A/N : Here it is chapter 7. I had planed to make this longer but the story has take a life of its own and this chapter needed to be split up before we get to the confrontation you so sorely want. Don't fear Harry will not be forgiving them anytime soon, even if he doesn't rip their heads off immediately. A/N
Extra note: This was finished two weeks ago but it took my beta that long to get to it.. Oh well that's what you get for mooching of a professional editor who just happens to be your mother. /Extra Note
Chapter 7
First Blood… Sort of
Azkaban Prison is set out on a little rock in the North Sea. The island of Azkaban is about a mile long and a little less than half a mile thick in the center. The majority of the barren island is taken up by the forbidding castle that serves as the prison. Wards prevent anyone from portkeying or apparating in or out up to two miles away. So really the only way to reach the island is by boat. A small outpost on the shore of the mainland controls the few boats designed to reach past the shallows around the island. That outpost had seven Aurors stationed there: seven Aurors that were currently hiding in what remained of their building, as close to forty Death Eaters surrounded and were in the process of demolishing the outpost.
Dimitri and the twenty two members of the Order of the Phoenix who could be found on short order portkeyed in on a hill about a quarter of a mile away from the battle. Dumbledore immediately began to give orders and the fighters spread out into a loose formation and moved in. Dimitri found himself with Moody and two other members he didn't know. When they got within one hundred feet reinforcements began to arrive. Unfortunately the Aurors apparated in right outside the remains of the outpost and directly into the kill zone of the Death Eaters.
"Idiots!" Dimitri cursed under his breath as the five remaining Aurors, out of the twelve who'd just arrived, took cover within the structure. Moody must have heard because he grunted. One of the Order members threw a stunner at maximum range and dropped a black robes Death Eater. Shame they couldn't have waited until everyone was in range. With a few shouts the Death Eaters in the area began to turn around, now appraised to the threat at their flanks.
"Moody, do you know the Sabadarin pincer?" Dimitri asked as the old Auror broke into his fastest sprint to close the distance.
"Yeah, I'll lead. On three." Moody pointed his wand at Dimitri and whispered copula acies. The mind linkage spell would allow them a limited amount of telepathy. All that was needed was a silent count. Moody took aim at a Death Eater and with the help of the link Dimitri aimed at the same man.
One
Two
Dimitri tensed in preparation.
"Stupefy!" Just Moody called out the first spell, Dimitri's cry of obex cumulo could be heard. Moody's stunner splashed harmlessly off of the shield the Death Eater raised but the barrier overload spell that followed less than half a second latter shattered the shield and dazed the Death Eater. He never even had time to move before Moody's second stunner caught him in the chest. Dimitri summoned the fallen man's wand and then the two of them repeated the trick on another Death Eater.
The third Death Eater wasn't caught unawares and dodged the first stunner rather than attempt to shield it. Moody dodged the flaming whip that the Death Eater used and returned fire with a bone-breaking curse. Thankful that the mind link spell was still giving him Moody's timing, Dimitri summoned the man's boots when he sidestepped the bone-breaker. The man fell over and Moody quickly stunned him. Dimitri grabbed the unconscious man with a levitation charm and banished him directly into another pair of Eaters who were dulling with the two who had been with Moody from earlier. Three Death Eaters moved up to take the fallen's place and let loose with a flurry of killing curses.
Dodging the first two Dimitri summoned Moody out of the way of a third.
"Deflagratio ferrbui!" The thin line of fire that issued from his wand actually caused one of the Death Eaters to laugh. One shielded against the thin whip that slashed the ground around them, the last one actually knew what the spell did and jumped to the side. He only made it half out of the way before five pillars of flame shot six feet in the air, incinerating the two who hadn't moved. The one that had gotten out had burned his leg and twisted to get a shot off.
"Rictusempra." Dimitri paused at the odd spell sent by the Death Eater, even as he dodged it.
"Accio mask." When the white mask flew off Dimitri was met with the pained, but still recognizable face of Severus Snape. Dimitri ran up to the man and fired a medical spell, which had the same coloration as a stunner.
