TTTTTTTTTTT

All of the characters except for my own handful of originals, as well as locations, names, titles etc. are and remain the property of JKR and I hope you like it.

Principles such as Splicing are mine as well as all unique books, histories, titles, traditions and spells. I give users permission to use them, but only if you reference me in your work.

Review please whether you like it or not. Tell me what you do and do not like and why! I do love having my ego stroked with 'Wow, great!' etc. but it's not as useful for my process as having some real examples and effects. If any of you would like to PM me a review or opinions or just talk about my story, please do so.

TTTTTTTTTTT

Chapter 25: Three curses and a Promise Fulfilled.

Harry had been in the library since dawn, taking with him a stack of toast, bowl of cereal and a bacon, sausage and egg sandwich made for him by Dean.

The sandwich was gone, the milk congealing in the bowl and the toast crumbs had been eaten by a mouse which was now being digested by Nidhogg who was resting in the folds of the invisibility cloak on the desk next to Harry and his pile of books.

Harry's eyes were aching as the midday sun broke through a stained glass window showing a tall ancient man in a white robe. His head was shaved at the front and he held a golden sickle in his right hand.

Harry took his glasses off and closed the book which thumped in the silent library. The book was titled The Scars of Darkness and detailed many side-effects that people experienced following magical warfare and injuries caused by dark magic. Apparently injuries caused by dark magic were lingering and slow to heal, if they could be healed at all and many dark spells had been designed to weaken their victims in the long-term as much if not more than at the time of casting. One example – not named specifically – caused the victim's blood to seep out through his pores; when a counter-curse and cure were discovered, it was found that survivors also had to deal with months and years of blood-borne infections and a weakened immune system. As many victims died of the aftereffects as did of the curse itself.

But there was nothing that referenced scars hurting of their own accord after so long without pain. There were injuries that plagued their bearers with pain for the rest of their lives, but there was nothing that quite matched.

The source of his scar itself had turned up something both fascinating and worrying. The first book he had taken down from the shelves had been called The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts and dealt with the war against Voldemort in incredible detail and thankfully made no presumptions or leaps of logic as did most books that in any way concerned Harry.

He had read, near the end of the book about Voldemort's demise in a village called Godric's Hollow where he used something called the killing curse to end the lives of James Potter – an auror with the ministry of magic – and his wife Lily Potter (née Evans) who was a noted healer and master of charms. Voldemort then turned his wand on Harry, but for reasons unknown failed to kill him and was himself destroyed.

This had led Harry to another book on combat magic which made mention of three 'unforgivable' spells which were apparently so foul that the use of any of them was considered an act of evil in all the countries governed by the Wizenagemot and would result in life imprisonment, usually in Azkaban.

The three spells were each very different, but all were terrible: the first was the torture curse which inflicted terrible pain on the victim for as long as the attacker desired; the second was a curse of domination which forced a victim to behave exactly as the attacker instructed them and the third was the killing curse. According to the book it was a curse of instant death, for which there was no known protective enchantment, incantation or charm; the only way to survive it was to dodge it.

The one-year old Harry couldn't have dodged a spell even if he'd have known what was happening and various books hypothesised how an otherwise normal magically awakened infant could have survived a spell that had killed thousands throughout the centuries. After the first few that dubbed him a messiah or saviour, Harry gave up and continued reading about magical injuries.

And that was how he had arrived at midday with tired eyes and a headache throbbing at the base of his skull. He stood, pushing his chair out and stretching his legs.

'Is everything well?' Nidhogg asked, still concealed beneath the cloak.

'Fine, I'm just stiff.' Harry said, walking around the desk and putting away a few books. There were only three other people in the library, mostly NEWT students from the look of them getting in a few extra hours of revision.

'Is it time yet?' Nidhogg asked. He had been badgering Harry about them going together to Hagrid's house all night and day.

'Soon. Are you sure this is a good idea?' Harry asked.

'Yessss.'

Harry was full of trepidation about stealing the egg from Hagrid and giving it over to Nidhogg for whatever he had planned, but he wouldn't deny his tiny friend anything. He had decided that the best place to keep Nidhogg would be on the third floor in one of the abandoned classrooms and under the invisibility cloak. According to the tiny snake he would need to sleep for a very long time and so Harry could leave him there without concern while he slept. It was all in place, all he needed was the egg.

'How long will you sleep?' Harry asked for at least the fifth time.

'I do not know, we normally sleep through the cold moons, but this will be longer I think.'

That was more than the little snake had said before at least. Harry sat down again, his mind too full. Between classes and homework, Nidhogg and the egg, Dumbledore and the cloak and all the research he wanted – needed – to do he had no time to think or rest.

He cupped his hands over his eyes and took a deep breath, inhaling the warm musty scent of the library. I need to prioritise, he thought, take one thing at a time. That way I can just do each thing as it comes.

That idea refreshed him. The most pressing issue at that moment was the stress that Nidhogg was causing, worrying him about the egg and his limited time. That would be it.

Harry opened his eyes and leaned forward over the cloak. 'Right, I'm going to get you the egg, you can eat it or whatever you're going to do,' their conversations regarding Nidhogg's plans for the egg had been hampered by his still slightly limited vocabulary, 'and then sleep in the hidden classroom. I found a spell that will take care of the warmth that you need. It lasts for up to a week at a time if I can get it perfect, but until then I'll just have to keep checking on it, okay?'

'Okay.'

Harry stood, removed Nidhogg from the cloak and transferred him to his sleeve where he wound around Harry's upper arm, his head appearing at his collar. He slung his father's cloak over his arm, hiding the snake and left the library.

