Chapter 5

the last things (before we get to work)

"You've been missing Quidditch practice haven't you, Harry?"

"Yeah, I have..."

After his inheritance came about, Katie Bell had been made Captain while he was in the Hospital Wing. Katie hadn't approached him about practices but he knew that he was still Seeker because he hadn't been told otherwise just yet. With having also been increasingly busier since he'd been let out, Quidditch hadn't really been a high priority no matter how much he missed it. The freedom of being in the air and the simplicity of chasing a fly golden ball.

Hermione hums knowingly. "I saw you looking at your firebolt rather longingly earlier before we had to come here. When is the next game?"

Harry tries to think of it but his mind comes up blank. "I'm not sure..." Hermione gives a breath and shakes her head.

"Go find out – the Quidditch will be a good break I think... there's so much to do with everything, we need something at least to get our minds off it..."

Harry snorts. "Gryffindor will have my head if they see somebody other than me playing. I think Professor McGonagall has been enjoying have the Quidditch Cup in her office."

"Right mate... so just pack up and go see Katie – we'll still be here when you get back." Harry stares between his two best friends and nods hurriedly.

"Right – yeah..." He gathers his stuff as quickly as he can before bolting off, feeling a flush on his face at the insinuation between the two of his friends. Gods, he really hadn't needed to know that. At all.

He got to the Fat Lady in record time, panting harshly. "Quiver." The portrait swings open and Harry goes in, looking around the Common Room imploringly. Where is she... there!

Katie is talking with a few 3rd years and Harry stumbles over to her, flowing with relief. "Katie!"

She looks at him and she smiles. "Harry – where've you been?"

"Er, studying for N.E.W.T.s... my brain is going to melt."

She gives him a look of sympathy, nodding. "Yup. My last year and I'm contemplating flunking just cause my brain can't handle anymore knowledge. But I want out of studying hell so I'm trying... anyways, what can I do for you?"

"When's the next game? I haven't had time to look or anything and I haven't been called for practices..."

"Oh!" Katie rubs her face. "I totally forgot to tell you about practices – I've mostly just been brushing up with these little bits, it's all 4th year and below bar you and me. The game is next week. We'll be going against Hufflepuff so we have this one in the bag. Unless the suddenly decided to change tactics but from what I saw during their practices, we'll be doing just fine during the match."

Harry nods. "Okay. Is there another practice anytime soon?"

"Yes actually! We have one is like 15 minutes, if you want to join..."

"Please! I'll be down in 5 minutes."

Harry darts up the stairs to the boy's dormitory and places his bag on the bed, going to change into his Quidditch uniform. He tosses it on quickly, jamming his glasses back on when he's down. With his firebolt in hand, he goes downstairs to see Katie with a 2nd year and 4th year with her gaggle of 3rd years.

"Alright! Our star seeker is with us and we have this last practice before our match next week – I can't squeeze anymore with how much studying I have to do but you can practice with each other and throwing balls and hitting them. Practice your hand to eye coordination because that is everything with you guys."

They go out onto the pitch and Harry needs to fly – he needs to fly. And when he's up in the air, he whoops happily and catches each and every ball that comes his way, even though he's dodging the high speed balls that are bashed his way. Katie laughs and cheers him on as the other teammates try to take him off his broom while she throws golf balls every which way.

He does hairpins and crazy dives for fun, looping easily around the haphazardly thrown balls. His teams shrieks when he does a tight coil around a 2nd year chaser and he laughs, dodging the harshly thrown ball that zoomed right past his head.

It goes on for three hours, three hours of strenuous work that has Harry feeling lighter than he has in a while. He encourages the other players, zooming by them quickly to help correct their posture from what he'd observed from years of playing with Oliver and his other teammates who'd all left only leaving him and Katie.

By the end, Harry is soaked with sweat but feels exhilarated. He takes a quick shower and then goes back through the castle, with a smile on his face, though his breaktime was over.