"Hide over by that hill, you can portkey away with the rest of them." He told Snape before turning to Moody who had gotten back on his feet in the meantime and was hobbling as fast as he could toward where several Order members where facing off against a large number of Death Eaters. Following after Mad-eye he faced off against his first real opponent of the night. Moody, Arthur, Molly, and two other Order Members he didn't know and himself were up against seven Death Eaters. It would have been an equal fight save one Order member was face down in the grass and didn't appear to be breathing.
The extra Death Eater was gunning for Molly who appeared to be the weakest link in the fight. Luckily while the Weasley matron wasn't the best offensive dueler, she knew her defensive spells. The three conjured pieces of granite she was using to absorb their killing curses were a testament to that. While Moody traded spells with another black-robed figure, Arthur opened fire on another. While he was generally considered a harmless middle-aged man Arthur apparently had the training to cause quite a bit of damage. After the first volley his opponent was favoring their left shoulder. Meanwhile Dimitri fired a series of flesh eating and bone breaking curses to gauge his opponent. The Death Eater dodged the first two and shielded against the rest.
"Avada Kedarva! Concisio medullas! Crucio! Concoquo Coeo!" Jutting his wand forward Dimitri conjured a cylinder of rock that flew out of his wand, slamming into the killing curse and blowing shards all over his opponent. Immediately afterward he flicked his wand creating a simple protecto shield charm to absorb the bone-breaking curse. Spinning around he let the cruciatus fly by. A smaller area reflective shield bounced the blood-boiling curse back at its caster. When his attacker stopped to shield against his own blood-boiling curse Dimitri reacted with a flurry of light charms and jinxes.
"Cunfundo! Supplanto! Stupefy! Expelliarmus! Furnunculus! Petrificus Totalus! Impendia!" In between the small charms and jinxes that the Death Eater laughed at as he batted them aside Dimitri dropped several silent runes around the Death Eater.
"Avada Kedarva! Computresco Carnis! Cuspis Decaligo!" Again Dimitri dodged the killing curse, he ducked beneath the flesh-rotting curse and threw the man's aim off of the darkness lance. As he overshot Dimitri chanted Cychwyn Amgyffred. The runes lit up and light flew up around the man, his wand arm that had been sticking out of the field was cleanly burnt off. He screamed and fell back cradling his arm, right into the other part of the circular containment field. As his body fell to the ground Dimitri turned to the nearest Death Eater.
Arthur stunned his Death Eater and turned to help his wife. Dimitri winced when he saw what had happened to Arthur's opponent, one of his arms was broken in three places and his other was dislocated. Dimtri took advantage of an opening and banished the legs out from beneath one of the Death Eaters. At the same time a flash of green and the thump of a falling body identified another Order member falling. Spinning to the source Dimitri hit the distracted killer with a silent organ rupturing curse and moved to the last two standing of the original seven. The Order group had lost one and Molly was clutching a bleeding arm but everyone else was in good shape. Conjuring several steel needles Dimitri banished them at a Death Eater attempting to finish the injured woman. Due to the low light he never noticed the needles until seven of the three-inch things lodged themselves in his wrist. When he reared back screaming Arthur caught him with a stunner.
Dimitri left the still standing Death Eaters to the other Order members and headed over a small rise to where the rest of the Death Eaters were. Both Order members and Death Eaters had lined up and were standing watching their leaders square off. Harry felt like pounding his head against a wall as he watched Dumbledore and Voldemort circle each other, their fight was certainly not worth watching. A small twitch of his scar reminded him to raise his occullmency shields to their maximum. Even then he couldn't just curse Voldemort because the parsel tounge would see right through his glamour.
"You won't win Tom." Dumbledore's perfectly calm voice echoed across the now silent field.
