Previously on Buying Time:
Harry turned to Ron and Hermione. "I love you guys. Watch out for each other and Ginny. I don't think I will be seeing you for quite a while but I will hold true to my promise. I will return. Take care of that old wolf Tonks." Harry spoke up as the alley watched him fighting against the curse. "I want my new godfather in one piece when I get back."
Tom Riddle was now on the ground, foaming from his mouth and blood coming from his nose, ears and eyes as the magical strain was swiftly becoming too much for him. Harry felt a pull on his very soul and screamed out in sudden pain as he continued to fight the spell. Another sharp jerk and Harry Potter disappeared following a ball of white magic that imploded on itself with a deafening clap of thunder. With the last vestiges of strength, Voldemort wrapped a hand around a ring on his hand and spat out some word and he too disappeared...
Glancing up into the mirror she smiles as she saw the 'cross of life' branded just above her left breast. It had worked. She sighed happily as she moved herself to the rooms built in showers to clean up. Then she was going to get some sleep. Then Grandpa was going to continue his story...
Chapter 2
Harry opened his eyes staring up into the starry sky above. He hurt all over and felt as if most of his magic was gone, leaving him feeling empty and hollow. Over all he felt awful. Quickly checking himself over, he didn't find any major injuries, just a few scratches and bruises. Even with the rituals he had preformed he was too drained both magically and physically for them to heal. With the last of his strength, he cast a hasty dark ward that would make anything that came into contact with it think again before trying once more to get to him. The strain drove him back to the ground and, with a last effort to remain safe, he cast a fire charm on the ground next to him to help keep warm in the chilly night air. Letting his wand snap back into his holster he wrapped his duster around him tighter and promptly passed out as the warmth of the fire repelled the cold air from the area.
It took a week to get enough energy to start moving again. The magical exhaustion he was suffering from was worse than anything he had read about and if his estimates were correct it would take at least a month before he could walk any distance and probably a year or two before he would have full use of all his magical power once again. In his constantly drowsy state he realized why they had always received those talks from Madam Pomphrey every fall and spring term to watch out for it. It could possibly set a student back a full year if one was to expend all his/her magic trying a spell too advanced that didn't have the Ministry safety stops added to it. No wonder it was an imprisoning offense to create rogue spells and distribute them without approval.
He was able to at least take in his surroundings in the weeks that he regained some of his physical strength. He was on the edge of a large grassy plain. Rocky hills broke up the monotonous landscape. On his other side was a large dense forest that seemed eerily creepy and dark. Beside him was a wide stream with crystal clear water running though it's rocky shores. He found later that the water tasted sweet, almost like it had honey mixed into it. He was able to survive off what the elves had graciously made him stored in confines of his trunk.
For two weeks Harry stayed in the wizarding tent he had purchased after the events in his sixth year. He had bought one for every student that was in the DA. The store owner had contacted his supplier and had over fifty of the things made for Harry. All were pretty plain: A comfortable sitting room with a futon and fire place, a small bedroom with a small bed and a bathroom. At the time he didn't think that he would need anything fancier than that, now however the reds and golds he had his colored seemed drab and dull to him. He never thought he wouldn't be able to use magic to create anything else he might have wanted to have.
"I should have spent more money on at least mine." Harry groaned. They were the first words he had said in over three weeks. Finally being able to think and move marginally, Harry stepped out into the sun once again to see the same surroundings.
'Where the hell am I?' Harry thought for what must have been the thousandth time. He had yet been able to wrap his mind around what had happened to him. Every time he came close he would get drowsy and have to retire to regain what energy he had. The ritual he had done was working overtime using the food he ate to first heal his body. Now though it was trying to speed the recovery of his magic. It was taking all his strength for the task and really it wasn't making much headway. Personally he would rather have it take care of him physically then magically, but deep in his subconscious he knew he was vulnerable without his magic. It was the only thing protecting him until he could figure out how to use a sword and knives better. He really needed to work on staff wielding as well; even magically it was much different than wand use. It used magic more as envisioned rather than by textbook teaching. It was difficult and only those who really understood magic could use them. It was why they stopped being used. After the invention of wands it was much easier to those who didn't really want to try so hard to use magic and allowed a community and finally a hidden world of magic users to roam the earth in stead of the few hundred that were capable of using staffs.