He travels to the Owlery, knowing the Hedwig was likely there and waiting on him. Since they'd been in contact with Sirius, she'd always been ordered to go to the Owlery as though she had been hunting because Harry really had nobody else to be in contact with. Plus with her colour changed feathers it would look like a stranger was messaging him and he didn't need the attention to begin to swarm her.

His last letter had been rather vague with the quick mentioning of a magical Inheritance and that he'd been seeing colors to show a bit of trust. While he still hadn't regained all of his previous trust in Sirius, it was growing and Sirius was always there, making sure that he was okay. It was nice to know that he was still there for him.

Harry whistled as he entered the Owlery, smiling happily when Hedwig flew down. "Hey girl," he cooed gently, stroking her breast feathers. "How are you doing?"

She hooted happily and preened his hair as he untied the letter on her leg.

His name was scrawled on it in Sirius slanted, tight lettering and he smiled softly. A shrunken box landed in his hand when he opened the letter, about the size of a match box maybe smaller.

Stuffing it in his pocket with one hand, Harry begins reading the letter, eager to know what his godfather had written.

Hey Harry!

Have you figured out what your Inheritance is? All Potters go through something on their 16th birthday, though with your father is wasn't much except for a boost in his magic. At least I think so. Potters are a bit secretive, though most pureblood houses are. Even my own accursed family. Which is actually rather easy to imagine.

The book is enclosed, just be careful, yeah? I don't want you do get hurt and do anything bad but I trust you and your judgement. If you have any questions, you know how to reach me...

Remus says hello! He'll likely be seeing you over Christmas break if you're going to Grimmauld. Though you might be going to the Burrow either, with Ron and Hermione. Tell them hello for me, also.

How's Hogwarts? Any guys or gals caught your fancy?

Love you pup!

Snuffles

Harry rolled his eyes at Sirius last question. As if he'd ever had time for a relationship and his only interest, Cho Chang, has turned into an utter disaster. Ginny had expressed her interest multiple times but the thought of dating someone who so closely resembled his own mother was rather nauseating to him. And it as Ron's sister so he didn't fancy the talk that would come from that.

"Thanks for the letter, love." He pressed a soft kiss to Hedwig's feathery head and smiled at her. "I'll be back tomorrow with a reply – and I know you don't like me charming your gorgeous plumage but it's for your safety. I wouldn't be able to bear it if something bad happened to you... like last year."

The memory of holding Hedwig with her bloodied and shattered wing sent ice through his veins and made a snarl curl at his lips. "Never again – I won't let it happen."

Hedwig barked lightly and nuzzled his cheek, making him smile at her.

"See you girl. Stay safe okay?"

She gave an affirming hoot and Harry went out of the Owlery, taking deep breaths to calm the lingering anger in him.

Maybe he could find some critters to be practice for his newest magicks.

Harry startles when Ron gives a growl of agitation, glaring fiercely at Hermione. She looks frazzled with her hair tied into a messy bun and her wand tucked behind her ear. A book of meditation was open between the two.

"I told you how to do it, Ron!" she cried, sounding as tired and exasperated as Ron looked agitated. "It's in the book! Just read it! Please!"

"I did!" he shouted back, his magic crackling agitatedly over him in fiery sparks. "I read it from cover to cover and it still makes no bloody sense! And then you tell me to clear my mind and obviously it's not working! I don't know – it's just not working so stop trying to force it! I don't grasp things that same way you do, Mia! You know that." Ron sighs and scrubs his face.

"It's not going to work with me – I can't meditate well enough to learn Occlumency. I don't learn things like that."

Harry frowns lightly and stretches out his magic lightly, reaching out to his two best friends. His magic wobbles lightly and he winces before pulling back some of it. It soothes the slight pain that threaded through him at the action and Harry frowns slightly.

"Let's take a break for now – Ron, it's alright. There has to be a way and if not it's alright. Somethings are just really hard and take time." Ron gains two splotches of red on his cheeks and Harry purses his lips. "It's not your fault, Ron. It doesn't make you dimwitted or stupid – you're a genius when it comes to certain things, just like I happen to suck at most things aren't DADA. Hermione... well Hermione's brilliant at most things except of course, Divination which is a complete and utter waste of time!"

