AN Hello! Sorry for not updating, but I should be back to updating every day now, although I have a camp this week. Onwards to the story!
Christmas and Winter Break were coming, and no one was more excited than Harry. He'd been apparating to Riddle Manor almost every day to visit Goliath and stretch his magical strengths. It was pleasing to see how much more powerful his magic was becoming. He'd also flattened like half the forest during these magic-testings, which had made the Dark Lord feel conflicted about Harry's practices. Harry sat up in his bed, sometimes it felt nice to exhaust his magic and test its limits. It made it easier for him to rest and sleep. In classes they barely ever used magic, so Harry had gotten into the practice of trying to do everything they were learning wandlessly.
Many people had gone out and enjoyed the ice and snow. The lake had frozen and some of the students, mainly muggleborns, were enjoying ice-skating. There were huge snow forts everywhere and the ground was full of footprints. Every time anyone tried to walk around, they usually ended up tripping or getting their foot stuck. Griffith, Ron, and Bushy were all in the middle of a snowball fight against the Weasley twins and Lee Jordan. Potions class was extremely cold for those who didn't know the warming charm, and in Harry's year, that meant he was the only person who managed to stay fine. Everyone else was huddling miserably around their boiling cauldrons. Draco had made a comment about feeling bad for kids who didn't have parents who wanted them home. Harry wasn't sure who it was aimed at, but he was certain the boy hadn't just said it for no reason.
Harry quickly got out of bed, it was odd how much Lucius Malfoy's son hated Harry. Harry hadn't really done anything, but he supposed that it had something to do with him being in Gryffindor. The other Slytherins at least respected him, because they knew that if he was even a tiny bit like the Dark Lord he'd be a bad enemy to have. Draco on the other hand had relentlessly taunted Harry about having no parents there to take care of him and how Harry was an orphan. Harry usually just ignored the insults, as he knew the boy was wrong. Sometimes he'd wandlessly curse the boy, but somehow Draco didn't seem to get that Harry was just holding back torturing and likely killing the boy.
Harry was staying at the castle for Winter Break, which was frustrating, but he knew the character he'd been living as would've stayed. When Professor McGonagall had gone around with a sign-up for staying in the castle, Harry had faked a smile and signed it immediately. He was a bit distraught when he found Ron was staying as well, but luckily the other two were leaving. Since he and Ron weren't particularly close Harry would be able to get away with going to Riddle Manor easily enough.
After eating breakfast and going to his first class, Harry, Ron, Griffith, and Bushy all walked out of Potions together to find the hallway blocked by a large fir tree. Hagrid was puffing as he tried to pull the huge tree along.
"Uh,want any help?" Ron asked after about a minute of them standing behind it.
"Nah, I'm alright, thanks Ron," Hagrid responded between breaths.
Then Draco voiced Harry's thoughts, "Then could you move? Some of us have better places to be right now," He ordered. "Need a little extra money hm Weasley? Hoping to be a gamekeeper when you grow up to?" he drawled.
Ron and Griffith let out feral snarls, Harry sighed aloud, didn't he know that would only provoke Draco more, "He's not worth it, all he wants is a reaction, so can we please get going?" Harry asked, pointing towards the space Hagrid had made for them. He stood in front of Draco and waited for everyone else in the hall to go before smirking at Draco and finally letting the boy through. He doubted the boy missed the flash in Harry's eyes and the evil look plastered on his face. It made him sad that it took that much to get the boy's attention. He then followed the blonde through and plastered a kind warm smile on his face, waving to Hagrid as he passed. Draco gave Harry one last look before Harry caught up to his 'friends' and decided to follow Hagrid even though they'd just passed him.
They ended up in the Great Hall where Professors McGonagall and Flitwick were speedily putting up decorations for Christmas. Harry watched as they strung green and red everywhere. He found it amusing that the main colors of two rival houses were the colors for the holiday. The green made the room seem serious and organized while the red brightly clashed with the color and made the room seem glaringly bright, flashy, and (if possible) arrogant. The colors were literally everywhere as well. All sorts of non-magical plants with magical modifications hung from the ceiling and huge piles of red ornaments, berries, and candles were laying around. There were also intertwined green and red banners. The floor was white a yielded slightly much like snow would.