"I was just going to kill you old man, but just for that I think I'll rip off your arm and beat you to death with it!" Voldemort snarled, and Harry took advantage of everyone's inattentiveness to cast a silent strangulation hex at one of the Death Eaters on the side. This time Dumbledore started the attack by swishing his wand forward. A bubble of water the size of a small car exited his wand and floated at Voldemort. Voldemort reacted the way he always did, with a killing curse. Of course he was very surprised when the curse flew through the bubble only to bounce off the interior membrane. Voldemort snarled at the smug smile on Dumbledore's face and brought his wand up in a slashing motion. The ground itself buckled as spikes grew from it in a line aimed straight towards Dumbledore and his bubble shield. Dumbledore flickered out of the way and began to chant. When the spikes pierced the bubble it popped, raining far more water than it should have along with one very angry killing curse. Everyone in the immediate area, Voldemort included, ducked as the killing curse rocketed away at a random angle. Rising, Voldemort snapped off a flurry of multi-colored curses. Dumbledore spun out of the way but not before an unknown curse burnt a Galleon sized hole in his robes. Finishing his chant, Dumbledore motioned with his wand and the ground itself sprung up and formed together into three humanoid shapes. Two of them charged at Voldemort with a speed that was surprising for their size.
Voldemort caught the first one with a massive explosion curse and flickered about ten feet to the right of the explosion. The other transfigured warrior overshot and had to turn around. With it out of the way Voldemort fired another volley of killing curses at Dumbledore. The old man's third earthen warrior blocked the first two before it ran out of body and Dumbledore was forced to throw himself to the ground to avoid the last three.
"Is that the best you can do old man?" He taunted as Dumbledore rose to his feet. Men as old as Dumbledore shouldn't dive to the side and not expect to get hurt.
"I'm not beaten by a long shot, Tom." Voldemort snarled, then, without turning around wandlessly banished the third warrior some fifty feet backwards into a tree. It did not get up. Dumbledore said nothing at the loss of his creation but flicked his wand and launched a whip like projection of water at Voldemort. The Dark Lord dodged the water whip but was caught unawares when Dumbledore electrified the whip and all the water the from the earlier bubble. Unfortunately even as the electricity snaked over Voldemort, setting small fires all over his robe, Voldemort made a sweeping gesture with his free hand and tripped Dumbledore. As the old mage was rising he ate a banishing charm and went bouncing backwards into several other Order members.
Dumbledore was currently unable to stand, caught in a tangle of limbs, while Voldemort leveled his wand at his old foe.
"And now old man, you die…"
"Avada Kedarva!" Voldemort started but then relaxed as the killing curse sailed by his head, missing by over a foot. Voldemort regarded the man who'd cast it and laughed.
"Is this the best your muggle loving fools can do Dumbledore?"
"I wasn't aiming for you oh great one. Avada Kedarva!" Again the curse missed the stationary Dark Lord by about a foot but this time he followed the curses path watched as one of the Death Eaters behind him fell to the ground, right next to one that must have been killed by the first curse. Voldemort squinted at the man who was taking potshots at his army and sneered. He was too far away to make out in this darkness but something was different about him. Voldemort snapped off several curses at the man and watched as his opponent conjured a barrier and dove behind it. The resulting explosion should have at least stunned him if not killed him, Voldemort mused. No matter. The prisoners were free. He had gotten what he had come for.
"Enough of this. Pull back my loyal Death Eaters. Moresmode!" With that Voldemort and all the conscious Death Eaters portkeyed away. From the ruins of the outpost the surviving Aurors who had been pinned down until now came rushing over. Everyone paused for a moment as a cold feeling swept over the field and watched as a huge cloud of Dementors passed over heading south. A few of the defenders cast their partonus but by the time the spectral animals were out the Dementors had passed. Dimitri sat up shaking the cobwebs out of his head and the dust of his robes.
As the Aurors began to round up the stunned and take account of the fallen, the Order of the Phoenix pulled back and prepared to portkey out. They may have saved the Aurors in the battle but they were technically a vigilante organization and it would be frowned upon if they hung around too long. Several people gave Dimitri looks of awe or terror as he stumbled over to the others and grabbed a portkey. That last curse had overloaded his shield and he was still a little shaky. Thankfully, Voldemort hadn't gotten close enough to recognize him and didn't bother to stay around for an easy kill. When they arrived back at headquarters the next hour passed in a blur. As Aurors and spies in the ministry returned they pieced together a picture of what happened. While everyone sported minor to moderate wounds, seven members had been portkeyed to Hogwarts or St. Mungos for life threatening injuries, another five had died. This was bad news, considering that only fifteen out of seventy the so Death Eaters had been captured and another thirteen had died. Dumbledore didn't mention that Dimitri had killed six of them. With over twenty Aurors dead and almost fifty prisoners released from Azkaban, tonight could only be seen as a resounding failure. If you didn't count Azkaban it was a numerical success but once you added in all the prisoners, who would most likely accept the dark mark by morning…
At one point Dimitri had tried to excuse himself but a grunt and a poke from Moody's wand prevented that. When the general meeting wound down and Snape finally returned, still wearing his burnt robes, the leaders of the Order went to a smaller meeting room. At Dumbledore's request and Moody's order Dimitri followed them.