Ron laughed at his prim impersonation of 3rd year Hermione and she had a soft flush on her cheeks but was still laughing with them. "It was the time turner – it definitely frazzled me in 3rd year but I shouldn't've yelled at her... I could have dropped it during Christmas Break or after a full year... I don't know how you two manage to continually go back and deal with her... honestly I'm sure half the class go high on the incense fumes during the first lesson. The cooked sherry smell doesn't help either..." Hermione rolled her eyes and pulled at a strand of hair that had come loose from her bun.

"How's your magic, Harry?" Ron asked softly, taking a book on blood magic into his lap. "Your spells are dimming slightly and I reckon that your core is starting to feel the effects."

Harry scrunches his nose, having felt it just minutes ago when he tried to stretch out his magic. "Yeah... I'm getting tired quicker after lessons, especially Transfiguration or Defence. It's depleting and so soon too..." It had only been a little over a week since their finding and Harry was unsure about everything.

Hermione had made a plan, but they still needed to go through the last of the Blood Magic book to make sure it was fool-proof. It was Ron's turn to go through with it and the red head was taking periodic breaks to allow his mind some time to digest the information. They've also been trying to learn Occlumency as well to help hide his Inheritance and current predicament, so that people couldn't just pluck it straight from their minds. It was a bit of work, especially with the mediation because it was a struggle to get Ron to be able to do it fully. His mind had always been chaotic and noisy even if other people don't think so, but him and Hermione understood and were still trying to help Ron work through it.

There was a full list of things that they needed to understand, especially with how little time they had. Harry had to juggle his classes all while learning about his Inheritance, using his powers without having to meditate to access them, gain a solid link of power for his unborn, figure out all the riddles that Death had given him, and more – it was utterly exhausting, and Harry was tired despite them only being in the beginning of every thing.

It was late in the second week of November and yet they only had until the Winter Hols to have a firm plan to hopefully be able to locate Voldemort. Anything longer and his pregnancy would be put at risk and that was just over six weeks of time. Harry wasn't doing it. He would strip Voldemort of his magic and stuff it in a jar first if he had to. His Necromancer Inheritance must cover something like that.

The thought had his mind traveling back to Draco's mark which had been floating with a dark red magic. And then... the crown like object that he had found, it was been swathed with it, completely enveloped by it. It had pulsed rather soothingly and Harry hadn't been able to part with it since he'd acquired it. So it stayed in his bag all day, surrounded with notice-me-not charms and protection charms so that it didn't break. If he focused enough, he could feel the faint pulses from his bag that was leaning against a leg of the table to the right of him.

Harry nibbled on his lip and thought hard. Could he show it to Hermione and Ron? He felt rather possessively toward it and to show it to them felt a bit intrusive to himself. But even so, he trusted it, could see that there was no malicious intent in the magic so he could share it with them perhaps.

Mind made up, at least before he could convince himself to back out, Harry summoned his bag over with a quick accio and gently took out his schoolbooks, parchment, ink, and other things. At the bottom was the headpiece and he probed it gently with a strand of his magic. It pulsed warmly, invitingly, and the magic flowed faster as though suddenly alive.

He looked back up and took a sharp breath. "There's something I want to show you guys..." He pulled out the headpiece and held it gently, balancing it rather precariously on the edge of his fingertips.

Ron made a strangled sort of noise.

"Harry... Harry, that's – that's Ravenclaw's Diadem." There was a heavy sort of emphasis on the last two words and Harry peered at his two best friends curiously when Hermione gasped, her eyes wide with shock.

"Er – what?"

Hermione was still staring at the newly dubbed Diadem as she spoke. "Ravenclaw's Diadem, Harry... That's... That's on par with Gryffindor's sword. It was said to bestow knowledge and wisdom on any who wore it."

"Ah... I had it to show you the magic. It's Riddle's magic..." Harry pursed his lips and stared at them. "Um... yeah. I didn't know what it was. Sorry."

