumble and Harry had to supplant himself so he wouldn't fall into the sea. He focused harder, pulled towards himself with his magic and to his delight, there was a noticeable path carved out of the rock.
'Voldemort would no sooner slide down to the chamber than swim in freezing water, there's always a more dignified way,' Harry thought, satisfied.
"Apparate to the path. Be careful though, I doubt it's been used in years."
The four of them did so, one at a time, and slowly advanced along the narrow path. Harry noticed that the deeper into the cave they delved the more of these stark white crystals seemed to appear. A shiver passed over him as he was walking which he thought nothing of until he heard Daphne react the same way, then Damien and Remus.
"Wards," Remus commented as he inspected the air in front of him, "anti-apparition."
It made sense, if Voldemort ever caught anyone in here he wouldn't want them to escape. "Remus," Harry said quietly, "you lead."
Remus nodded and walked to the front for he knew he had the most experience detecting wards. They walked further into the cave, the sounds of the sea echoing down the narrow passage they had come to. Remus came to a stop which halted the whole party.
"What is it?" Damien asked.
"Another ward," Remus replied with uncertainty. He ran his wand across the cave wall which Harry could now see was a dead end. "One I do not recognise."
Damien stepped forward and began analysing the wall too. "I'm getting vague intents; price, blood… sacrifice, nothing concrete."
'A blood sacrifice perhaps? He wouldn't injure himself much to retrieve his most precious item, so what? A drop of blood?'
He pulled his knife and stepped forward, "move aside." He sliced his hand slightly and ran it across the wall, wincing as the jagged rocks pulled on his wounded palm. Despite not detecting the ward himself, he felt it dispel before him and the others watched a part of the wall dissolve, revealing a massive dark cavernous abyss.
'That checks out,' Harry thought.
A quartet of lumos' illuminated a section of the cave. The crystals he'd seen before were more abundant in this chamber, lining the walls, ceiling and floor. The most troubling trait of this chamber was how the light seemed to bleed into the darkness; even several lumos maxima's failed to properly light the cave. They did manage to discover a small island in the middle of the cave which had a crystal pedestal at its centre.
"How do we cross?" Harry asked aloud. None of them had any desire to swim through the pitch black water that surrounded the island. He knew Voldemort was the same, so he looked for an alternate path.
'The crystal is too brittle for a path and I'd rather not risk tangling with whatever Voldemort has hidden in these waters if it breaks.'
"I see something in the water," Daphne said. She was crouched close to where the cave met the pool of water.
Before he could caution her against anything, she stood and pointed her wand at the water and then swiftly raised it high. The water rippled and bubbled close to the shore and the four of them watched in trepidation for what would break the water's surface. Their fears were abated when the visage of a small boat emerged with a chain rising into Daphne's hand. Harry and Damien joined her in her effort to pull the boat to the rock floor and soon enough the boat was within reach.
"It's not big enough for the lot of us," Harry noted. The boat would barely fit one of the adults let alone the four of them.
"You and Remus should go on," Daphne counselled, "you'll need his expertise on wards and your expertise on the dark lord."
Harry looked at Remus who nodded. "Can't argue with that," he agreed. Harry and Remus got on the boat and their Greengrass comrades pushed the boat into the water. Harry wondered how they were going to propel the boat towards the island but it moved by itself, at a snail's pace, towards their intended destination.
"How is Sirius? Without sugarcoating it please," Harry asked softly.
Remus turned to him but found that Harry was resolutely staring at the island. "Not good," he answered, "he never recovered from James or Azkaban, Frank and Alice was the final straw."
Harry hung his head low, "is there anything I can do to help?"
Remus watched Harry sadly, he keenly felt Harry's helplessness as not even he had broken through to his old friend. "I don't know, he's never been so unstable. I'd say a mind healer would be the best course of action but he would never agree."
Harry breathed in hard and nodded, steeling himself for the next challenge Voldemort would throw at them. He didn't respond, there was nothing to say, or do apparently, so Remus allowed the conversation to die there. The cave sounds echoing in the chamber punctuated the eerie feeling creeping up on them. Before long the island halted their journey, made of entirely crystal, Harry could feel Voldemort's satisfaction at finding such a marvellous place to defile.