Harry shook his head. He had been doing that a lot lately it seemed. He wasn't able to hold his concentration on one thing to be able to think about it. It was driving him mad. He and the others had spent a lot of time in the Chamber learning deductive reasoning and logic skills to try to give them the edge over most other wizards and witches who couldn't think logically to save their lives. Plus both would help in tracking clues and breaking the mysteries that were sure to crop up trying to find the horcruxes.
Letting out a long breath he pulled his black and brown Aussie hat on along with his duster and set out to explore his surroundings a little.
As his first month drew to a close Harry was finally starting to feel better. He was able to spend the majority of his day awake, though he still made sure to sleep at least twelve hours a day to try to gain his strength back that much quicker. He made sure to stay in shape, taking little jogs around the grass land, swims in the creek, sit ups, push ups, lifting rocks, really anything he could think of to keep his muscles toned. He was already strong due to the rituals but wanted to get stronger. Were-wolves were twice as strong as most humans but there were other creatures that were even stronger; trolls, giants, dragons just to name a few. That wasn't to say he wanted to be as strong as a dragon but now that he was pretty sure he was going to have to rely on his physical fighting abilities for the next year at least he wanted to make sure that if this ever happened again he would be ready for it.
Harry sat on the edge of the creek bank after he had just taken a swim. The current was perfect to just swim against. As he swam nice and easy, he managed to stay in the same place, neither going up or down river. Now, lying on the river bank soaking in the sun, he thought about where he was and what he was going to do now.
The surprisingly lucid train of thoughts startled him momentarily as he had been trying to keep his mind from wandering instead of staying on this subject for a month now. He remembered everything Riddle had told him about the spell. It supposedly took him to another dimension, but it was also supposed to have nothing in it. So how did he get here? Then there was where it looked like Riddle lost control of the spell or it shifted somehow into something slightly different when he was talking about how long I would have to train to defeat him. 'Double the age difference between the two. That would be one hundred and twenty years by his counting'. Harry thought about that. Then there were the books that had fallen from his pocket and seemed to absorb in the spell. He had looked for them but couldn't find them at all now.
"So let's think about this rationally Harry." Harry spoke to himself. Having only him to bounce ideas off of caused a few changes and plus it was disconcerting never hearing another voice.
"The spell changes into something Tommy didn't know about when he mentioned the amount of years I would need to train to best him. Then it absorbed the books I had after they fell out of my pocket."
"Okay, so rationally if what he said was true then maybe the spell created another dimension with the books as a reference. That would explain why it took nearly both our total magical powers to exhaustion."
"So we somehow made at least one new dimension from the books I had or managed to bridge the gap between two already existing one using the information in the books as a template. But where am I now?" Harry looked around again hopping to see something that would give away where he was.
"Alright, my only logical solution to where I am is absolutely crazy. But on the off chance what do I know about those books? Nothing really. I had read the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings was in the bag but this doesn't look like anything I read about in there. I don't even know what the other books were. Ron and Hermione just handed them to me after we left the store. Great, just great."
Getting tired and frustrated Harry moved back into his hidden tent to sleep and regain the strength he used up that morning.
As the next month passed Harry spent more time training with his sword and knives. He had found a large dead tree branch on the edge of the forest and propped it up with a large group of stones for a practice dummy. After searching though his multi-books he found books that would take him through beginning to high level training. Another book was on knife fighting and throwing. So Harry spent the next three months learning all he could.
By the end of his fourth month living on the edge of the grass land Harry was getting decent with the sword. He had no idea how good he was with his knife but he could throw one of the throwing knives and hit the bulls-eye from forty meters with deadly strength. During that time he had also uncovered the bow that he had taken from his vault and had been practicing with that as well. He didn't have any arrows so he used him memory of the arrows he had seen in the muggle sporting goods store and the set of deadly looking broad heads he had been looking at in the display case by the knives. Taking a chance he figured a little conjuring would be a simple enough task as not to drain him. He ended up conjuring the graphite golden shaft with synthetic feather fletchings and the four sided broad head he had been thinking about perfectly. The effort left him panting slightly but it was well worth it. After casting a multiplying charm on the arrow he had twelve dozen to use and was exhausted. He put away all but a dozen of the arrows to use later on and went to bed.