Hermione snorted. "Only you... but what do mean it has Riddle's magic?" She leaned forward and put her hand around it, just barely a centimetre away from the surface. Harry stiffened lightly but allowed to feel around it.

"I don't feel anything... except maybe this soft aura but it's more like this gentle prickle at my skin." She frowned and closed her eyes, obviously trying to concentrate on the feeling. "It feels rather dismissive actually. Like it doesn't view me as worthy or something."

"Lemme see. Maybe it's because your muggleborn and Riddle seems to have a vendetta against them or something." Ron did the same thing, only he scrunched his nose up so that he could focus more. He looked rather confused as he sat down. "Yeh... it does feel dismissive actually... What do you feel, Harry?"

"Er – I uh..." Harry stammered, feeling a bit put out. "Well... It feels rather content actually, maybe even happy a little bit."

Hermione blinked and leaned forward more, but this time when she reached out she stroked his cheek with her index finger. "I think... I think the magic is recognizing you or something... You look... better." Harry raised an eyebrow at her and she flushed. "Not condescendingly or anything, but you just look... rejuvenated or well-rested... you're glowing almost and you look less sallow. Before, you were definitely gaining a ting on your skin."

Her eyes drifted down to the diadem and she hums softly. "Place it down. Like just back in your bag." Harry did so, feeling mightily confused by her actions. "Can I put it back to where it was?" Harry nodded softly and she placed his bag back on the leg of the chair.

She looked backed at him and shook her head softly. "There – you have the slightest tinge on your skin. It's barely noticeable but it's there. We'd have never spotted it if we weren't looking for it." His bag is placed back in his lap and Hermione sinks back in her spot next to Ron. "Riddle's magic is just barely taking the edge off of your fatigue."

"It's quite old obviously, seeing as it has been here since he was a Hogwart's student or maybe just around that time if he was ever an apprentice, but... but this'll help Harry." Ron looked excited, really excited. "This gives us more time to study, especially with the fact that Riddle imbued it with his magic. It's... It's a bit faded, magic doesn't stay strong forever, especially since his demise or whatever when you were a baby so that obviously weakened it but until we can implement everything, it'll have to do..."

Ron picks at the edge of a page for a moment before clicking his tongue. "Em... I think I found what we need to do... I think we just need to prick a little bit of Harry's blood and have it meet with the blood of the Markee. All of the blood has been directly infiltrated by Riddle's magic on the left forearm, but it'll be especially strong if we prick a bit right on the mark. That'll be best."

"Okay... so my blood, their blood, and then..."

Ron shrugged, looking a bit annoyed actually. "That's just it – I think you're just to have to dive into the magic and figure it out... I don't think anybody's ever been in the situations that you've been in... you're quite special, Harry."

He snorted, slumping. "Don't I know it. How are we actually going to convince him though?"

Hermione placed down 3 different containers and gestured to them. Ron nodded. "Basilisk scales, blood, and vemon. He'd never pass up the chance to be in possession of something so rare and expensive. It's the best thing we can do, bar threatening him. Not that I think it'll work but hey, who knows? But anyway, bribe first and if that doesn't work then we'll move onto the next plan of action."

Harry nods. "Okay... this might actually work then I think..."

Ron huffs. "Say it with a little more faith mate." A chess board pops in front of him and Ron begins toying with the pieces, moving them around until they look randomly scattered about. There's a calculating look in Ron's eyes and he begins moving more and more pieces, even setting some to the side.

Hermione and him are quiet as they watch Ron work, before he nods slowly, looking satisfied. "Yeah... he'll have to. He can't say no." Ron smirks broadly, and his magic is pulsing in a victorious type of way. "It'll work."

Harry relaxes, trusting Ron implicitly. "Okay. So then we just have to prepare different scenarios. What are any questions that he could ask? Slytherins being Slytherins type questions."

Hermione begins counting off her fingers. "What could he get out of it? Basilisk parts. If he wants to tell, we'll either Obliviate him or threaten him with something. We need to have him take a vow first, we could also say that we owe him something within reason. Though considering what he's doing for us, that is a lot." She ruffles her hair and begins looking around. "I have a list here somewhere..."