At least twelve huge christmas trees encircled the room, they were covered in differing things, some had huge ornaments and some were snowy-looking and had dripping icicles. One had candles all around it, undoubtedly with anti-burning charms on the tree as well. Harry watched as Hagrid put up another tree in the only gap in the trees, Harry thought the number was odd, but he just shrugged it off. Hagrid proceeded to amble over to them.
"How long's it 'till yer holidays?" Hagrid asked cheerfully.
"Just one," Bushy told the man, "That reminds me, since we got out of class early we have about half an hour until lunch, we should better get going," She added, Harry sighed, he'd been purposefully putting notice-me-not charms on every book the mention Nicolas and been recommending places to look that would seem like good ideas but weren't. He'd also noticed that generally letting his true emotions through didn't cause any problems.
"Yeah, we'd better," Ron responded, finally turning away from where he'd been watching Professor Flitwick put gold bubble-like ornaments on Hagrid's new tree.
"What're yeh doin' there? No' much ter do now that yer so close to yer holidays," Hagrid asked.
"Oh, we're not doing school work!" Harry exclaimed, he was going to enjoy teasing the big oaf, "Ever since you told us about the Headmaster's friend Nicolas Flamel we've been going to the library trying to figure out who he is!" Harry told the man happily.
"What!" Hagrid exclaimed, "Yeh'd do good ter stop lookin' fer him, I told yeh yeh should jus' ferget 'bout Fluffy," he warned.
"Oh no! We wouldn't ever do anything to do with your dog, we are just curious about who Nicolas Flamel is, don't worry," Harry told him angelically.
"Yeah, I mean, he must be pretty important and all to be friends with Dumbledore," Griffith added, grinning, "Say, you could save us the trouble couldn't you? I mean, you must know Nicolas at least moderately well if he knows Dumbledore."
"Mhm, and I'll bet he's made and owns some pretty cool artifacts as well!" Bushy added.
"I'm sayin' nothin'" Hagrid told them.
"We'll just have to find out ourselves then, have fun decorating Hagrid!" Harry responded, waving before walking away. The others told the man good-bye as well and left the Great Hall with a very disgruntled looking Hagrid.
Bushy then hurriedly led them to the library, as she knew the way best. They had been searching vigorously, but Harry knew they wouldn't find the man in any of the books they were looking at. They'd looked in multiple newer looking books that only mentioned developments of the generation and around last ten years. It was extremely easy to lead them in the wrong direction, although it was slightly hard to keep Bushy away from a book about artifacts, the ancient and the newer ones. Harry had taken to reading right beside her and occasionally checking on Griffith or Ron. Ron worried him a bit because the boy picked books off the shelves at complete random. Griffith was just targetting books on recent famous wizards. The library was vast, so Harry was pretty sure he was all good as long as he made sure they didn't learn how to summon things well enough to ask for a book on Nicolas Flamel.
Harry noticed Griffith leaving the recent famous wizards area and quickly got up to follow him. He watched as the boy wandered over to look through to the Restricted Section. Any student caught in there without a pass was doomed to be expelled, but Harry doubted that'd stop the boy. Of course, there was just as likely books on Nicolas there as there were in the library allowed for students, so Harry wasn't too worried. He yearned to look at some of the books in the Restricted Section, the Dark Lord had told him that it was full of books on the darkest of magics. He felt drawn towards the idea of learning new dark spells for fighting, but he knew it was unlikely he'd be able to learn anything from it. The books were charmed to give warnings if opened without permission. Harry was considering asking for a pass from Severus, but that might risk his cover. Instead, Harry promised himself that the year, no the second, that he graduated, he'd sneak into the library and read every Dark Arts book in the Restricted Section.
Harry heard the librarian sneak up on them, but he ignored her until she spoke, "What're you looking for boys?" She growled, she obviously knew they weren't looking for anything, not in the restricted section anyways.
"Nothing here," Griffith told her. "Know where we could find a book about Nicolas Flamel though?" he asked quietly.
