DISCLAIMER! This Harry Potter story was written for fun. All rights belong to the wonderful lady (JK Rowling) who gave the world Harry Potter to read and enjoy. New Movie is coming in April! Hurrah! Yeah, for Fanfiction – a great place to stretch your imagination and enjoy someone else's creativity too! The is the sequel to The Potter Cartouche.
Forgot to Load this Chapter. This is chapter 25. The battles in Gringotts are chapter 26! Apologies.
Chapter 25 Rituals at Yule and Talking HeadsCHANGE SCENES: Rituals at YuleAs Yule approached, DMLE Director Amelia Bones and her guard came to Gringotts Bank on a morning when Magical Britain seemed calm. Waiting in the queue like every other witch, when she reached the teller, Amelia asked to speak to Ironstream, a goblin who'd risen to the position of advisor for King Ragnock. The teller pointed to a bench where she was allowed to sit. Her guards stood at attention around her, and the entire party remained silent for the four minutes it took for the goblin to hurry into the room.
Ironstream greeted the witch, "Director Bones! I pray your enemies lay bleeding at your feet for many years to come. How can Gringotts assist you today?"
"I would speak with you about great treasures," Amelia said, meaning the Dark Lord's Horcruxes. Ironstream led the witch down a hallway to his office without betraying his excitement. Amelia's guards stood at attention, matched by heavily armed goblins. To disconcert the wizards, the goblins grinned from time to time, displaying the golden points attached to their teeth. Inside the office, Amelia and Ironstream discussed the upcoming rituals to end the Soul Jars of Tom Marvolo Riddle.
"The Unspeakables believe there is a seventh piece somewhere in the world. It is the remanent of the wizard's original soul, but they can't be certain where it is," she said. "We have recovered the diary with a trace of his soul, a ring from the Gaunt family, and Ravenclaw's diadem."
"You know that Gringotts captured the shard that was in Heir Potter's scar and the cup that was in She-Who-Must-Be-Killed's vault. This past week, at the direction of Regent Black, we took possession of a decrepit house in London where a great many treasures were stored. Among them, we found another of the Dark Lord's great treasures, and when it was examined, we discovered that it holds two separate pieces of the Sturrdel-gryhiglzehwe's soul."
Pleased to hear the news, Amelia smiled and listened to the goblin as he continued, "We think that in the last weeks, something occurred to drive the soul shard out of whatever wizard, magical creature, or object where it resided. The piece of his soul sought out one of its brothers and fell into the locket."
"Do you mean that we have the whole of Tom Riddle?" asked Amelia, unwilling to hide her excitement. "We can end that…whatever goblin descriptor you used…at Yule?"
"Yes," replied Ironstream.
Taking a deep breath, Amelia said, "Barty Crouch, Sr. was killed in a mysterious, magical fire last month. Perhaps that was what freed the last shard of the Dark Lord."
"Crouch's estate went to Lord Black, and we have processed his vault, sold the destroyed property, and sent Crouch's elf to serve the family of Heir Black."
"Aren't they muggles?" asked Director Bones.
"No," replied Ironstream. "The parents are squibs, two sons at Hogwarts are wizards and two daughters still at home already display accidental magic. I understand that Madam Griselda Marchbanks arrived uninvited in their muggle home and proceeded to browbeat the parents about allowing Minister Diggory and his wife to blood adopt their second son."
"What? That's not possible," Bones argued.
"And the family's elves took exception to the witch's invasion of their family's home."
"What happened?" Amelia asked, unfamiliar with the witch's latest moves.
"The elves trussed her up, covered her with stinging hexes, and silenced her. The muscle that waited outside the house were banished into the Forest of Dean. When they tried to return, they were banished into the North Sea. The Creevey parents had a way to signal for help, but before Regent Black arrived to deal with the witch, the house-elves had everything under control."
"Who were the wizards she brought with her?" asked Bones in a cold tone.
"Some of your off-duty Aurors, I believe," the goblin replied. Bones remained silent while Ironstream grinned and added, "I believe Great Evil Tonks filed lawsuits for line theft against both Marchbanks and Diggory that can't be ignored again. She'll settle for financial damages but press for the line theft if they don't settle."
"Merlin. The Blacks are back in force, aren't they?" Amelia grumbled.
"Gringotts would advise every witch and wizard with any good sense to not aggravate Regent Black. She did not forgive her sister for the attempt to assassinate Heir Black at Hogsmeade and left the witch knutless the day her husband's family arrived to take possession of the estate."
Amelia nodded, and she would speak sternly with her staff to not say or do anything to attract the ire of Regent Black, Heir Black, or Heir Potter. The Aurors who helped Marchbanks would receive some reassignments.
CHANGE SCENE: Yule RitualsHeadmaster Bennet was notified that two individuals from his school were requested to attend rituals in the Department of Mysteries or Gringotts. Headmaster Emeritus Dumbledore was 'requested' to participate in the ritual in the DoM, while Mr Harry Potter was invited to participate in a similar ritual in Gringotts.
With the permission of his magical guardian readily available, Harry planned to use the floo to travel to Gringotts on 21 December to attend the ritual. Headmaster Emeritus Dumbledore declined to travel to London and attend that ritual. On the afternoon of 20 December, Minister Diggory used the floo to come to Hogwarts and speak with the elderly wizard. Amelia Bones appeared and demanded that Dumbledore attend.
In the Great Hall, in front of the staff and students gathered for luncheon, she shouted, "This is the end of Tom Riddle! The end of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named! You must be there so you can't claim later that he will return!"
"Amelia, you mustn't speak of this in public," Dumbledore muttered.
