AN: I'm not much for dragging out the drama of the relationships, so i will move them a little further along in this chapter. However, they aren't going to be going at it like bunny rabbits anytime soon. I had someone who seemed a tad peeved at the fact i made Sirius an 'Ex' Death Eater. I just want to say that i did not do it just for the sake of doing it as was stated, and i do in fact have a later plot that will stem off of this. Well here is chapter 6, enjoy!
Disclaimer: I own nothing about the world of harry potter except for my enjoyment of it. J.K. Rowling owns all rights to Harry Potter, i am just playing in her world.
Pop... Harry and Sirius had just apparated at the entrance to a large dark cave that was overlooking the sea. Massive waves were splashing against the rocks, spraying them with salty mists. The two made their way to the back of the cave where Harry knew the hidden door with the blood payment stood waiting. Slicing his hand and spreading blood across the rocks a doorway materialized out of nowhere.
Stepping through Harry stopped Sirius before continuing. "Riddle has over 300 Inferi hidden below the surface of the lake. Unless we want him to be able to use them against us later, I suggest we take them out. However, I would rather do it here with a solid wall to our backs instead of on an island where we can be surrounded."
"I assume you have a strategy?" Sirius asked.
"Of course, then again my plans usually go to shit and I get stuck winging it." they both laughed. "While fire would be the best way to take them out, they would just retreat back to the water until we weren't paying attention to them and keep coming after us. So I want you to use fire to hold them at bay as best you can, and I will kill them as quick as I can. Just be careful not to wear yourself out too fast."
"Got it, well I am as ready as I will ever be." Harry walked to the edge of the water to get their attention.
"Here we go. Fulemenus Iaculor!" a huge bolt of electricity sprang forth from his wand and into the dark waters. An orchestra of unholy screaming could be heard coming from deep within as the waters started churning violently.
As the first wave of Inferi breached the surface, Sirius conjured a wall of fire to funnel them as best he could. There was still about a twenty foot wide section they could enter from. Moving quicker then Harry had hoped, he soon had at least twenty Inferi bearing down on him. "Incisorius Carnei! Incisorius Carnei! Incisorius Carnei!" three dark blue spells shot out of his wand and headed towards the closing wall of the dead. Immediately upon being hit with the curse the flesh and muscle started to deteriorate from their bodies, dropping to the ground when their muscles could no longer control their bones.
"Os Crepitus! Os Crepitus! Os Crepitus!" Three more fell to the ground unable to get up after every bone in their midsections suddenly exploded causing bone fragments to fly like scrapnel into the other Inferi, who did not seemed fazed by the small puncture wounds caused. However, it seemed as if single target spells would not be enough to take them out before they reached him as there were just too many moving too fast. He decided to up the tempo a bit.
"Bombarda Maxima!" immediately half a dozen undead were blasted apart spraying dead flesh everywhere, even on Harry himself. Ignoring the foul flesh sprayed onto his body, he kept on fighting. "Bombarda Maxima! Bombarda Maxima! Bombarda Maxima!" At least fifteen were caught in the explosions this time, making the mess grow exponentially. However, the Inferi were just to many, too strong, and too fast. Unseen from his left side an Inferi managed to grab hold of him and began slashing and clawing with unreasonably strong hands and fingers. After several cuts and bruises to his arms, face, and neck, he managed to drop the foul creature with a well aimed blasting hex to the chest.
Harry soon realized that this delay only allowed an entire horde to swarm him, and he soon was being dragged to the ground with them clawing into every inch of him they could reach. "Expulso!" he shouted as an explosion of air blasted from his center sending the Inferi flying off of him.
He stood up as quick as he could, but they were already closing back in on him, so he decided to up the ante a bit. "Demens Ignis!" Demented black fire shot out from the tip of his wand, it was a very draining spell for the average person, luckily for him he had energy to burn. The heavy magic in the air was starting to spark across the sky and the air got heavy. As the black fire his the targets their bodies began to melt and disintegrate within seconds.
He managed to drop over forty before they started to retreat back towards the water so he let the spell drop to entice them to return to attacking. With a quick glance to make sure Sirius was not in immediate danger he went back on the attack. "Lancea Mortuis! Lancea Mortuis! Lancea Mortuis!" he kept repeating, sending lance after lance of pure darkness that decayed the Inferi's bodies upon contact.
