AN: Working on this and with what the skeleton of the story would be... but it is changing a bit from how I thought it might go... With Thanksgiving this week, I will likely have more time to write. College students are away, and so business is a bit slower. So here's hoping I get time to write a bunch this week and post as i go :)
Chapter 10
He listened as everyone else was led from the room, Hermione of course wanted to stay with him, but her parents and the goblins finally won out. It was kind of funny, here he was about to have a bit of someone else's soul removed from his scar, and the last time through he was already in the smaller bedroom and his relatives ignoring him. The differences were starting to become mind boggling. Was it possible that there was a life he had where they had been kind to him? Had there been a life where his parents had survived and they had taken Dudley in?
So many differences between this life and the last one, and yet they were still on parallel tracks so to speak. His own train of thought was halted when the bed sagged as a person sat on it with him.
"So, Harry Potter," Bill said with a grin. "Never thought I would get to meet you before my other siblings still in school, and yet I win out, not that I can tell them. We have a very strict confidentiality clause, so you need not worry about me telling anyone that we have met, let alone that this happened."
"So, um, its going to hurt?" Harry was nervous to be sure, and the red head made him a bit wary since his last life was not the best with his family, so said his reaper.
"Think of it like this; when this shard got placed there it was nothing more than a seed and you fertile soil. Now over time, like anything that grows it sprouted and has taken hold of your magic in order to anchor itself there. This is why a soul holder must have some sort of inherent magic, and if it replenishes its own, all the better for it. Your magic is like the fertilizer that is keeping the thing well fed," Bill was trying to be comforting with this as well, but it seemed he was rather intrigued by it as well.
"But my magic has been bound."
"Not completely, because the person who bound you wanted you to not be a squib or muggle, the person wants you to have enough to show up to school. In fact he bound you so that you would be a rather average student, not really powerful, but not pathetic either." He patted the green eyed boy on the shoulder, "but after this shard is removed and you are unbound, you might find yourself rather ahead of the class in growth and power. From what I can tell, you were bound in order to stay an average kind of wizard, but since this thing has been feeding off of you, and your magic has been fighting both the binding and the soul shard, you might appear to be an average wizard with the binding, but once it is removed you might burst through it."
"Why didn't we take the binding off first then?"
"If we did that, then this shard would be less plant like in analogy and more squid like, as it would reach out and try to take all of your magic over at once."
"Well crap," Harry said to Bill's laughter and amusement.
"Yes, well crap indeed. Before we begin all the pain and torment on the removal, I do need to go over a few things with you." At a nod from the boy Bill continued, "in order to keep you safe you will need to be bound to the bed. The restraints are not magical as any magic we try to hold you down with could feed the shard and keep it in you. It may seem frightening to be strapped down, but from what I have studied this is kind of like an exorcism that muggles did long ago. Not saying that the shard is going to be able to take you over and make you hover in the air, but this will keep you safe, and us."
"I," he swallowed thickly, "I understand, and I think I can handle it. I won't be strapped down for long, will I?"
"No," he said with a squeeze to the shoulder in reassurance. "As soon as this is over, the bindings come off and are put out of sight. Hagknot will then have a look to make sure we got all of it, and once he is satisfied we can let everyone back in. Now he told me to inform you of some side effects of having another soul in you."
"Side effects!?"
"Calm down Harry, I know it sounds terrifying, but remember, you have only a tiny bit of someone in you. You are not looking at turning into the next dark Lord due to this. In fact this is more like a mustard seed in a liter of water." He sighed and looked at the famous boy in all seriousness, "while that seed will have an effect on the water it has sat in for so long, there is no way it has enough power to take over and turn it all into mustard. What this means is, you may have flashes of memories that are not yours, or seeing a certain person may make you feel a certain way, like you have known then but you have never met. So this means you might be able to pick out who some Deatheaters were from the last war, and they may seem familiar to you. We are telling this to you so you can remain safe. A lot of them escaped a prison sentence by claiming they were under a spell, but it is more likely they bribed their way out of it all.
"You have a right to know this Harry, as it is likely some of them might be upset with you for destroying their leader. Not to worry though, because Hogwarts is the safest place in Britain, and no one is going to want to try anything while you are there."
"Thanks Bill," Harry smiled, knowing that the other boy was trying to help him feel better, even if this horcrux brought up a whole new list of issues in his own mind.
"It is time to get him ready," Hagknot said from nearby.
"All set to get this over with Harry?"
"As ready as I will ever be, just promise me you will get this weed out of me along with all the roots in one go?" he asked looking both at the goblin and the red haired man.
"We shall do our best Mr. Potter to remove all of it in one try, and for this we will be moving slow. As such you will be in quite some pain," the goblin looked at him seriously as Bill brought out the leather straps and began fastening them onto the bed frame. "Once this is done, you shall feel much better, that is of course after you sleep and heal from the experience. I must ask you, might I be able to take the shard of soul to study? Or would you prefer it be destroyed now?"