It took longer to get decent with the bow. He had lost his first dozen arrows the first day of practice as he missed the target more times than not. He still remembered the first time he hit it though. The arrow had sunk a foot deep into the hard wood from twenty meters away and was sticking out the other side of the branch. Seeing how effective they could be, he practiced every day to get better at the task.
And he did get better. He was pretty sure he could hold his own against most sword wielders thanks to his enhanced strength and speed which had finally returned to a hundred percent after six months. He could use his throwing knives easily and a dozen of them were strapped into his right glove. He could use a knife fairly well but needed a sparring partner to really improve any more, much like his sword fighting abilities. He had gone through nearly four hundred arrows practicing but now he could hit a seven inch circle each shot from seventy yards away thanks to the enhancements on the bow in combination with the strength and vision enhancing rituals he had done. All in all he was about ready to venture out into the world he was in and find out where the hell he was.
After seven months of solitude and rest Harry slid the packed tent back into his trunk and took out his Firebolt. Buttoning his duster up and pulling his, now signature, hat tighter on his head he placed his hand over his trunk and activated the shrinking charm on it until it was no larger than a deck of playing cards. Securing it in his pocket, Harry checked to make sure his sword was buckled on tightly and he had all his weapons together. His large Bowie was strapped to his boot, wand in holster, throwing knives in holster, sword on hip and bow, unstrung, strapped to his back along with quiver and two dozen arrows. Nodding to himself Harry kicked off the ground to soar above the trees.
In the air it seemed that the forest went on forever as did the grass land. Over a little portion of the forest he could see what looked like a black tower looming in the distance. Not sure where to go Harry decided to cruise along the creek and find out if it took him anywhere.
Over the next year and a half Harry spent his time traveling all over the land he was in and silently watched and unobtrusively mingled with those he fit in with. Over that time he learned the language of the people there. It wasn't much different from English so he was able to understand the people around him and after a while was likewise able to communicate with them.
He found out where he was in the time. Meeting a group of people that were hunting game they invited him back into the city with them for dinner and a drink. The town was built by a large lake that seemed to have another town built on floating docks by it. The image struck a memory in his mind but he needed to make sure first. Sure enough after a few pints of mead he had the men telling stories they had heard from their fathers who fought against old Smaug and the battle of Five Armies. That Harry remembered from the Hobbit.
'So I must be in the Lord of the Rings reality. He was sure it wasn't a meshed reality of all three books he had. So that meant either he would travel from world to world after the stories came to an end, hopefully bringing him back home after it was all over, or he was trapped and need to find a way out of the dimension himself.
'Alright, I need to start working on my magic again anyway. I can feel it is just about ready to start using again.'
"Hey what did you say your name was again anyway?" One of the middle aged men in the bar that had come over to join in the story telling asked.
"Harry's my name. Say I was wondering. I heard rumors about that old dragon. About him being down at the bottom of that lake even now and covered with gems that he had stuck between his scales?"
"Aye, lad that he is. Can't even fish near him due to that curse though. Me da was a young lad when the dragon attacked and survived. After it was all over some man tried to get himself some of that gold. 'E didn't make it back to shore before he up an' died. Since then we make sure we just stay out of that old dragon's way."
"But hasn't he rotted away by now? It's been years since he was slain. Surely a curse wouldn't last that long." Harry faked astonishment at the news. He was already planning ways to get that carcass out of the water to see what he could salvage. He would have to be careful with the curse but he would make sure he could counter it before he did anything.
"No boy and just strike those thoughts from your head right now. I tell ya that worm's full body still lay at the bottom of the lake. Hasn't rotted one bit far as I can tell. Just you drop it son. You don't want to be messing with that dragon's magic, not for all the gold on the bottom of that lake."
Harry acquiesced and changed the subject drinking the night away. He stayed in the town finding the company enjoyable after so long moving about. He found the dwarves still lived in the mountain a distance off and the two traded with the wood elves from Mirkwood regularly. It seemed as good a place as any to start making contacts. Plus Harry remembered that mithril armor from the book and thought it would be good to get some of it himself. He knew it would be expensive and it would take getting in good with the dwarfs. It would also be a good idea to spend some time with the elves to improve his fighting skills.