He estimated they were about halfway through killing the undead horrors, but there were still too many left to let your guard down. "Lancea Fulgur! Lancea Mortuis! Bombarda Maxima! Os Crepitus! Os Crepitus!" he rattled off so fast his wand was almost a blur. Immediately one of the Inferi was hit with the lance of pure lightning and blasted and fried through his torso. Another one dropped to the ground decayed to dust, followed by about five more whose chest explosed in another spray of gore. The two bone exploders once more sent bone fragments flying everywhere as two more Inferi went down.
It was then that the wall of fire Sirius had cast went down. Harry looked to see Sirius on his knees panting, clearly exhausted. With a quick swipe of his wand Sirius was forcibly slid across the floor behind Harry. However, now it was just him versus just over a hundred Inferi. He had to be quick or they both would be in trouble. "Sacer Ignis!" the pure white sacred fire burst forth instantly disintegrating flesh and bone. He managed to drop another forty when he was latched onto from behind and once more he could feel the clawing, squeezing, and ripping of his flesh on his arms, neck, and a few on his face.
He quickly shouted out another blast of air, once again throwing the dark abominations away from him. "Marmor. Marmor. Marmor." instantly three giant slabs of two foot thick marble was conjured making a barrier on the side where Sirius's fire wall had previously been, once again funneling the Inferi towards him.
"Arma Aquamentus!" a huge shield of water sprang into existence in front of him and with a flick of his wand it was banished towards the enemy. Halfway to its target his hit it with a super charged bolt of energy, causing it to fry another eight Inferi as soon as it made contact.
There was now only about fifty or so left and he decided to try for the kill shot. "Demens Ignis!" he shouted. Once again the deep black fire shot forth and started to obliterate flesh, muscle, and bone upon contact. He super charged the spell as much as he could trying to finish them all off before they decided to retreat once more. There were only about ten left when they did, and he let the spell drop once more.
"Os Crepitus! Lancea Mortuis! Lancea Fulgar! Confringo Maxima! Bombarda Maxima!" he sent off rapid fire as soon as they turned to attack again. More gore was blasted on the walls and floor from the moment the dark blue bone explosion curse made contact. It was immediately joined by more of its comrades as another one decayed to dust and another was fried to a crisp. A fiery explosion took out three more and the Bombarda Maxima took all but the last Inferi out.
"Incisorius Carnei!" and the last one dropped as its muscles and skin were torn from its body. Harry dropped to the floor next to Sirius, seriously winded. He had dozens of small cuts, bites, and bruises covering every inch of his exposed flesh, mainly his face, neck, and arms; along with a few larger cuts including one going from his temple to the neckline of his dragon hide armor. He only hoped his girls didn't decide to wait on him tonight or they would finish the job the Inferi started for not being more careful.
Deciding that it was time to go ahead and get this over with, he stood up and pulled Sirius to his feet. He walked some twenty feet before stopping at the edge of the water and holding his hand out in front of him. Before Sirius could ask what he was doing, a rattling sound began reverberating throughout the cavern as a thick green metal chain appeared and started to drag something out of the water. A few moments later a small boat burst forth from the water, resting up against the shore.
"This boat normally only holds one adult wizard at a time, anymore and it would sink. Luckily for us, Tom never expected anyone to find this place, never mind an underage wizard." Harry told the confused man. "In you go, I have a bottle of Old Ogden's and if my luck continues a couple very unhappy betrothed beauties waiting for me back at the manor." he said with a sly grin.
The two battle warn men climbed into the small boat and it set sail at a snails pace for the small island in the middle. Five minutes later they made landing and Harry helped his godfather out of the boat and they made their way up to a crystal basin filled with what Harry knew to be the Cruciatus Potion.
"It has to be drunk by someone. It can't be moved, vanished, or transfigured in anyway. Tom never planned on moving it, and made it impossible for what he believed was one person to claim it, he never considered the fact a second person would have made it this far." he explained to his godfather.
"Well pup, as much as I was looking forward to drinking some seriously foul potion, I think I have a better idea, that will also solve one of my other problems." Sirius said.
"Other Problems?"