"First of all, I feel that I must thank you, Mr. Daracun." Dumbledore began once they were all seated inside the smaller meeting room. "But may I ask why you had to resort to such deadly tactics?"
"What do you mean? My kill ratio was pretty unspectacular, less than eighty percent."
"We don't kill our opponents, Mr. Darracun."
"And you wonder why you aren't winning. You completely lost the element of surprise, we could have flanked and annihilated a good half their forces in the first volley with a few disillusionment charms, but no. Someone had to stun at maximum range and give away our position. Don't even get me started on that duel between you and that dark lord. Just because they stop attacking doesn't mean you should." A few had the shame to look guilty but most of them just looked on incredulously thinking how dare he berate the headmaster.
"Be that as it may you still haven't told me why you saw fit to kill those you faced."
"As you couldn't possibly have been watching me the whole fight, I assume you're talking about the two at the end." Dumbledore nodded in assent.
"Well I had been using silent spells that left no trail to take out the Death Eaters beforehand, but it seemed like a good idea to help you out as your people were standing there frozen and all."
"Nevertheless the unforgivables are very dark curses." Dumbledore berated.
"If you haven't noticed I'm a former enforcer for the Baracnickas. I am a dark wizard old man!"
"Show the headmaster some respect." McGroungal cut in.
"I'm not a student and never went to his school. Hell he's not even my boss, though I'm willing to change that. Are you willing to talk employment or not?" Dumbledore paused and looked pensive for a moment.
"After reviewing your actions tonight I am willing to offer you a position with the Order of the Phoenix…"
"How much is this position worth?" Dimitri cut him off.
"The Order of the Phoenix is an all-volunteer organization…"
"Well fighting's good and all but I need a job that pays rent and puts food on my table." Dumbledore grunted. He was clearly annoyed at being cut off.
"That said I'm sure some form of compensation could be arranged; that is if you were admitted to our organization. Our admission standards are quite strict."
"For one thing you'd have to remove that glamour your wearing." Moody added.
Inwardly Harry blanched, they weren't supposed to notice it. Outwardly he showed surprise but it was the incredulous jolt of someone who had just been told something that they knew was false. The others were slowly reaching for their wands.
"I'm not wearing a glamour!" Dimitri exclaimed. When Moody said something in the negative, the rest of the room leveled their wands at Dimitri. He drew his wand as well but rather than pointing at them he tapped himself and said rather clearly finite incantium.
"There, see, no glamour."
"It's not gone." Moody snapped back.
"Then you remove it." Dimitri challenged.
"Finite Incantium!" The ex-auror called out. The spell caught Dimitri in the chest, strong enough to rock the chair slightly, but had no effect. The parsel glamour Harry was using could only be removed by either using the parsel counter spell or by overpowering the spell. Dumbledore was the only one in the room who might be able to match the power Harry had put into the spell, but he doubted the old mage would go all out as Harry had when he cast the glamour.
"Moody, he looks exactly the same, your eye must be malfunctioning." Snape spoke up. Harry would have never thought that he would be happy to hear Snape speak, but he'd just been proven wrong.
"My eye doesn't malfunction, he's wearing a glamour!"
"Are you certain it's a glamour Alastor? I can see something but it's not very well defined." Dumbledore added. As Moody and Dumbledore started to argue over whether Dimitri was wearing a glamour or not, the rest of the people returned their wands to their holsters as the threat of a fight had passed.
"Dimitri? Dung said you were an ex-con right?" Kingsley asked him.
"Uh, yeah."
"Which prison were you paroled from?"
"Ostrava."