"Wouldn't studying it be dangerous?"
"Not really, not for a goblin," he said as he watched the human of the group begin strapping down the youngest in the room. "Our magic works differently than yours, while having a wand would be nice, and make things far more efficient at the bank, too many fear what a warrior race like we could do with that kind of power. I intend to take this and see just how big of the whole it is, that could give us an idea if this person, or what was left of it, made any more of these things."
"That's possible," Bill said stunned and a bit green at the thought.
"Yes, but highly unadvised. Keep to your task Mr. Weasley, we must get this done for the young man." The goblin gave a fierce smile to Harry, "rest assured Mr. Potter, if he did make more you will be the first to know after the director. It is likely that you may have visions of what to seek out, and where they may have been hidden. If that is the case, you shall have my immediate assistance in retrieving the items and clearing them of the soul shards."
"Thanks Hagknot, and since we might be working together again, please call me Harry," he smiled back to the goblin. "I did the inheritance test when I was there, and since it seems I have been cursed like this, well, there might be other curses I need to watch out for. So, I don't know what it might cost for your time, but I would like my vault, and family vaults and all of that checked for curses. It wouldn't do for me to have this taken care of to just drop dead from something left for me."
"I shall speak with the director after I store this in a safe location then. While I am fairly certain that the Potter holdings contain nothing cursed, it is wise to have another look. Being cautious is something you might need as you live, we goblins do not make many friends, but those we do we trust for life, until proven otherwise, and by then we are usually dead." The goblin nodded at him, "I shall indeed call you Harry, as you are showing great trust in me and my team. Perhaps we can be friends, but after this pain you are about to have inflicted, you might prefer to curse my name instead," he said with a feral grin.
"All set," Bill said stopping Harry from perhaps saying something foolish.
"Very good, now take up your place and prepare," he said taking a large round quartz sphere from his bag, along with a brass ring to rest it on and placed them on the small table beside his bed, moving the whole thing as close to equal with the cursed scar as he could. "Brace yourself Harry, you are about to feel pain like all of your injuries and beatings happening at once. None here will think less of you for crying out, but we of the blood will see this as your birth into manhood, and becoming a warrior yourself. It takes a strength many do not have to live as you have, so this is the death to your old life, and the birth of your new one," he said quietly while the others all got into place for the ritual.
"Thank you Hagknot," Harry said with a nod of gratitude to the old goblin, who then walked away to his own place of power.
The goblin had not been lying when he had said the pain he was about to go through. While he had tried not to scream, or cry out in anyway to start with, he did lose that battle. It did indeed feel like something had taken root within him as the foreign being felt like it was on fire and burning him from wherever its roots had settled in. Once they had started their chant, there was nothing but the fire and pain and the agonizingly slow pulling feel of each root trying to stay where it was, or grasping at something new to try to stay put in the current host.
Eternity in the pits of hell had to be where he was, as it seemed never ending. Writhing in pain, even behind his mental barriers he wasn't safe, though he did wonder at one point in a moment of lucid thought, just how much time did pass, or if he had just died yet again.
Meanwhile
"Hermione, please stop pacing, I'm sure Harry will be fine," her mother said trying to get her daughter to stop wearing a hole into the floor with her pacing.
"Mother it has been more than an hour! What if something went wrong?" her daughter wept with worry.
"Miss Granger," Clara began as she brought Dudley back in from another room. "I suggest you do try and sit. All you are doing is wearing yourself to exhaustion with worry. I can tell you that the curse breakers will do all they can to help the young man."
"But it has been so long," she started getting another head of steam on her anxiousness.
"And it could be quite some time longer as well. Had he been brought to us right after the incident it would have only taken about an hour, if that, and not been so painful for him. However since it has had time to take hold and settle in, it will take longer to remove. I know you are worried for him, but you must understand the goblins will move very carefully here to make sure they get everything the first time," slowly she ushered the young girl into a seat. "Being that it has had almost a decade to fester, they have their work cut out for them. I am certain Harry will be alright in their care."
"Do you have any idea how long?"
"I'm sorry Mr. Granger, but there is no way for me to find out without disturbing them, and there is no way I would risk that." The medi-witch sighed and looked over the Grangers and the now magically unbound Dudley. "It might be best that the group of you head home to rest, and get this young man settled in. I'm sure Amelia will be stopping by before too long, and I can send her to either get the group of you, or to bring the young man to you."
"I'd prefer we be here when he wakes up, but, getting some food, and sitting at home might be best," Emma said looking at her daughter who really did not want to leave. "Harry will be fine and safe here sweetie, we can come back after dinner to wait if we haven't heard anything by then."