"Yeah, major pain in ass as long as I can remember. Kreature!" the old half insane elf popped onto the island, spouting his usual mutterings and curses to the pair.
"What can Kreature do for Master?" the old elf said. "The worthless blood traitor who broke mistresses heart." he added under his breath.
"It's time for you to earn your spot on the wall you foul beast. You will drink this here potion and you won't stop until it's gone." he told the elf knowing it would probably be the last act it would do.
The old elf jumped up onto the basin and took the shell scoop and started to ladle the potion down his throat. He got about a third of the way in when it started to kick into effect, causing him to moan out randomly. By the time the old deranged elf managed to finish drinking the potion he was screaming his lungs out and collapsed onto the crystal floor of the island. He took his last breath a few minutes later.
Harry reached down into the basin and pulled out a locket that he had no memory of every seeing before, let alone Voldemort placing it here. Opening it up he found a note…
To the Dark Lord
I know I will be dead long before you read this, but I want you to know that it was I who discovered your secret. I have stolen the real Horcrux and intend to destroy it as soon as I can. I face death in the hope that when you meet your match you will be mortal once more.
R.A.B (as seen in The Half-Blood Prince, by J.K. Rowling)
"Great, just my fucking luck. It's a fake!" Harry shouted.
"What's it say?" Sirius asked. Harry passed him the locket and the note. After examining both for a few moments he spoke up again. "Hmm… This locket looks like one my brother Regulas once had and the initials on the note match his as well."
"I know for a fact there are only a few ways of destroying a Horcrux. Do you think he managed it, and if not where would he have hidden it?"
Sirius looked pensive for a moment. "I don't know…on either account. All we can do it keep an eye out for it. There are dozens of properties owned by the Black family he could have hidden it at, that's assuming he didn't destroy it or store it someplace outside of family ownership."
"I can't say this isn't a huge setback to my plans, but if push comes to shove I can always try to get control of his last Horcrux after he makes it. While I am away for school, I will need you out searching top to bottom all of the Black properties just incase he couldn't find out how to destroy it and decided to hide it. I would start with the properties farthest away first, as I doubt he would have left it within reach if he truly was trying to destroy him."
"Well at least I won't be stuck around Potter Manor by myself all year long. I'll let you know if I find anything."
"Thanks Sirius, I'm not sure where I would be without you, but it would probably be somewhere at my Uncle's half starved and dumber then shit." He gave the man a manly hug and pulled out the premade portkey. As soon as Sirius grabbed ahold of it, he said the activation word and they were both wisked away from one nightmare, right into another one for Harry.
As soon as the portkey deposited to two men into the sitting room at Potter Manor, Harry learned that no…His luck hadn't improved at all tonight. "Harry! How bad is it? I thought I told you to be careful!" Astoria bombarded him as soon as she noticed that he was covered in dried blood, cuts, bite marks, and bruises. Daphne was much more quiet, but you could see the worry in her eyes even if she tried to keep it off of her face.
"It was his fault!" he lied pointing to Sirius.
"Hey! Don't blame it on me Mr. I-think-it's-a-good-idea-to-kill-three-hundred-Inf eri!" he retorted, not wanting to draw the ire of two pissed off witches.
"Some godfather you are." Harry muttered. "Aren't you supposed to save me from being beaten to death?"
"Don't be a cheeky git." Astoria said, smacking him on the back of his head. "Now out of the armor and take your shirt off so Daph and I can get you fixed up."
Not wanting to take his chances and get hit upside the head again, he quickly complied and started to take his battle warn armor off. Once he had his shirt off Astoria began to wipe down his wounds with a wet cloth and Daphne followed behind her healing the plethora of wounds with just as many Episkey's.
Twenty minutes later they had him all cleaned up with only the large cut from his temple to his neck leaving the faintest hint of a scar. Tired the two girls collapsed on the love seat on either side of him, and he put an arm around each of their shoulders only for them to snuggle into his side. After a few minutes of silence it was Daphne who spoke up. "You better not make this a habit Potter. I don't want to spend an eternity patching you up because you can't stay out of trouble."
"I promise, once this whole thing with Voldemort and his Death Eaters are taken care of we will get our own private island and just relax and take it easy for a few hundred years. How does that sound?"