"It's alright Mia – later, after we finish this up." Ron gestures to their rather cluttered area with various books and parchment leafs around them. There's fully bloomed flowers and different magical objects and a few odd things that Harry isn't sure what they are. Harry sighs and scrunches his nose.

"Do we have to continue?"

Hermione makes a noise and nods. "Yes we do, Harry. But I'll make you a deal. If you can wilt the flowers, we can leave and until after dinner."

"Curfew."

She gives him a look but rolls his eyes. "Fine. You can have more resting time but if you think that I'll leave you off because you didn't get much sleep, you're wrong. And we still have a Herbology diagram to complete so after dinner we can get that done."

Ron and Harry groan in unison and she huffs. "We do have to keep on top of school you know. Ron, we have to stay on top of our studies for our possible emancipation tests. Those cover 7 years of school and more so we we really need to stay on top of things regardless of the excitement that is happening this year. They need to be done by Spring because after that Harry will definitely need to be somewhere that is not here because he'll be noticeably pregnant by then." She's looking rather frazzled by the end of her lecture and she pressed her lips into a thin line.

"I have the thing... the list... right here." She grabs a large piece of parchment and brandishes it exaggeratedly. "We have 13 different things we need to study for Ron, as well as cram 2 other classes into our heads that we didn't know of before." She rubs her forehead and sighs. "We're going to be so busy..."

"Alright!" she shouts, her hands fluttering around her. "Never mind. Just – Harry practice your Occlumency and your power things with Ron... I need to find this stupid..." She dissolves into mutterings as she stands, scrounging around for whatever it was she suddenly needs.

Ron looks at him then shrugs, giving the well known gesture of she's nut, mate before sitting down in front of him. He plops a scoop of flowers in front of him and Harry rolls his shoulders.

"Right mate... I don't know exactly what you're supposed to do, but... just make them dead I guess... after your Occlumency." Harry snorts and just shrugs in a helpless sort of way.

He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. Slowly, Harry begins the breathing exercises that he'd been doing every morning and night and practice, trying to block out everything. His mind began to unravel steadily, and he flowed his thoughts to surge forward but not take over. Instead, they more circled around like a sea and Harry felt it; it was like ice slowly frosting over him, prickling at his skin.

His Occlumency shields surrounded his thoughts, and a thick sort of fog came over them, obscuring them to where it looked more like shadows wisping about a dense smoke cloud. And a field stretched out, safe from any unwanted persons – a field of flowers and bushes, with a tall, majestic oak in the center. His memory shifted throughout the field, he could see them barely peaking over the flowers and the forbidden ones tumbled around in the tree, for the most part hidden away in the thick foliage of the tree.

Harry floated through the field, coming to a stop at a clear blue pond. He went in and floated through, coming to a stop at what the pond hid from view. His core.

Inside the pond It was pure black and in the middle of the black was a bright glow. It was a thick ball, sort of like yarn, with strings and strings of magic pulsing continuously throughout it. Most of the string was a rich green color, with small fibers of all his different magical threads on it. It was like art and Harry touched it gently, taking a string and pulling it.

It threaded around and around, the fibers on it scarlet. It was icy, prickly, and Harry could hear the whispers of souls. He let the thread float back, as though it knew exactly where it belonged, and intertwine itself back with his core.

Harry felt slightly giddy as he always did when he was touching his core, marveling at his magic. Off to the side, he spotted a tiny, tiny thread and felt intrigued by it. He'd never noticed it before. Following it, Harry examined it notices that there was no sparks of color, it was just a thin green stand of color from the main portion of his color.

When he finally reached the end, he stared unable to comprehend what he was seeing. It was attached to a small orb, maybe just barely larger than a snitch, but it was pulsing madly. Awe washed over him.

This was his baby's core.

It was pure and white, no blemishes or color on it, and Harry's magic pumped through it, feeding it. There was another strand, dark red, but it was thin and weak, pushing very little magic into it. Voldemort's magic.