As it was Harry spent another month in the small city helping where he could. His willingness to help and constant good attitude endeared him with the town folk and they in turn helped Harry all they could. He trained with the city's army improving his swordsmanship remarkably. The fighters didn't have much knowledge for knife fighting, that was mainly an elf fighting technique but they helped out where they could. He had even caught an elf making his runs down river and spent some time talking with him and getting some pointers. The archers were already impressed with his archery skills and marveled at the arrows he used and as a way to hopefully get an in with the elves he made a few hundred more to be shipped to the king with his compliments and that perhaps one day they could have a chat.
It took nearly every night for the entire month for Harry to figure out what the curse was on the old dragon. The old man in the pub had been right when he said that the creature was still whole, though there did seem to be some places that seemed to indicate that rot was starting to take place. After countering the curse Harry slowly levitated the dragon out of the lake and behind a concealing hill blocking him from watching eyes. It was the middle of the night and his detection wards didn't see anyone but he knew that eyes seemed to be able to pick out wrong doings fairly easy.
The dragon was definitely large and more fantasy looking from the dragons he had back home. Instead of thick hide and a more slender, serpentine like body this one had a giant belly, scales and even a mane of hair stretching from the top of its head to its tail. He set to work quickly and accio-ed all the gold and gems still trapped between the scales into a pile beside him. He then did the same with what was in the lake and quickly cast the counter curse on the prize before he even touched it. The malevolent, sickly feeling decreased but it was still coming from the dragon. Harry had to cast the counter five times to finally break the curse. It was an ancient curse and strong but had weakened due to the years the beast had been dead. Harry then dried the creature and started harvesting usable parts. Magic was used to scale the dragon. A large pile of yellow/orange/red scales as large as cinder blocks pile up to one side. Another few spells and he had a pile of fire red hair. Casting an extremely dark curse the hide stripped it's self from the muscle and bone before he moved that to another pile. In the end Harry took the teeth, claws and heart along with what he already had in piles. The rest wasn't usable. It was too bad the blood of the beast had dried or diluted too much to be used. Satisfied with what he had gotten he quickly banished the body of the beast miles into Mirkwood for what ever lived there to devour what was left of the once mighty dragon. Tuning back to what he had kept Harry quickly boxed up the claws, teeth and scales. Shrunk the boxes and placed them in his trunk after labeling them. The hair he placed in a large crystal vial then it too was placed in the trunk. Finally he cast a few charms that cured and tanned the hide. It was a nice fire orange like the hair, and Harry thought that Ron would definitely like a jacket and boots in that color even if he didn't know if it had the same protections the dragon hide from his world had. With that taken care of he folded it with a spell and packed it. The gold he placed in a conjured bag. A few of the beautiful gems he kept for himself, some as big as his fist, the rest he put in the bag and shrunk. The pile of wealth had been as tall as he was and a good seven feet wide so he was pretty sure it would be enough to bargain with the dwarfs.
A week later Harry had said his good-byes to the people he had gotten to know and started making his way toward the mountain. After a safe distance from the city he concentrated on the out cropping of rock that made up the front gate of the city. With a slight move he 'popped' out of existence.
'Pop' Harry reappeared between the two guards and smirked at the frightened shock on each of their faces.
"Good evening good dwarves I have come to talk with your King. Could you please have someone escort me to his chambers?" Harry let his power roll off him, that combined with the leather and dragon hide outfit quickly had one of the dwarfs crawling over the other in an attempt to get away from the person who just arrived out of thin air. Shrugging and reining his power back in he calmly walked behind the two as they inadvertently lead the young man though passages and twists, right to the throne room.
The commotion brought many of the resident dwarves out of where ever they had been prior, curious as to what was going on and the unpracticed and thoroughly out of shape dwarfs, due to years of pampering and no thought of war, never even attempted to stop Harry as he walked directly into the throne room as if he was invited.
"What is the meaning of this!?" The bass rumbling of the dwarfin voice shouted at the two guards. "I should have your blood for abandoning your posts. Call to arms! It seems we are under attack! Where is the enemy?" He glared down on the two armored centuries at his feet.