"Perfect, so long as you don't give me worry lines in my forehead before then." She said snuggling in deeper to his side.
Noticing that Astoria had already passed out into his left side he sleepily asked. "Is your father expecting you home soon?"
"Nope, he told us we could stay, knowing you would undoubtedly find yourself injured somehow. We brought a change of clothes and we are to meet him at Gringotts tomorrow at ten for our meeting."
Ten minutes later Sirius looked over to find them all passed out, snuggled close together on the large love seat. Deciding to leave them be he spread a blanket over the three of them and headed up to bed himself.
Harry woke up the next morning to find both Astoria and Daphne using his chest as a pillow. If he was to be honest with himself, he could definitely get used to waking up like this. Casting a quick Tempus he saw that it was just a few minutes before 8am. He decided to just sit still as to now wake the girls and think of a way where he could have some alone time with his girls once he got back to Hogwarts. Speaking of Hogwarts he would need to write a letter to Mcgonnagal soon. While he did not want to take both Arithmancy and Ancient Runes the way Tom did, he was going to drop Divination in favor of Runes class, as he had quite a few things he wanted to do that required that knowledge. While, thanks to Tom he had plenty of knowledge in both classes, he wanted to get as much practice in Runes as he could.
While he was away in his thoughts Sirius came into the sitting room already dressed for their morning workout. Giving both girls a quick kiss on top of the head, he slid out from under them, somehow not waking either girl. Apparently they were heavy sleepers. With a quick wave of his wand, he transfigured his cloths into something more comfortable for working out in, and the two set off outside to complete their daily run.
An hour, five miles, and a shower later, Harry returned to the sitting room to wake his two beautiful girls so they could get prepared for the big day ahead. "Wakey Wakey my sleeping beauties," he put a hand on each of their shoulders and gave them a gentle shake.
"Mmmnghh, don't wanna. Just five more minutes." Daphne managed to mumble out.
"We don't have time for five more minutes, big day ahead of us today. Afterwards you have all of eternity to sleep if you want." He chuckled. Apparently they were excited about today, because both girls shot up at the mention of what they were going to be doing today.
"Did we sleep out here last night?" Astoria asked.
Harry answered with a cheeky smile. "Sure did, and I must say waking up to a pair of beautiful women sure is a pretty awesome way to wake up in the morning." Both girls had to try and fight back a blush. Neither succeeded. "Well you two can shower in the master bathroom today while I get everything ready that we will need today and make sure Dobby has breakfast underway."
The two girls headed up to take their shower and get dressed, while Harry went to the hidden safe in the back of his closet to retrieve the Peverell ring and Helga's Cup. He shrunk them and placed them securely in his pocket.
A few minutes before ten, Harry grabbed both girls around the waist and apparated them just outside of Gringotts, letting Sirius know they were headed out. They went in and up to an available teller where they were met by a grumpy looking goblin. "Can I help you?" he asked moodily.
"Yes sir." Harry replied. "We have a 10am meeting with account manager Flingorth."
"Very well, one moment please." The little goblin took off through a door in the back, and came back a few moments later. "If you will follow me."
The group of three followed the little goblin down the now familiar path towards once again the Black Family Account room. The goblin led them into the room before leaving it once more and shutting the door.
"Ahh, good morning Lord Potter, and a good morning to you both as well misses Greengrass." Flingorth began.
"And a good morning to you as well Master Flingorth," the three intoned. "And good to see you again too Clyde." Harry added and shook both of their hands.
"It's good to see you too Harry." Clyde responded.
"Good, now that the formalities are out of the way how have you been Harry? I am assuming your quests have been successful so far?" the old goblin said in a friendly tone.
"Ah yes, while successful it appears I still need to work on my 'not getting injured' skills. At least that is what these two gorgeous ladies behind me keep telling me." He said sticking his tongue out at them in a playful manner.
"You better watch it Potter, or you will wake up alone on the sofa next time." Daphne joked with a playful scowl.
"Yes dear." Harry answered while Flingorth and the girls just laughed at him, while Clyde just raised an eyebrow at the sleeping on the sofa part and chuckled along with the rest.