They climbed the island to the dais and Harry felt the anxiety rise in his chest as he grew closer to the pedestal. 'If this is all for naught we're back to square one.'
To his immense disappointment, the bowl on the pedestal was empty, with only the black liquid that surrounded the island populating it. He gripped the bowl tightly and felt the fire of his anger replace the anxiety that had arisen. Remus stepped forward and leaned over the basin to inspect it.
"Empty," Harry bit out.
But Remus didn't look convinced. He pointed his wand at the liquid inside and hummed. "Not empty as such, reach out with your magic."
Harry locked his eyes with Remus and found the man to be quite set on him completing that task. Harry decided to indulge him and closed his eyes, focused on Daphne's teachings and reached out with his magic. He was met with nothing, then more of nothing and then on the outer edges of his magic's reach he felt… something hidden. It felt like a veil, meant to conceal but not entirely.
"There's something under the water," Harry realised excitedly, there was hope still.
"I do believe that what lies before us isn't water, but a potion," Remus revealed as he flicked the basin causing the liquid inside to flow. "Look at the viscosity, much thicker than water."
Harry hummed and continued their assumption game, "and it won't be as easy as emptying the potion and taking whatever is down there, horcrux or no."
"Unlikely," Remus agreed. "I believe it must be drunk, however, drinking it almost certainly means death."
Harry retreated into his mind to think. 'If it does kill you, who will be sacrificed? Can I give up a life for the chance of a horcrux? Should I? There's no guarantee that this is the only horcrux either, and with little to no information on finding the others–'
Then it hit him. "No," he replied, "it won't kill us. Voldemort wouldn't want the person who discovered his secret dead, well not immediately anyway. He'd have to know how they discovered them to close up the loose ends, no, this potion won't kill us but it won't be a nice experience."
"You understand him better than me Harry, if you say this potion won't kill me I believe you," Remus admitted and made to fill the shell provided on the side of the basin.
Harry grabbed his arm before he could fill it and Remus looked at him confusedly. "I will not ask this of you."
Remus protested immediately, "Harry you're more important than anyone in this war."
"And I still have to do this. I am destined to vanquish the dark lord and I think this is part of it. It's not something I want to get wrong," Harry reasoned. "So, I'm going to drink this potion and you're going to make me finish it, no matter how much I protest or plead, if the horcrux is there, we're getting it, now."
Harry didn't wait for the man to reply, he grabbed the shell and scooped it in the liquid before raising it to his face and locking eyes with Remus. "Remember," he said, "no matter what, this potion needs to be finished." Remus hesitated a moment but eventually nodded. Harry blew out to calm himself, tilted his head back and drank the potion.
Nothing happened, Harry stared at Remus and Remus stared back at him. Harry had the time to note in his head that the potion tasted oddly flavourless before he felt an indescribable amount of pain across his entire body. He buckled and fell to the floor, grunting as he did so.
"Harry!" Remus cried crouching at his side.
But Harry did not respond. Instead he groaned loudly and clawed at his side, the shell clattering to the floor beside him as he moaned in pain.
"Harry, can you hear me? Are you still with me?" Remus tried again but to no avail.
His insides burned terribly and he began to convulse due to the pain. It felt as though a dragon writhed in his stomach and was spewing flame all over his organs. He trashed and and thrashed in a vain attempt to escape his ordeal but it was no use.
A man stood before him and told him to "drink," and he accepted in his confusion. Harry's arms left his side and moved to his face where his hands gripped his head in anguish and his eyes grew wide, as though he was seeing some terrible monster right before him. "I'm sorry," he mumbled, "I never meant to–"
A ghostly Ron Weasley stood tall in front of him, he was always so tall, and stared at him in judgement. The hole Bellatrix made in his chest hadn't healed and Harry could see the insides of his best friend and pseudo brother working away inside his spectral apparition.
A hand tilted his head back and more of the flavourless potion was forced down his throat. He tried to push his torturer away but he was weak, so very weak and his arms fell limply to his side. Katie Bell was before him now, standing next to Ron, her arms, legs and head were severed from the incorporeal form and she too had a judgemental stare that she had fixed upon him.