Harry touched it gently, caressingly, before withdrawing his touch. There were a few pulses and he stared before drifting back slowly.

When he came back to awareness, his heart was beating erratically, and he touched his stomach gently. That was... There were strangled sounds, but his throat closed up and tears were brimming his eyes. He wiped them furiously, trying to keep them from falling.

"I saw it..." His voice was a mere whisper as he spoke, waveringly and in awe. "It was so small and pure... their magical core – it was... it was perfect." Tears built again and he sniffled.

A hand rubbed his back and Harry took deep breaths to try and collect himself, otherwise he was going to cry and not stop. "Thank you for pushing me so much – otherwise I might not have been able to see that..."

There was another hand rubbing his back and Ron's voice came from next to him. "You saw something really special, Harry. To be able to see that... not many mothers or fathers get to see their baby's magical core when their still unborn... that's... that's coveted..." There was a awe in Ron's voice that made Harry squirm a little bit. Tears pricked at his eyes and Harry was tempted to just let them fall.

Hermione nudged him. "We always knew our Harry was special, didn't we, Ron?"

"We did."

Harry gave a soft laugh; they sounded more like proud parents than his best friends and siblings, but he was okay with that. "I don't think I'd ever tire of see it... It was barely larger than a snitch, guys..." His voice wobbled again and he sucked in a sharp breaths to try and calm himself. His rubbed his stomach, letting the damned tears slide down his face. "I'm really and truly pregnant..."

"Yeah, Harry." Hermione smiled softly and pecked his cheek. "Yes. You are..."

"Eh... Hermione what does this mean?"

Harry looked up at Ron's question, blinking at the thick book that was open in front of him. The side of the book that was facing him must've been about half the size of his upright thumb.

Hermione looked up and peered over at his page before speaking. "It's just a referencing to the other types of classifications. It's like the taxonomic system but grouped for curses. In any case, this references to the types of classifications used for different things. Curses is just one of them and the only one that you should be focusing on right now – please try not to get sidetracked, Ron."

Ron sighed but went back to his books, writing down notes on the pad that Hermione had gotten him. Ron had been rather interested in the biro that she had been using so Hermione got him his own set and Ron had been enchanted with using them since. The ink dried faster and there was neat rows that collected their finding even easier. Harry had to admit that he used a biro to write his essays since he'd asked Hermione for one. His assignments were neater and more collected, though his writing hadn't really improved much.

Harry looked down at the journal in front of him and scrubbed his face tiredly. There were a total of 23 necromantic journals but only a total of 5 necromancers, 6 if you count the one that had died with only half-way written in journal. The entries were short and concise but didn't hold much knowledge that wasn't already stated in the other journals.

Mensah Peverell had been killed only 18 days after getting his Inheritance in a wizarding inn that had been set ablaze by a vindictive witch who lost control of Fiendfyre.

The others were treasures, that described all the different branches tin Necromancy, even going so far as to include diagrams and different terminologies. It was helpful, especially when cross referencing them with the Grimoire with different writings. Harry had needed to learn different translation charms to be able to read the script that dated farther back, as it was written in Latin, Hindi, Greek, or even Sanskrit which was apparently a dead language according to Hermione.

They'd gone back to Gringotts again during the weekend under the guise of getting a wand holster for his new wand since it was so reactive to his magic. Ron had gone with him that time, since Hermione was buried in the Room of Requirement in books of blood magic and Ron had pointed out to him everything that he would need from Gringotts. They'd set up some business ventures and even snooped around for anything that may help them with anything else.

In the end there hadn't been much that he could do but Harry had kept an eye out in the apothecaries, remembering that the Potter's were well-known in the Potions business. Especially with his Great Uncle Fleamont's Sleek-Eazy Hair potion. Hermione had been utterly gobsmacked to know that it had been his family that had invented the hair stuff that she had used in their 4th year.

Harry had gone through some of the potions that were in the Grimoire and could honestly confess some of the people in his family genius'. Hardly any of the potions had been published, kept around in family circles only and it helped Harry understand how his father had come up with the pranks that he had. Obviously there was a natural talent for Transfiguration and Potions in the family, even if his father had been a right arse in his school years.