"So," began Flingorth. "I am assuming you have brought two of the items?" Harry nodded and brought out the ring and the cup and set them on the desk after unshrinking them. "Ah yes, I can feel the dark magic held in these two items. It is a shame someone would do this to such priceless items, but no fear, we will have them as good as new after today. If you four would just follow me, I am sure these lovely ladies would like to get this over and done with." He said picking up the ring and the cup and heading for the door behind his desk.
They followed him back to the same ritual chamber that Harry himself had been in not that long ago. As soon as the doors were closed Flingorth spoke up again. "Now who is going first and which pieces are you young ladies going to use?"
It was Harry who spoke up. "Daph do you want to go first? I would like you to have the cup as it had more knowledge on it, but more importantly it has less bad memories on it that I am sure Astoria doesn't need to see at her age."
Daphne nodded her agreement and took the cup and walked over to the ritual alter. While Astoria and Clyde went to have a seat near the door. "Now Miss Greengrass, I need you to lay down on the alter and place the cup on your chest. We will need to place you under a body bind and add a sticking charm to the cup to make sure it doesn't fall off during the ritual." Flingorth told her. "Now I must warn you this will be fairly painful, as Mr. Potter can attest to, but it will all be over before you know it."
She nodded her head and climbed up on the table laying down with her hands where Harry knew the two needles that would pierce her skin lay. A medi-goblin came over and placed her under the body bind and added a silencing charm around the area. He also used to sticking charm to keep the cup from falling off of her. Immediately after he was done another medi-goblin began highlighting the runes on the alter, lighting up perhaps one or two more then they did when he went through this same thing.
After the last about the tenth rune lit up, the goblin his the activation rune and Harry saw the spikes shoot up into her palms. He was just thankful the silencing charms were in place as he did not think he would have been able to hear the pain filled screams he knew she was making right about now. A white glow started to surround her and the cup, and a moment later you could see a black mist seeping out of the cup and into Daphne. As soon as the glow disappeared the medi-goblin hit the rune ending the ritual and undid the silencing, sticking, and body bind charms and Harry rushed over and scooped up a crying Daphne in his arms hugging her tightly to his chest.
"Shhh…It is going to be ok Daph. I've got you now, and as soon as we get out of here I will help you work on getting all of those horrible memories locked away so you don't have to keep seeing them" Harry kept whispering sweet nothings in her ear and kissing the top of her head and forehead. Flingorth gave them some time for him to sooth her as he knew that the ritual had to be painful. Harry picked her up bridal style and carried her over to a chair and sat down with her in his lap next to Astoria and her father, and she tucked her head into the crook of his neck.
Flingorth walked over and spoke up. "Harry you will have about twenty minutes before the ritual table is ready for the second ritual, so I will give you four some time alone and let you know when we are ready to proceed." Harry just nodded his head.
The three youngest just sat cuddled up for the next fifteen minutes with Clyde not too far away, before Daphne looked up at him with eyes dry but tear tracks still visible running down her cheeks. She leaned up and gave him a quick, but deep kiss on the lips. "Thank you for being here, I know it would have been ten times harder without you."
Harry just hugged her harder. "I know exactly how hard it is to go through with this ritual. Merlin himself wouldn't have been able to keep me from being here for you." He turned to Astoria. "Same as I will be here for you as well. The pain will be the same for but there should be a lot less of the horrible memories in the ring then there was the cup, as it was made quite a few years before the cup was."
Flingorth walked back over to them a few minutes later. "It is ready now Harry." Harry and Astoria walked over to the ritual alter and five minutes later he conjured up a length of silk rope and made the portkey that would return them back to Potter Manor, with permission from the goblins of course, and scooped up a crying Astoria in his arms. After they all grabbed ahold of the portkey, they were whisked away, headed back where Harry was going to pamper and console his girls for the rest of the evening.
AN: Well there was chapter 6, i hope everyone enjoyed it, thought i know it is hard to please everyone. I am going to try to keep up pace for two updates per week, but I am not sure how easy it will be as i still have an 8 hour driving class and 20 hours of community service to do before the middle of August. I guess the lesson I was supposed to learn was not to go 94 in a 70...that or don't get caught, i haven't decided which yet. Just a side note i think there should only be 1 more chapter (the world cup), and then its back to hogwarts! Enjoy!