"Please! I didn't want this!" he cried desperately but they ignored his pleading words.
A fourth gulp came with the words "final one," and he tilted his head back in despair which the man took as an invitation. With the drink came an unquenchable thirst, his mouth dried and he felt his lips become severely chapped. His mind cleared however and he looked up to see Remus, staring at him in concern.
"Remus?" he croaked out.
"Harry! Don't worry I'll get you some water," Remus assured him as he climbed the island again and attempted to cast a controlled aguamenti in the basin.
Harry relaxed his neck and let his head hang a little and watched the water ripple and sway. 'That's odd,' he thought, 'the water was completely still before even when we were moving across it.' He continued to watch the water move to the background of Remus' attempts to get his water conjuration to work.
His curiosity was met with nightmare fuel when a gaunt, skeletal hand shot out from the water and grasped one of the crystalline rocks on the jagged edge. The hand was not alone either, an entire rotting body pushed itself from the pool and set its soulless eye on him. Panicked, he made to grab for his wand but found it was out of his reach a mere metre from his hand. The creature was closing in on him, one gurgling step at a time and in his weakened state he struggled to even set himself upright.
"Remus," he wheezed, as he looked over to the man. Remus was contending in a battle of strength with two inferi, back against the pedestal. He turned to his right to see if Daphne or Damien were in any position to help but the lumos lights they had cast had vanished and only the fire spells the father and daughter were casting illuminated their side of the cave.
He was alone, with a mangy corpse vying for his blood. He tried again for his wand, throwing his body weight towards it and kicking with his legs to gain some semblance of momentum. His efforts afforded him a face full of rock and a sharp crystal breaking off in his side. Despite the pain from the potion being indescribable, he growled loudly at the crystal protruding from his belly. The inferius was close now, much too close and he was low on energy, strength and willpower but he had one saving grace, his wand was now in reach. With his left hand at his side, he thrust his right hand out and grabbed his wand. Just as he did so, he felt the creature grab his leg and pull with all its might. It was strong for a corpse, Harry realised but he didn't much care for its attributes as he levelled his wand at the offending humanoid.
"Confringo," he almost whispered. He felt the magic get sucked from his body as the curse followed his command and blasted the inferius back into the water. Now free of the imminent danger, his tunnel vision widened, which gave him the ability to see the problem had multiplied drastically. From all sides, inferi climbed onto the island, some of them even over each other, to grab at him. The cold hand of fear gripped his heart, the scene before him almost comparable to the display Voldemrot had put on for them at the hospital. Corpses upon corpses streamed from the water all with the singular goal of tearing him to pieces.
A shout behind him alerted him to Remus' plight once more. The older man was bleeding from several gashes and his left ear was a mess, having been bitten by one of the creatures. Harry used his wand hand to grab onto another crystal and agonisingly pushed himself upwards to stand. Using several more crystals for leverage he pulled himself from the shoreline of the island to the basin and stood next to Remus.
"Harry! Are you okay?" Remus asked as he blasted four more inferi back into the water.
"No," Harry answered honestly, "we need to get off this island. Was there anything in the basin?"
"A necklace," Remus replied, "Salazar's.'
That was all Harry needed to hear as he felt a surge of hope throughout his system. The pain seemed to subside if only slightly and a focus overtook him. "They're creatures of the dark, we have to use fire if there's any chance of us getting out of here alive."
"So what?" Remus asked followed by a volley of spells, "a dash for the boat?"
"I don't see any other options," Harry confirmed. "We go on three."
"One." Remus stomped on the head of an approaching inferius.
"Two." Harry transfigured a set of crystals into make shift spikes, impaling two inferi in place.
"Three." The two of them burst into action, rushing down the island in haste. Harry was intercepted though, by a most terrifying sight. An inferius vaulting off of another and flying at him with mouth open and arms outstretched. It tackled him and they tumbled down to the shore with Harry ending up on his back with an inferius pinning down his wand arm. What's worse is that the reanimated corpse was leaning on the crystal still embedded in his stomach causing him to scream out in pain.
The thing snapped at him viciously, trying to tear his face off with its teeth but he used his free hand to grab its neck and hold it at bay. His situation was more dire than ever, the pain flooded his senses, he couldn't cast anything and his arm was shaking.