"Moody you're wrong." Kingsley mentioned to the room after a short pause. "They didn't do it when you were in the service but recently the Ministries of Eastern Europe started to tag all their ex-cons with complicated tracking charms. Their password protected so you wouldn't be able to remove it." At Kingsley's explanation the wind seemed to fall out of Moody's sails.
"Looks like a glamour to me." He humphed anyway.
"Gentlemen, we can research into that topic at another time. Now Dimitri there are several things that we require of joining members…"
In reality all they really needed was to perform a complicated secrecy charm that prevented Dimitri from speaking to anyone outside the Order about what he'd learned. In half an hour he was keyed into the wards surrounding headquarters with Orders to keep his ears and eyes open and return in two days. He was certain that was to give them enough time to pour over his records, or the fakes that Harry had paid heftily for. Harry returned to his home at three in the morning and collapsed into bed. It had been a long day and tomorrow wasn't likely to be any shorter.
The next morning saw Harry up bright and early, much to his displeasure. Unfortunately, he had a lot to do today and much of it was dependent on things he couldn't control, so waking with the sun was necessary. If he had been able to meditate this wouldn't have been a problem, but Neri was still blocking him. After a quick breakfast Harry, once again under the guise of Dimitri, apparated to Diagon Alley and visited Gringotts.
"Good morning Mr. Potter, what can I do for you today?" Griphook greeted him once they were safely inside the goblin's office and Harry had removed the glamour.
"Several things. First off, my alter ego needs to set up an account. Can you do that or do I need to see someone else?"
"Yes, I can take care of that. Will you be transferring funds into his account?"
"No. That might be traced, I need a five hundred Galleon high interest, no-questions-asked-loan to cover his account. Can I pay for the whole amount now but leave the statements to show Dimitri still paying it off?" Griphook nodded.
"I assume that you want this backdated?"
"If you can to about a week ago, that would be great." Griphook nodded again and gathered several forms from one of his file cabinets.
"You'll need to sign here, here, here, and here. Oh and initial here, and here." When Harry had completed all the paperwork required to set up Dimitri's account, Griphook filed away all the papers and returned to his desk.
"You said you had other business with me, Mr. Potter?"
"Yes Griphook, I need to see everything you have on the Potter estate, as well as information on the lands surrounding the property." This time Griphook had to disappear for several minutes to find the information that Harry had requested. Harry took the time to walk around the Goblin's office and look at the knickknacks that Griphook had collected. There were a few certificates and awards. They were written in Gobbledygook. Even with the knowledge he'd gained, his vocabulary in that language was still limited to curse words. Understandably, he had no idea what they said. The shelves right behind Griphook's desk held the most interesting things: weapons. Some were finely polished and others were rusty and bloodstained. Harry was admiring a particularly nasty device that resembled a massive fishing hook attached to a chain when Griphook returned.
"Did you know that at a Goblin's coming of age our adult names are chosen for us by our peers. I got my name for that Muush Meklaan (1) and a particularly violent drinking game." Harry nodded and returned to his seat, that was one tale he really didn't need to hear. Griphook spread the maps out over his desk and pointed to the property line of the Potter estate.
"The castle is located in northern Scotland about 70 miles west of Cannich…"
"Wait a second, you said castle. You didn't mention a castle beforehand."
"Oh. It's right here; the manor was built around the keep of a castle. It's unknown if any of the original walls still remain, though. I can't tell you much more than that because the fidelius charms we use prevent us from sharing any information on the property than where it is. Geographically the property is on the shores of Lake Mhoicean in the Killian forest. You currently hold fifteen square miles that are warded off from the Scotland National Park Service and private corporate interests. Harry looked at the map for a minute before drawing a line on the map in a circle around the property he currently owned.
"I need all the property up to thirty miles in all directions. I need to be able to ward off at least twenty-two miles in all directions. Can you get those properties for me?"
"I can but it will be a lot extra. Real-estate really isn't my line of expertise."
"Just get it done as soon as possible and you can name you fee. I also need the fidelius and preservation charms dropped as soon as possible."
"Yes sir."
