Fred held out a stack of letters to Harry. "All done. I honestly can't see Bill, Charlie or Dad knowing anything about what Mum did. But I wouldn't have believed it of Mum either before you told us." He shrugged and looked a little miserably at Harry, George rested his chin on Fred's shoulder.

Harry sighed as he took the stack of letters. "Yeah. I know. Hopefully none of the rest of your family was in on it." When he looked back up at them, he did a double-take and then his eyes widened. "Ash! ASH!"

Fred and George looked confused as Ash came running into the room. "What's wrong? Why are you yelling for me like that?"

Harry pointed a finger towards the twins. "Uh Ash. When Fionn was talking about Wizards fading in the Realm, no one actually explained what that looked like. It doesn't look like that... does it?"

Fred's form was slightly - fuzzy - around the edges, though the rest of him looked fine. George didn't have the fuzzy edges, but he was paler than usual, paler than Fred was. Ash reached out and poked them, making them both jump. "Shit. Usually they last longer than this. You two are going to have to go back to the mortal Realm, no later than the end of today."

"But-"

"No buts. Do you want to fade out of existence? Vacation is over kids, decide what you want to see or do today, and I'll be taking you back to the mortal Realm tonight."

Fred and George looked at each other, doing their communicating without words thing. Just as George opened his mouth to say what they had decided, a red message light flew into the room and up to Harry.

"The Warriors are back, with a prisoner. They want to know if the brand can be removed today. Apparently they don't want to take any chances of anything happening to the prisoner before he can be put to use." He looked apologetically at the twins. "Sorry guys, maybe Ash or Fionn will take you around somewhere for your last day?"

"No Harry, we want to see this. It sounds interesting,"

"And dangerous!"

"And we want to be there."

"Well, if you're sure..."

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The room they entered was made entirely of plain grey stone. It was twice as large as the exam room they had been in last time, and there were no chairs or other furniture in sight. The walls and ceiling were completely smooth, and had no designs or pattern to them. Most of the floor was smooth and flat, but there were two places, one in the far left corner of the room, and one to the right of the door, where the floor had what looked like a miniature wall in it. These walls were only three inches tall, and about two inches wide, but they went right to the actual walls like they were mapping out rooms within the room. Harry wondered what they were for.

As they were looking around at the room, the door opened and Rialyn and Djuran came in, followed by Gideon, Herne and Laric. The Warriors had a bundle swathed in blankets hovering in the air behind them. They headed to the far left, where the not-room was and dumped the bundle onto the floor inside the miniature walls. Laric and Herne stayed facing the bundle, and Gideon turned to face into the room.

"Hey, I thought only Fae and Succubi had colored hair." Fred said in a voice that sounded like it was meant to be a whisper but didn't quite carry it off. "So why does that Demon have purple hair?"

Harry hadn't ever thought about why Gideon had purple hair before, it was just one of those things. He shrugged at Fred. "No idea?"

Laric and Herne were trying not to laugh, Gideon just had a blank expression, and then Herne whispered, though his voice carried clearly in the quiet room. "He dyes it!"

Whack! Gideon smacked the back of Herne's head with one wing, Laric's shoulders were shaking as he laughed silently.

"If we're done fooling around, I'd like to get started." Djuran had his arms crossed and looked a little bored.

"Uhm... Can I ask who it is? I'd kind of like to know who did this to me, and why."

Gideon frowned. "He's been drugged so he can't interfere with the removal Harry. But I can tell you what he said when we interrogated him if you really want to know. It wasn't... pleasant. I think he's more than a bit insane."

"I want to know. Whoever it is blocked off a major part of me, and it's still screwing with my life. Tell me."

"He said that there was a prophecy, you were fated to be the one to kill some Dark Lord in your Realm. But this Lord had split his soul into seven Horcruxes that needed to be destroyed first. And he said that... he believed you were one of them." Gideon paused a moment, both to let that sink in and because Djuran had hissed when he said the word 'horcruxes' and was now cursing with Rialyn in another language.

Harry paled, and reached up to rub his scar. "No... that can't be. I can't be a horcrux, why would he want to steal my body if I was a horcrux?" Fionn came up behind him and held Harry.

"He said that once the other horcruxes were destroyed, killing you would destroy the one inside you. He planned to have you and this Dark Lord kill each other, and then when you died he would transfer his soul into your body. So he would then be able to pretend to be you and get the fame for himself. He wanted to be the most powerful Wizard alive and rule the world. But he didn't want to have to deal with being a creature, so he blocked that part out, said it would die along with your soul. And he would be young again, so he'd have many years of power ahead of him." Gideon said.

Laric reached out and vanished the blankets once Gideon stopped talking. Harry's eyes immediately went to the form now revealed. Albus Dumbledore was laying unconscious on the stone floor. He looked worse for wear, his eyebrows were singed, and half of his beard was gone. What was left of his robes were dirty and torn, and there were bruises on some of the revealed skin, as well as cuts and some blood. It must have been quite a fight, though the Warriors didn't appear to have a scratch on them. Harry couldn't speak, he just stood there silently staring. He knew Dumbledore wasn't as good as he wanted everyone to believe, he'd been stealing money from Harry after all. But he really hadn't thought the old man would do something this horrible. Plotting Harry's death and taking over the world? That was something he expected Voldemort to do, not Dumbledore.

Fionn held Harry tightly, and even Fred and George looked shocked.

"Hate to break this up people, but this is going to take a while as it is. Can we get started already?" Rialyn spoke into the silence that had fallen, argument with Djuran finally over.