An idea formed in his mind, a last ditch effort to free himself from its grasp. He readied himself before releasing the throat and punching it square in the jaw. It reeled back, not from any pain but from the force of the blow, which gave Harry enough time to reach down to his belt and pull his blade from its sheath. As the creature's mouth bore down on him once more he thrust the blade into the side of its head and used that as leverage to roll on top. He whispered the words, "Toujours Pour," before wrenching the blade free from its skull as it burned in black flame.
Although it had felt like a lifetime for him, it had only been mere seconds in real time and Remus had caught up with him. Well placed exploding hexes and blasting curses beat back the beasts enough for them to get to the boat but their retreat was pulled to pieces as they gazed across the water. Hundreds of inferi could be spotted swimming towards them, effectively blocking their exit.
"We'll never make it," Remus said in despair.
Harry didn't reply, instead he analysed their predicament. 'We're gonna need a proper miracle here,' he thought. He entertained the idea that Daphne and Damien could help them but the sounds of their fighting still reached his ears which meant they had their hands full. He spun around and saw inferi stumbling towards him from the mountain and more dragging themselves from the water. 'Let's hope I've got one in the tank.'
"Be prepared to carry me," Harry told Remus before pulling the crystal from his belly and pushing back up the island to its highest point. Inferi tried to stop him but he slash and cast desperately, incinerating any that came too close. Once he had reached the highest point, he planted himself firmly and raised his wand and cried out with all that he had left, "IGNIS TEMPESTAS!"
For a torturous second, his spell had no effect. Then a low rumbling could be heard throughout the whole cave, the sound climbing until it roared in Harry's ears and a tremendous torrent of fire spewed from his wand. He whipped it around himself several times and created a wall around the island. Streams of fire spewed from the wall and turned to ash any corpse that dared to move. He willed the wall further, across the lake and watched as the water burned with the inferi thrashing agony. He continued to whip his wand high over his head like a lasso as the golden flames spread further and further out. The fire danced in his eyes as he held on for dear life to the basin, hoping he could keep the spell up as long as it took to create safe passage for them.
"Harry!" Remus called out, "that's enough! Let's go!"
Harry moved his gaze to Remus and the man was sweating profusely from the heat, dried blood caked his face and exposed arms but he only found concern written on his face, concern for Harry. Harry dropped to a knee as he stopped casting more flames, he raised his wand enough to cast "partis temporus" with half lidded eyes before falling on his side. He watched the flaming wall part and the final thing he saw before darkness took him was Remus rushing up the dias to collect him.
A/N: My chapters are getting biggerrr, 5500 words for this bad boy. I am both glad and annoyed at this development. One the one hand, my writing is getting better, making for more compelling story telling. A consequence of this is that my damned chapter summary is all out of whack cause I keep having to put off events that end up being placed with larger, more important events.
That being said I'm very happy with how this turned out. The ministry's fall was something I wished was more detailed in HP. How and why people lost faith in their minister, the auror force and and how Voldemort was unchallenged in his silent take over. Will Rufus investigate his leaks or will more people die?
The gang is taking the hospital L a little hard… good. That shit was fucking diabolical, I'm genuinely concerned that I though it up and more concerned that I shared those thoughts with the public. I want y'all to fear what Voldemort is capable of though, with Harry powered up I need to make Voldemort a little more unhinged to be a bigger threat.
Sirius is a drunk, is anyone really surprised though? He's had a miserable life. Abusive parents, dead brother, dead friends, betrayed by friend, imprisoned and tortured for 12 years only to escape and fail to get his revenge. Frank and Alice killed too, like give this guy a break. Anyway it's a fairly new thing I'm developing for him so let's hope I don't fumble the bag with that one.
The cave journey, I was actually really excited to write this. (I say that about every chapter ffs). Demonstrating Harry's understanding of Voldemort, showing how Harry would react to drinking the potion of despair and the zombie horde battle was just super fun. I hope I built tension well enough for you readers cause I was so hyped writing it.
Stay tuned for another bed ridden Harry Potter experience and an old man's reflections
Hope y'all enjoyed :)
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