Exiting Gringotts, having to put up with another ministry checkpoint. Did they honestly think they were going to catch him that way? Harry apparated to his family's ancestral home. The wards that the goblins had placed up hadn't fallen yet and forced Harry to follow a logging road to the property's edge. There were no signs but he could feel the magic bleeding off the wards. There was no point in going further. The fidelius wards would prevent him from seeing anything until they were lowered, so he sat down cross-legged on the ground and tried, once again, to meditate and enter the collective.
After an hour of time spent trying to speak to Neri but being rebuffed by her, Harry opened his eyes. The fidelius charm had been dropped sometime while he was meditating, and an ancient gate was visible in the distance. That gate was of heavy wrought-iron construction with the Potter family crest in the center of it. The Potter family crest was a shield with a lion crouching in the center of it, a wand and a sword crossed above it and a rose bloomed in the background. When Harry placed his hand on the gate and pushed, the shield split in two as the gate opened for him. It was a short walk up a path before he crested the hill and got his first look at the Potter manor.
The manor had indeed been a castle originally. The stone tower of a keep could still be seen in the center of the house, but now the outer walls had been removed and two wings had been added on. Parts of stone work in the wings pointed out the exact part where the wings had been built through the walls. The central keep was five stories tall and the rest of the mansion was three stories. A few outbuildings could be seen around but the majority of the cleared grounds had been turned into a garden. While much of the property was natural woodland the grounds had been transformed into a garden, there was even a hedge maze. Of course, after almost a century of disuse the gardens had collapsed into a state of disrepair. Magic kept the low walls and walkways clean but the plants had grown out of their assigned places years ago. Harry continued his walk towards the great house of his ancestors. He passed a fountain out front that had been turned off and now just looked like an algae covered pool. The stones jutting from the water were as spotless as they had been when they had been carved but the water displayed a layer of gunk and pond growth that contrasted horribly with the fish carved in mid jump.
The front doors of the manor were large enough to allow five broad shouldered men through, if they walked side by side. The great wooden doors were creased with rot; magic or not, wood didn't do well untreated out in the elements for so long. With a grunt, Harry pushed the massive doors inward and stepped inside. The entrance hall had been a work of art, probably ran the whole length of the keep. Imported marble floors ran up to the stone walls that had been brightened up with frescos and tapestries. The few wall hangings that still remained were moth eaten and faded. Then again, they must have been pretty ugly in the first place or the last Potter who lived here would have taken them with them when they left. Age had left cracks and lines in the frescos and dust covered everything in sight.
"Dobby." Crack. The house elf showed up in a flash of light and displaced air.
"Yes, master Harry."
"Could you do something about the dust?" Dobby looked around and then nodded.
With a snap of his fingers, an area of floor of about ten feet square was cleaned and polished to its original hue. Harry continued onward past the columns that held up the great room, up a set of half stairs to the audience chamber and across a ratty red carpet to the throne room. The seat of the duchy or earldom of Potter was vacant, literally. Apparently the throne was one of the things that his ancestors had labeled worth taking when they moved out in the late eighteen hundreds. Wear marks on the old carpet showed where the great wooden chair had set. Harry conjured a simple wooden chair where the old throne had once sat and reclined in it.
"Welcome to my domain; be sure to grab a mop on your way in." He chuckled at his own joke. Then sighed at the absurdness of it. The house would need a complete overhaul before he or anyone else, for that matter, could live in it. Griphook had told him that all of the valuables that had been left here would probably be stored in time locked rooms nearer to the magical center of the castle. The ward stone of this place was probably in the cellar. Standing he alerted Dobby where he'd be going and advised him not to bother cleaning any more than the great hall.
Even after all these years the dungeons had a warm feeling to them. They had obviously never been used as prisons or torture chambers; some stains just don't come out. Here the magic practically flowed through the walls, as he got closer to the wardroom. Walking along the central hallway underground he caught glimpses of artwork and minor family heirlooms. Trinkets made from semi-precious metals that hadn't been stored inside the Gringotts vault. The wardroom was easy to spot; its massive stone door was etched with runes and inlaid with precious metals and gemstones. As he stepped closer to the entranceway it got harder to move, and when he finally placed his hand on the door there was a flash and the stones seemed to hum. When the humming reached a crescendo the light show stopped and the door shimmered like a liquid. Cautiously Harry reached out and touched the door again. This time his hand caused ripples where he had touched it. He pushed and his hand passed right through the door. Taking a deep breath Harry stepped through the portal and into the Potter family wardroom.