"Okay," Hermione sighed knowing that being a young girl all over again was going to have draw backs like being unable to put her foot down about certain things. There was no way that her parents would ever leave here alone in a fairly new and unknown place, unless it was a library or a school.
Once they were driving along Dudley too his chance to speak with his foster sister.
"Does magic always feel like this?" he asked.
"Like what?"
"Like tingling all over, gooseflesh that keeps coming and going," he said showing her his arm where indeed the hairs rose up and then lay back down only to repeat it in another minute or two.
"I guess that is happening since your body is now becoming accustomed to you having your magic. Since Harry and I grew with it, neither of us gets that feeling. With luck it will go away in time. What did the medi-witch say to you about it?"
"Well she was really nice about it all, and it felt odd. When she raised her stick."
"Wand."
"Right, wand. Well when she raised it up and started saying those odd words, it felt like I couldn't breathe. Like there was a number of belts all cross my chest and they were so tight, but then as she kept going it was like they slowly loosened and then fell away. Made me feel all light and floaty, like I was gonna blow away in the wind." He was a bit more bright eyed as he spoke to her, and he was obviously interested in her opinion.
"And then when it was done, she gave me this bubbly purple stuff that didn't taste too bad, but then it felt like I was slammed back into me. It was all really strange, and she said I would feel a bit off for a bit. Said something about reacquainting me with my magic, and something about having accidents," he said with an embarrassed blush, "but I haven't had an accident in years!"
"Not that kind of accident Dudley," Hermione said with a giggle. "She meant accidental magic. When I was younger mum took away my favorite stuffy since I was being naughty, and she placed it far from my reach in the crib. I got so angry and I wanted it so badly, my magic pulled it to me. Mum was stunned and didn't know how I could have managed it. I'm sure Harry had some accidents with his magic too?"
"Yeah, he turned a teacher's wig blue," Dudley said with a grin and then it quickly faded. "Dad gave him a beating for it, locked him in the cupboard for a few days. I was surprised when he came out and was still sore but alive, especially since I dunno if they gave him any food."
"Well you don't need to worry about anything," Dan said from the passenger seat, "we are rather used to magical accidents now. Nothing to be ashamed of, and might help you have some great stories to pass onto your own kids someday. We have been writing down the things that happened so far, so that someday we can embarrass our daughter with them. It's what parents do," he grinned back at the boy. "I'll have to get a book out and start writing yours down as well. Once you graduate school, the books will become yours. We will keep track of accomplishments and the like in them, and photos and such so you can look back on happy memories."
"Thank you sir, that sounds nice," Dudley said still uncertain about this whole living with a new family thing.
A cool damp cloth moving across his forehead finally brought Harry back into the world of the conscious. Hagknot was sitting on a chair next to him and wiping the cool fabric over his scar.
"Good news Mr. Potter, we got it all out," the goblin said satisfied.
"Thanks Hagknot," harry croaked out from his sore throat. "Call me Harry, please."
"Very well Harry," the goblin grinned. "You have been under out care for about six hours now. The soul shard is removed and sealed until it is time to destroy it. Try not to talk much, we had to force a potion into you to help heal your vocal chords. Your screams were loud and terrible, and I think you may have ruptured a few chords.
"You were quiet when w first started, but then you let loose the most horrific wail, it was nearly terrifying as that of a banshee. While in the throes of pain and anguish your magic instinctively fought against the intruder helping us to remove it from you. This is when your creams of pain became screams of a warrior in single-minded combat. It was glorious to hear Harry, you have truly got a warrior's heart and soul within you. For proving that a wizard knows what a real battle is I odder you my friendship and my services to check all of your account holdings personally.
"While the others may call you Harry, to goblins I shall call you Shattercry, as your scar was lightning that shatters a darkened sky, but your cry was far more fierce and terrifying than mere thunder that causes rats to scurry. Your cry of battle would shatter an enemies' resolve to fight," the goblin said with a gleam in his eye. "I feel honored that I and my team were able to hear such a fierce battle cry."
"Congrats Shattercry," Bill said pale faced but grinning. "I've heard goblin war cries before, but the sound that came from you," he shook his head in disbelief. "You earned your name in combat, and next time you head to the bank, they will treat you better than anyone else be it witch or wizard."
"Now that you are awake, and know that it is done as we said, we will leave you to the medi-witch. I shall speak with the director about your accounts, and see about double checking that nothing cursed has ended up in there, and that everything is accounted for," Hagknot said as he climbed down from the chair and picked up his bag. "Until we meet again Shattercry."
The other goblins gave nods of acknowledgement and Bill chuckled and shook his head.
"I've been around them long enough to know you really impressed them. Trusting a goblin is a tricky thing, but those ones will have your back. Well, rest up, and have fun at school! Watch out for the twins though, or they might prank you." With that he mussed up the hero's hair and exited with the group allowing Clara and her assistant to come back in.