Ron had nearly tripped over his feet when he saw a book of Hindi Runes in his vaults, stammering out an explanation that it was one of the few types of Runes that could only be found if you lived in the country that they came from. Hindi Runes were only shared with those in India, and even then it was only their Runic Masters that knew them. Bill had apparently been beside himself with that fact when he'd been learning to be a Curse-Breaker and had always wanted to go to India for the chance to see the runes.

Harry had been surprised with the valuable belonging that had been accumulated in all the old vaults over the years, including the immaculate clothing that had been there. There were gowns and robes that shimmered in the light, with delicate jewels sewn in. Ron had fawned over a particular lavender dress that had butterflies on the skirt with flowers threaded through on tiny green threads that had acted like vines, looking like he'd want nothing more than to gift it to Hermione.

There was so much stuff that Harry didn't know what to do with most of it – he hadn't been raised in the magical world and though there was no use crying over spilt milk, he couldn't help but wonder what it could've been like.

Shaking his head, Harry sighed and stroked his stomach softly. He was studying all of this for his child, looking for ways to convince Riddle that perhaps they could at least be allies – even if it pained his so, Harry would raise the child alone if Riddle did not wish to be a part of the child's life. He could respect that and he would just raise the child with Hermione and Ron... and Sirius and Remus once he actually got around to telling them about his pregnancy.

He'd been putting it off due to all the fears that had been coursing around his head – they could tell Dumbledore and that could ruin everything, because everything had to be meticulously planned and even a single flaw could set off a chain reaction of horrors.

"Are you alright Harry? You look a bit pale..."

"I'm fine Mia... just thinking... if something goes wrong..."

She gave him a light smile, her eyes soft. "It'll be alright – we have everything we need. The diadem is cluing us into something and I have a feeling it's something much bigger... The bribes have been set and all we need is the connection... speaking of which how is your magic faring? You've been having a bit more trouble this week in Defence..."

Harry rubbed his face. It had officially been 20 days since he'd found he was pregnant and his magic was on the fast road to conking out. It was getting harder and harder to sustain his spells, which led to him taking a full stop on his necromancy powers. It was draining his magic more, not matter that they were a separate part of his magic and Harry couldn't afford to be drained everyday lest somebody find out. And that was something that he most assuredly did not need.

"I'm alright – it's gotten a bit better now that I've stopped the practice but we need to execute the plan soon. It's getting to risky to keep pushing it off..."

Hermione bit her lip, looking indecisive for a moment and Ron touched her arm gently. "It needs to happen Mia. We need to do it."

She took a deep breath and nodded. "Right... Okay. You had a knockback 2 days ago, right? In the memory, Riddle said that Tuesdays were always... special to him. We don't know why but I think it might be connect to his magic. Tuesdays are the 3rd day of the week, which is a magically powerful number, also being the 3rd of 7. This can't a coincidence... I won't believe it."

Ron nodded along. "That makes sense. So what are you thinking?"

"I think, that since tomorrow happens to be the new moon, which is the most powerful time to establish a link with blood magic and it also happens to be Tuesday, that somebody is finally looking at us favorably."

Harry's heart began beating rapidly and he swallowed.

"And this means...?"

Hermione tilted her head and smirked.

"We're getting you a link, Harry."

Author's Notes:

I'm actually early on this one because it was supposed to be out this evening but I did all my editing last night so we're good...

My brother helped me to come up with the magical core so that was mostly his work! He helped me with that portion of the scene, including the baby magical core, though he didn't know it'd actually be published...

I also joined a writing competition, sounded fun y'know, so my submissions are being posted on my profile. Three of them have already been posted... It'll go on until like the end of May unless my team is picked for the finals... we'll see in the future I guess...

I'm going to post one more chapter later this week and then afterwards, it's going to be a little while before I post again. I do have to get onto my other stories, so this one is going to have to lay flat for a bit longer than usual.

Hope you guys enjoy the rest of your day!