Nidhogg hid while Harry walked through the castle until he pulled the cloak over him in a broom cupboard near the main entrance. They slipped out, invisible and made their way out into the grounds. It was a cool, clear day outside and the fresh air stung Harry's nose after the mustiness of the library. They avoided long grassy areas where possible, sticking to paths where no accidental onlooker could see their movements. Hadrig's hut was set far back from the castle in the direction of the forbidden forest. Harry bolted the last few hundred metres even though there was not a person in sight.

He drew up a stone's throw from the huge house and swallowed hard. He had never been torn between two actions before and unfortunately the for and against arguments in his head both boiled down to love: He loved Nidhogg and wanted to do everything in his power to make him happy, whereas Hagrid had been the one to introduce him to the wizarding world, to start to teach him about his history.

'What is the matter?' Nidhogg asked, his tongue tickling Harry's neck.

'Nothing.' Harry's fists clenched and he steeled himself.

He walked to the hut, crept up the front steps and listened at the door. Silence. Moving to the edge of what stood as a porch, he rose onto tiptoes and looked through one dirty window. Inside was almost completely dark; the only light coming from a roaring open fire in the huge grate which illuminated Hagrid's living room in dancing reds and yellows. The huge kettle hung over the blaze.

Harry took a deep breath and tried the door. When it didn't open he waved his wand, spoke a word and it clicked open. With a last furtive look behind him to check for witnesses, Harry slipped through the open door, shut it behind him and pulled the cloak off.

The inside of the hut was full of the smell of cooked meat and blood, there was a fresh deer carcass on the seven-foot-tall table in the kitchen that was in the process of being jointed. The deer's left eye stared blankly, accusingly at him.

Hurrying over to the kettle, Harry pulled on Hagrid's thick gloves and tried to lift the kettle but it must have weighed as much as he did. Wincing against the fire, He pulled a stool over and lifted the lid from the kettle. 'Lumos.' He said and smiled as the light revealed the baking sand. He prodded the sand until it touched something hard and, pulling the gloves on tighter, he dug down, biting his lip against the heat and with a grunt of effort pulled the egg free. He extinguished his wand, transferred the egg to his book bag which he slung across his shoulder then replaced the lid, stool and gloves. His face was slick with sweat and his heart pounding. Licking his lips, he checked the whole area over, swept some sand toward the flames and was eventually satisfied. The egg was so hot he could feel it radiating through his bag and clothes as he returned to the door and pulled the cloak back on, making sure it covered the bulging bag. He pulled the door open and shut, tapped it with his wand to relock it and hurried back to the castle.

Nidhogg was tense against him as he climbed the steps toward the main entrance.

'What's the matter?' Harry asked, 'You'd better not be changing your mind.'

'No. This is a great deed Harry Potter, a great service you do me. There hasn't been a great serpent created since He woke the one that now sleeps in the bowels of Hogwartssss.'

Harry didn't respond and moved aside to let a group of students in their weekend clothes hurry past, laughing and joking. When the coast was clear he moved again. 'You mean Voldemort, don't you?'

'Yesss…'

'And you think that whatever you're going to do with this egg is going to change you?'

'It is certain.'

Harry ascended the great stair in silence and waited for the moving steps to move. When able, he hurried to the top, careful to avoid his feet showing under the edge of the cloak. The door to the third floor was open and inside he saw that Fred and George's clubhouse was bright and busy. Fortunately, the adventure of the day before had resulted in large sections of the floor being swept clean so there was no need for him to hide his footsteps as he walked to the fifth classroom along.

Inside it was bitterly cold as Harry cast a spell to warm an area roughly one metre cubed. He hadn't practiced it much but it should last at least twenty-four hours.

He pulled the cloak off as the air in front of him shimmered slightly. He had chosen the furthest corner of what seemed to be a muggle-studies class because it was full of absurd illustrations of disassembled home appliances and (mostly incorrect) diagrams of the function of electricity.

He had cast the spell inside an empty storage cupboard filled with dusty shelves. It was as near to a perfect place he could imagine. There was no reason anyone would ever investigate the place.

'It's ready.' He said.

A shudder ran down Niddhog's length and he unwound from Harry's arm then dropped to the floor with a dull thump.

Harry took the cloak off, setting it to one side and withdrew the egg from his bag. It was still so hot he had to put it down immediately on the shelf and saw that his hands were bright red like they'd been on the verge of being scalded.

'What now?' He asked, blowing on his tender palms.

'Now I see what can happen.' The tiny snake said, winding up next to the egg that was several times his own size.

Harry nodded. 'Be careful.' He picked up the cloak and placed it over the shelves, holding it in place with three large books. When done he stepped back and saw, to his amazement that it had hidden only Nidhogg and the egg, leaving the shelves hidden. The cloak itself was invisible and to the entire world it seemed that the small cupboard was still bare. Like it knew what I wanted. He thought.

'Goodnight Nidhogg.' Harry said, turning and closing the door. The last thing he heard was a low sonorous hissing.

Harry cleared up after himself, making sure that there were no signs to point to the cupboard and left the classroom, tapping that lock with his wand and hearing the click.

Still torn, he padded down the hallway. Part of him was anxious about what he was allowing – encouraging even – to happen, while another colder part was just relieved to have taken something off his to-do list.

TTTTTTTTTTT

Read and review please, don't pull any punches

CONSTRUCTIVE FEEDBACK IS ALWAYS WELCOME