"Dumbledore, Riddle split his soul into seven pieces. The ministry has three pieces, and the goblins have four pieces. You will be there if I have to arrest you as a material witness and hold you in a cold cell for a month! Now come with me!" demanded Amelia Bones.
"I'm being kidnapped," Dumbledore declared though no one voiced any support for the wizard as Director Bones and her guards escorted him to a floo and left the castle. Headmaster Bennet shut down all floo's in the castle once Dumbledore and Potter had left.
In the Department of Mysteries, Albus Dumbledore, Amelia Bones, and Amos Diggory watched the Unspeakables examine the Horcruxes with spells that produced parchment reports. Dumbledore's questions were answered in detail until Director Bones and Minister Diggory grumbled about unnecessary delays, but Unspeakable #42 replied that the DoM was waiting for word from Gringotts to continue.
"Your ritual is dependent on the goblins?" asked Dumbledore.
"Possibly," replied the Unspeakable. Behind them, one of the artefacts – the ring – began to smoke, and a dark shadow rose from the ring and faded away.
"Excellent!" the Unspeakable announced. "One down and two to go."
The Diadem of Ravenclaw was the next item to smoke, and the taint was pulled from it. Finally, the ruined diary of Tom M. Riddle gave out the slightest puff of smoke and only a glimmer of a shadow.
"Well, that's it. Tom Marvolo Riddle has been destroyed," Unspeakable #42 announced.
"Wait…you didn't do anything!" declared Dumbledore.
The unspeakable sneered and explained, "Haven't you ever studied sympathetic magic, headmaster? The goblins had four pieces of the dark lord's soul, and their ritual pulled the pieces out of these artefacts. Gringotts is not many kilometres from here."
SCENE CHANGE: GringottsFor Harry, the visit to Gringotts for the ritual was almost a holiday. He spoke with Bloodhook, and his new bride, who was very pretty despite her sharp teeth, greeted King Ragnock and rode deep underground in one of the Gringotts vault carts. There was evidence of more golden fixtures on door frames than before, and many goblins danced as they went about their daily tasks.
Harry and Bloodhook were greeted by three goblin elders and two dozen curse breakers who had the three artefacts secured behind ritual runes and carvings on the floor in the ritual room. Brightly coloured chalks were used to create symbols that Harry didn't recognise but imagined as goblin runes.
When it was time to begin, Bloodhook used his knife to touch the first line of chalk, and Harry watched a spark of magic travel the distance to the first artefact. A scream filled the air, and the cup appeared to melt, releasing a black smoke that rolled and boiled, trapped behind the runes of the containment field. A second wisp of smoke flew into the chamber from outside the bank and joined with the first to churn about before fading away.
Now, the second artefact, the crystal that held the piece from Harry's scar, expelled its piece of Tom Riddle's soul to roil around until another wisp of smoke from outside the bank appeared. The two parts of smoke fought each other as they faded away.
The third artefact rolled back and forth for a moment but finally melted away as two wisps of smoke rose and fought with each other desperately. A final, tiny bit of smoke flew in and joined the battle as the trio of soul pieces fell apart. Then the elders and curse breakers spent another ten minutes chanting and clearing away the protections in the room.
"What did you think of our ritual, Freshgold?" inquired Bloodhook as the pair headed back to the cart to return to the surface.
"I was surprised there wasn't any blood," Harry admitted. "But I thought it was brilliant."
SCENE CHANGE: Talking HeadsA disgruntled Albus Dumbledore climbed the final staircase that led to his office. The gargoyle leapt aside without prompting, and the rotating staircase moved slowly, but he didn't have to climb another staircase to return to his office. As the term progressed, more and more of the portraits of the former headmasters and headmistresses faded from his walls of this office, leaving faded outlines of their previous lives.
'Will I be remembered in ten years?' Albus wondered, not for the first time this autumn. 'And Minerva was supposed to be the one to follow me. That would have ensured my legacy. Now, she doesn't even answer my letters.'
'Amelia and the Unspeakables won't announce the death of Tom Riddle. Diggory won't talk to me…won't listen to me. The goblins never listened to me…just like Harry Potter won't listen to me anymore.'
'I only want what is for the good of all wizards,' he told himself again and again.
Reaching his office – the centre of power in his universe since he became headmaster more than forty years before, he found he was too tired to trudge up that final staircase to his bed. The empty stand where his phoenix had slept for all those years left him even more dispirited. Gossip at the staff table was that Fawkes slept in the kitchens with the house-elves. She continued to visit with different students at breakfast and supper, eating grapes and cumquats from the hands of the children while singing nonsensical tunes.
Slipping into his comfortable chair, Dumbledore allowed himself to relax for a minute and nodded off. He dreamed he was talking with Gravis McMillian and Alastor Moody for some reason. Both purebloods spouted conservative positions of muggle-borns as concubines for their betters.
'Wait, neither wizard wanted concubines. Why are they saying that?' Albus wondered. Then the head of Severus Snape appeared, his lips shouting that the Dark Lord had come for Albus. In a panic, Dumbledore thought, 'The Unspeakables and the goblins missed something!'
The nightmare only ended when he woke with a start and then screamed, finding the severed heads of Alastor Moody, Severus Snape, and Gravis McMillian on his desk. And Dumbledore fainted, triggering an alarm in Headmaster Bennet's office. An elf popped into the office of the headmaster emeritus and then popped the wizard to the castle infirmary for the healer to examine. A calming potion and a night of rest under the healer's care was the prescription.
When the elf returned, the desk was clean of all body parts, so he cleaned up the dirty papers and any fluids on the floor. The kneazles would continue to play with their trophies.
END OF CHAPTER