"I'm afraid that would only be me and there is no need for force. I come in friendship and hopefully mutual gain from the matter at hand." Harry quickly replied. He had no want to give away he was a wizard yet. He used a bit of magic to scare the guards witless to get a quicker viewing with the king but that was all he was willing to give up unless he was physically attacked. If that was the case he would bring this mountain down on their head as payment.
"What? You are not even yet even out of boy-hood. What could you have to offer me?" The king scoffed as guards lined up behind him.
"I know the tale of the previous King Under the Mountain, Thorin Oakenshield, and I know his dealings with the old dragon; Smaug," The dwarfs shuddered at the name much like those of his world did when someone mentioned Voldemort by name. "The dragon was slain but you still have yet to get back your gold that he had taken with him when he attacked Lake Town."
"Yes that is true. The gold is cursed though and no one is able to retrieve it."
"None of you are able to." Harry corrected with a smirk. "I on the other hand am capable of doing it and removing the curse. However," He held up a hand to stop the King from talking. It was an offensive gesture and he knew it. It assumed that he was more important that the King and that was what he was trying to achieve. He had never bowed to anyone in his world and he would be damned if he bowed to any in another world. "However I require something in return."
"Don't think you can make demands of me boy!" The King growled. "I could have you killed where you stand."
"You can try but you wouldn't succeed King. I have fought and killed much worthier opponents than yourselves, even in the prime of your rule. Now look at you. Darkness is spreading over this land again. Tales have been spreading of orcs and goblins moving in numbers. Shadows are emerging that were once thought gone." Harry had heard many rumors while traveling and one was that Mordor was again taking form. "And here you are: Fat, lazy and in no condition to defend yourselves. I was lead directly to your chambers without even being stopped. How do you expect to protect yourselves if this is how you rule your people?"
Many of the dwarves yelled curses and a few threw rocks that Harry merely stepped out of the way from. The King however wore a look of murderous rage on his face. Before he could come up with anything to say Harry reached into his pocket and pulled out a large diamond and golden cup.
"Here are but a few of the treasures I have taken from Smaug. If you are willing to listen to me and maybe take some of my advice I would be happy to discuss the matter with you."
All anger in the dwarves' faces disappeared as soon as they laid eyes on the treasure. The King quickly picked up each item and examined them. "These are indeed dwarf make from the times of old. Tell me young man how you have come across it."
"Let us sit and maybe some mead and we will discuss our venture."
It took late into the night but the King finally decided to make a suit of mithril armor for Harry in return for treasure.
"The only obstacle I can fathom is the transport of the metal. Mithril is mined in Moria and is ruled by my cousin. You would have to go there to get it then back here to have it made. It will take time as it is a very difficult art but I assure you, it will serve you well Sir Harry."
"I will need a guide to Moria. I have not been there before. Would this be possible?"
"Aye, we already have a group set to leave in the morning after next to bring back the treasures for working. You will leave with them. When you get back we will get the rest of our gold from that old dragon."
It took six months for the slow caravan to reach the gates to the Misty Mountains but in that time Harry had learned much for the dwarfs. They were a bloodthirsty bunch, always yearning for war and battle. It even seemed they searched it out. Harry had to save six of them that had been abducted by giant spiders in Mirkwood. And he hoped he had killed out the entire colony. They reminded him of the acromantulas in his own world but these were more human like and could talk.
Still it felt good to use magic again. He had found a good thing to come from the magical exhaustion when he arrived in this world. By depleting all the magic he had available to his command it had all merged together as it grew back to just as strong if not stronger than it was before. Now he didn't have to force the magic to work for him it just bent to his will.
They had also been attacked by goblins riding on wargs, which according to the group of dwarfs hadn't happened since the end of the war when they had been pushed out. That time, with little help from Harry, the entire raiding party was killed leaving none to tell the tale. As the dwarfs moved on Harry had gathered the bodies and banished them into the depths of Mirkwood to leave no signs of the missing dead.
Finally they reached their destination. The shipment was ready when they got there but they ended up spending a good month within the halls of Moria. Harry had even gone deep into the mines to see how it was done. It seemed as though he had descended into the center of the earth and quickly left. There was something wrong with mining that far down. There were things in the depths of the earth that were evil and powerful and it seemed as though they were too close for his liking. The other dwarfs laughed about it saying it was that he just wasn't a dwarf so didn't like being in the depths of the earth.