That seemed to snap Harry out of his thoughts. "Ash said you guys never do this kind of thing for free. But you didn't mention payment to me when we met last time. What am I going to owe you for this?"

Rialyn smirked and started to open his mouth, but Djuran spoke first. "There is nothing we need right now. And we aren't short of money. I think a promise of a favor to be given in the future for each of us would cover it."

"But that could be anything! Harry can't promise something like that!" George gasped.

"That is the payment we wish. If you refuse, you can find another Soul Magic expert and try negotiating with them." Djuran smiled slightly, he knew there were no other Soul Magic experts that could come on this kind of notice.

Harry considered carefully, he didn't like the terms, but better the ones he knew than someone who might ask for worse. "I accept, with conditions."

Djuran arched a single black brow.

"You cannot ask for anything that would damage or break up any mateships I have, or am working towards, at the time of the request. You cannot ask me to kill anyone besides Voldemort. You cannot ask about secrets I have, or have been told by others. And you cannot indenture me or anyone I consider mine." Harry covered the things that were most important to him, and hoped he hadn't left any loopholes that he would regret later.

Djuran glanced at Rialyn. The Fae spoke a single word in a language Harry didn't know, and the gold markings around his eyes glowed. Rialyn's eyes unfocused and in a voice nothing like his usual he finally spoke. "Done. Done. Done and Done." The markings went flat and dim again, and his eyes focused once more. "Your terms are accepted in exchange for a favor given in the future for both Djuran and I."

"Now, you three will need to be in the shielding with the prisoner." Djuran spoke to the Warriors, who all carefully stepped over the wall and took up positions facing Dumbledore. "Harry stand here in the center, and the rest of you stand in the shielding by the door. Once we start you will be unable to leave until we are finished." He looked down at Harry as the others moved into position. "This will most likely hurt."

Harry just nodded and silently went to stand between Djuran and Rialyn. Rialyn was closest to Dumbledore but was facing Harry's friends. Djuran was facing Dumbledore and the Warriors. Once all were in position, Djuran spoke two sharp words in that unknown language and glowing barriers sprang up from the miniature walls on the floor. They sealed off the two groups inside of them and went all the way to the ceiling with no gaps. Then Djuran and Rialyn raised their hands, left palms facing each other, right palms facing Harry and began to chant.

Harry tuned it out, he couldn't understand it and the magic that was now swirling in the room was making him just a bit nervous. He wondered if he was supposed to have removed his shirt like he had for the brand readings, but decided that he would have been told to do so if it had been needed. As the chanting grew in volume, the magic almost became visible, he had the feeling that if he could just look in the right way, he'd be able to see it instead of just feeling it. Wind pulled at his hair and clothing, but it wasn't like any wind he had felt before, this was made of pure magic. As it grew stronger, he felt the brand on his lower back begin to heat up. It felt like it was being burned off his skin, or through his skin. He didn't care and couldn't tell, it just hurt.

Those watching saw Harry start to glow, first from his back, and then it spread out to cover his entire body. Then the screaming started. Harry was screaming and convulsing in the middle of the room, and suddenly a light shot out from his body and hit Dumbledore. The unconscious Wizard started to twitch and shake as though he was having seizures, but never woke. And still the magic in the room grew. It was so thick it felt like they were swimming in it instead of breathing it.

And that's when they had the first inkling that something wasn't quite right. As the magic pressed in on them, two more beams of light shot out of the circle around Harry, Djuran and Rialyn. And those beams of light and magic went straight for Fred and George. The moment it hit them, both Wizards screamed. They were lifted off their feet and slammed backwards into the stone wall behind them, and nothing Fionn or Ash did would let them approach the twins.

The lights grew brighter, so bright no one could see anything except the light behind their tightly shut eyes. Ash pulled Fionn against her and wrapped them both in her wings, trying to protect him at least from the magics raging through the room. And the screaming from all three Wizards was never-ending. It went on and on, and just when she thought her ears would bleed and she would go deaf, they finally went silent. Yet still the light and magic pressed in on them.

When it was finally over, it took a while to be able to see again, and relearn how to breath. With spots still appearing before her eyes, Ash took a staggering step and looked around. The room looked like it had been set on fire. The once grey stone walls, were now covered in black burned areas. Some of the stone had actually crumbled or melted from the magic, and there were pits and holes everywhere. It looked like a war zone out of a horror book. Harry was unconscious in the middle of the floor, most of his clothes had been burnt off him by the magic, but he didn't appear to have a scratch on him. Dumbledore was gone, completely consumed by the magics used. And when she finally turned to see what had happened to the twins, she could do nothing but stare.

Fred lay slumped against the wall, knocked out cold. George in a heap beside him, also out. And this was a blessing Ash was sure. For where once they had been Wizards, they now had wings. Demon wings, in Jade green with Lapis marble patches. The twins were now Water Demons. There was no sign of the shirts they had been wearing, most likely consumed by the magics that changed them. And now they wouldn't have to worry about leaving the Realm or Fading. But she wasn't sure how they were going to take their new status.

Rialyn raised his head from where he had slumped to the ground, the magics had taken a lot out of him and Djuran. As he looked around the room his eyes fell on Fred and George. He blinked a moment, and then spoke a single word. "Oops."

AN: So, those of you wondering how I was going to deal with Fred and George, this should answer that question. *snickers* Did anyone see that coming?

And I had planned the "he dyes it" line from the moment I introduced Gideon, actually surprised no one mentioned his hair color before now.

Also, sorry but keeps eating my formatting. There are spacers between scenes that it just refuses to add. No clue why. As always, review replies are on the forum which can be found on my profile.