The ancient chamber he found himself in had existed before any of the other constructions he'd seen; there was a timeless feeling to the place. The walls were roughly hewn, as if cut from the rock itself. Alcoves cut into what must have started as a natural cave held rune stones the size of medium sized books. Each stone had a glowing symbol etched into it. Every one of the seventy or so rune stones pulsed in time with the massive crystal that was held in the center of the room. Harry could feel the magic lapping against him as it pulsed, like a giant's heart beat. The aquamarine monolith rotated in midair and seemed to stop and regard him. He could feel the magic pooling around him and judging him.
"Child of my children. Why have you come?" The voice echoed across the room, it seemed to come from nowhere and everywhere at once.
"I plan to inhabit this property soon, I would like to reestablish the wards around the property." Harry tried to be as firm as he could but he didn't know whether to address the crystal or some other point of the room.
"Do you know how?" Another voice asked, now it was speaking in a Scottish dialect.
"No. I was never instructed." The smaller runes stone flared brighter briefly.
"Each of the outer runes is tied to a particular ward. Configure them using those stones and activate them all via the central controller." The voices fell silent and the pulsing returned to normal. When Harry walked to the closest stone and placed his hands on it, almost instantly he got a mental picture of what the stone did. It was linked to a ward that controlled the entrances to the grounds; it was one of about five that were currently active. Having no need to change the way this one worked he let go of it and moved on to the next one.
In all he completely disabled the anti-dementor wards and weakened the anti-dark creature wards. He kept the detection wards at full strength, though. Finishing with the ward stones he returned to the central crystal and placed his hands on it. Magic rushed away from him and into the crystal charging it like a massive capacitor. The stone flashed and pulsed brighter with each second that passed. Harry felt himself growing faint. The crystal then gave one massive pulse and threw Harry backwards with the force of the magic. The power of the wards spread outward past Harry, who was now sprawled on the floor, past the walls of the room and outward to the edges of the property. If the magic in the air had been thick before it was now like a choking, wet blanket, smothering his sense of magic completely. Standing, Harry shook his head and regained his balance by leaning on the wall. His reserves were near depleted but returning quickly. Transforming, he began to draw some of the power in the air to him and used that to strengthen himself.
Again Harry touched the portal and waited until the stone became a liquid before he stepped back through into the hallway. Light now filled the hallway from nonapparent light sources. When Harry reached the great hall he noticed that Dobby had cleaned about half of the space but had stopped and was currently scribbling runes into the floor in front of the empty spot, which once held the throne.
"What are you doing?"
"Master has reawakened the house's magic. Dobby was bonded to master's magic but now Dobby is bonded to the house's magic. All great families have house magic like this. When Dobby… When I am bonded to the house's magic my own powers grow exponentially." He finished the rune circle he had been carving and stood in the center.
"You like it when I refer to myself in first person, right master?"
"Uh yeah, when did you…" Harry was going to ask how he'd gotten smart but Dobby's chanting cut him off. The diminutive elf rose from the ground and raised his arms over his head. When he clapped his hands together a massive blast of light grew and spread out in a rippling wave. In the wake of the magic things changed, the carpet fixed itself, as did the faded wall paintings, and the ratty tapestries. Dust vanished and things began to shine like they were brand new. What was most amazing was things began to appear where they hadn't been before. Low tables, knickknacks and chairs appeared around the room. The missing throne reappeared in all its stuffy glory. The wave of light vanished through the walls but Dobby remained still for almost a minute. Then the runes faded away and Dobby dropped to the ground panting.
"Dobby what did you do?"
"Dobby has restored the manor as best as Dobby… I could. Many things were not stored in the manor so I could not return them to where they belonged."
The basement, all that stuff in the basement, that's what all the furniture is.
"Dobby will be unable to help master for a short time. Is that all right?"
"Yeah Dobby. You did great." The elf didn't get weepy like it normally did when complemented; instead it collapsed in a pile and fell asleep.