It took the group another six months to return to the Lonely Mountain, this time they ran into no problems. As they arrived the King immediately sent four of his best smiths to start his mithril mail.
"There is no need to go to Lake Town Sir King." Harry said as the King started pushing him out the door toward the front passage to get ready to leave once more.
"Oh, I pray you aren't deciding to go back on your part of the agreement."
"No, nothing like that. It's just that I have already retrieved all the gold and dealt with Smaug's body prior to our first visit."
"OH!" The shock on the Kings face faded into a wide, sly smile. "You dog you. You had me to believe it still needed to be done. Let's see it then. Come on. How many days until we get to its hiding place?"
"No need Sir King." Harry took out his shrunk trunk and set it on the ground. The King looked slightly put out then jumped in shock as the trunk grew several sizes. "I had a wizard I knew make this for me a few years back." Harry said as he flipped open to the correct compartment and proceeded to remove all the gold and jewels. "That is all of it. Plenty of payment for the armor I hope."
The King examined several pieces and smiled, slapping Harry on the back. "It is indeed that. It is indeed."
It did take another two months of non-stop work to complete the armor. It was close-woven of many rings, as supple almost as linen, as cold as ice, and harder than steel. It shone like moonlit silver, and was studded with white gems. Even the pants came with a belt of pearl and crystal. He had watched the dwarfs work and knew he could repeat the process if he needed to with magic and thought that he could perhaps get enough mithril himself to make three more sets for his friends. The only thing was he really didn't know how much he needed. Putting those problems away for later he tried the armor on.
It fit perfectly under his cloths. The shirt was as thin as a regular undershirt and with the mild climate Middle Earth seemed to have it would be easy to wear it at all times. The pants were the same and fit to him like a second skin. What ever the dwarfs had backed the mail in was soft and cool, easily letting his body heat escape making it most comfortable under his loose leather pants.
After Harry's business was complete he left Lonely Mountain. The dwarfs were good company for a while but many of their customs and thinking were just too foreign even to him. After spending enough time with the clan to seem polite Harry moved on. After saying his good-byes he left the dwarfs as friends and moved into the wilderness. Making sure no one could see him he concentrated on the base of the Misty Mountains entrance. With a sharp turn Harry was gone and traveling in a second what had taken him half a year earlier to do.
He was happy that he got what he needed and made some inroads with another one of the races of this earth. Still now he had nothing to bargain with and wanted to get as much of the mithril as he could to use for his own purposes. And after much thought and training he was pretty sure that the durability charms on his sword were not strong enough if he ever got into a real fight with another dwarf… or elf, if what he heard of their weapons making abilities were true. Maybe this true silver, or mithril, would be good to use. Gloin, the dwarf, had said that it was ten time stronger than steel.
His contemplation took him to the great doors and was immediately shaken by what he saw. There strewn in with many dead bodies of orc and goblins were the ten dwarf guards of the gate. Looking further inside he could see signs of a great battle. From the looks of it each dwarf had slain ten times as many of their enemy as did the enemy of them, but it looks like they were just too overwhelmed by sheer numbers.
Harry had recalled his fighting of the orcs from before. It was their typical tactic. Being fairly unskilled in with the weapons they wielded they sought to overrun any opposition. Looking to the doors he could see the great works of art had been torn from their hinges and were now were nothing more than two great slabs of stone. Thinking that it would be a shame to have the works of art sullied, Harry quickly shrunk the doors and made them weightless then put them in his trunk.
'What should I do?' Harry asked himself. He could still hear echoes of what sounded like battling in the depth of the halls along with great roars from a beast of some kind.
'The dwarfs seem to have been routed or fled. All the treasures will go to waist somewhere.' Harry grinned at the though. 'Besides I can use magic if worse comes to worse.'
Grinning wickedly and never letting an opportunity pass where he might gain something while keeping it away from an enemy Harry entered the entrance hall with sword and wand in hand.
A/N: Hope you all like the new chapter. I want to send out a special THANK YOU to Vampireladyateres for agreeing to be my beta. By the time this fic is over I'm sure you will be tripping over yourselves to thank her for making this such a better read.