Harry walked out the front door to take in the changed manor. The massive garden had been affected too, well sort of. The walkways were clear of debris and weeds but the crakes in the stone remained. The plants were neatly trimmed inside their pots, except Dobby's magic had not eliminated the various weeds that didn't belong there. The fountain had been cleaned of pond scum and was now sprouting water, but the water plants that had taken up residence in the basin were still there. Of course Harry had been expecting to have to hire a contractor to return the manor to its original state. Now all it needed was a decorator. As he pondered this a disturbing thought crossed his mind.
What if this is Dobby's idea of good gardening?
Harry spent the rest of the afternoon wandering across the grounds. Mentally he mapped out the gardens and all the rooms in the manor. He counted three libraries, though all were empty; close to twenty bedrooms and he lost count of the number of parlors, or walk in closets, or any other rooms throughout the manor. As the sun started to set he sat in a chair in one of the two small dining rooms. The chair was old and wooden but that didn't stop him from tipping it back on its back two legs and balancing. Dobby had woken about half an hour ago and he had dismissed him to do whatever house elves do when they aren't being given orders.
Closing his eyes he relaxed and concentrated. As before he couldn't contact Neri, but this time he felt something. A presence. Harry's eyes shot open and he rose so quickly that he unbalanced the chair and sprawled himself on the ground. Crawling to his feet Harry resumed his concentration. He could feel her. He didn't know where yet, but she was around. Harry transformed and teleported outside the wards, all the while searching for her. After several minutes of looking Harry nodded and apparated to the south.
Overall he must have overshot his destination several times but half an hour later Harry stepped into a low grotto. The pair of dementors just inside the entrance moved to block him.
"Neri, I know you can hear me. Please let me talk to you. I'm sorry for what I said; if you would let me I'd like to apologize." The dementors made no move to get out of his way. Harry backed up slightly.
"I'm not going to walk away from you Neri. You've changed me and I don't want to turn my back on such an important part of me. I know what I said was wrong. Will you at least let me apologize to your face?" The two dementors parted and allowed Harry access to their den.
"Thank you. I promise you won't regret this."
"I had better not." A figure that had been standing behind one of the guards stepped up and led Harry towards the back of the cave. Neri had changed. Her appearance had taken on a gaunt, unfed look, and she had cut her hair to where it barely covered her ears, as opposed to trailing down to her butt.
"Follow me," was the only thing she said before turning and walking deeper into the cave. Harry followed, vaguely aware of the cave's size and the sheer number of Dementors that had gathered in the grotto.
"I gave you power, a place to belong, but how did you repay me? By accusing me of twisting you. Nothing that you have done were you not previously capable of. Why?"
"Neri, I'm… No that's not an answer. I was frightened by what I'd done, what I was capable of, and I lashed out. You didn't deserve any of it. I was acting like a child and as usual did only harm to those a care about."
"You hurt me."
"I didn't mean to."
"But you did, you're the first person that I've allowed myself to care about in three thousand years. The first I've spoken to in two hundred. I opened my heart to you." Harry sighed.
"I could say I'm sorry but what good would it do? I really do care about you. When I said I loved you I meant it, at least as much as I can, having never truly loved before. I want to make it up to you, I want to make it right, but I don't know how."
"Harry. Do you think I overreacted?" Harry paused. If this had happened with say, Cho, he would have said yes. But with Neri?
"No," he finally answered. "If we were normal humans then maybe. But you've never been human and I've never been normal. Loneliness does things to people, I know. Will you take me back? If not, will you at least speak to me, even if we have to completely start over? I would accept that as better than losing you forever." Neri brushed Harry's check with her hand before turning away.
"You would start over?"
"I was at fault, I'd do whatever you decided." He said
"I…. I don't want to start over, I want what we had."
"Then I'll try my best to not screw things up again." Neri had turned back to him. "I'm sorry."
"You're forgiven." She kissed him; it was a light chaste kiss at first. She pulled apart but after looking into his eyes mashed her lips into his. Her hands found themselves around him again.
"I've missed you." Harry's voice had a husky undertone that hinted at all sorts of things that should be done in private.
"So have I." There lips met again and no words were needed anymore.
A/N : (1) I generally don't list sites that I get information from but in this case Gobbledygook is not a recognized language so I feel the need to thank the guys at help. A/N