She ignored his question and swiped her duster at him (Why was she doing a house elf's work? Harry knew the castle had at least a hundred elves), "Better get out of this area then. Go on, out!" She shouted.
Harry quickly led Griffith away before turning to him, "Why did you ask her about Flamel? I thought we all agreed we didn't want to risk Se- Snape finding out!" Harry stuttered, he was slightly upset that if the librarian had taken the time to answer Griffith's question they'd find out about the stone and Harry would lose his advantage.
"Sorry! I did ask quietly though, it was in the spur of the moment. Anyways, I don't think even Madam Pince could here me," Griffith responded.
"It's okay," Harry smiled, "We'd better go see if Bushy or Ron found anything! I hope they did," He exclaimed with false enthusiasm while he really hoped for the opposite.
They'd been looking for at least two weeks and Harry felt his luck with keeping them away might have been running out. He also tried to stay as busy as possible, making up reasons for them not to look, such as pranking Draco, which Bushy only rarely agreed with doing. Harry did notice the mudblood never stopped them from making the boy's hair poke in every direction or making him roar like a lion at random times. Surprisingly though, the mudblood would usually participate in the best way to make a prank happen, and so these pranking ideas drew the group closer together. The Weasley twins also were starting to notice them as a group instead of just Harry or just Griffith.
Five minutes later, Bushy and Ron appeared with disappointed looks on their faces. Harry had to bite his tongue to stop himself from cheering for joy, "Nothing?" He asked with a sad look on his face for a moment.
"No, not a single thing! Are you sure Hagrid didn't just make him up to throw us off Headmaster Dumbledore's plans?" Bushy suggested.
"Maybe, but I doubt it, Hagrid is way too nice and honest to lie. Unless he's a really good actor," Griffith responded.
"Well, Praet, Ron, you'd both better keep looking over the break while Griffith and I are away!" Bushy exclaimed, Harry and Ron nodded.
"And you could ask your parents," Ron added hastily, "It'd be safe to ask them."
"Very safe, as they're both non-magical dentists," Bushy responded, stressing the 'non-magical dentists' part. "They'd obviously know about a wizard who owns an important magical artifact!" She exclaimed sarcastically.
"Okay, okay!" Ron agreed, "Maybe it's a crazy idea, but it's worth a try right?" He said defensively, hands raised.
"I'll see if I can find anything on my dad's computer," Bushy responded, "But I doubt I will."
"Come put your? Come put your what?" Griffith asked, highly confused, "Do you put something in it?"
"It's pronounced kuhm-pyoo-ter, and it's a muggle machine that can be used to search for things," Bushy attempted to explain, Harry listened intently, this computer thing might be powerful.
"So it leads you to whatever has the information you need?" Ron asked.
"No. Just, it's. Uhm, I'm not going to try to explain it."
-= Later that Week =-
"Hey Praet, where're you going?" Ron asked as Harry got up to exit the common room towards his room to use his timeturner.
"Just going to put this book back in my room," Harry responded, waving his book that appeared to be on basic charms but was actually a review of some of the dark spells Harry would be using during the raid.
"Oh, okay, when you get back, want to play a game of wizards chess?" Ron asked.
"Sure!" Harry responded with exaggerated enthusiasm. He did want to learn how to play wizard's chess, but he was even more excited for the Death Eater raid, "I don't know how to play though, can you show me when I get back?" Harry asked, Ron nodded.
Harry smiled and walked out of the room, entering his own room. He then grabbed his timeturner and turned the timeturner five times counter-clockwise. As he faded away, he heard a crack as his future self apparated into the room. Then he found himself in his empty room once more. Checking the clock he'd set in the corner earlier that day, he saw that it was now eleven o'clock. Harry quickly apparated to Riddle Manor. The raid was supposedly at noon, so he had an hour to kill. He rushed out to the forest to see Goliath. The Dark Lord had let him bring Goliath on any raids, which was disappointing but Harry understood.
Harry then let the excitement of the oncoming raid overcome him and he shuddered with excitement as he bounced up and down. He then let out a laugh that more resembled an evil cackle as he tried to figure out how many people he'd try to beat before they were forced to retreat. They would undoubtedly be retreating as their target would get reinforcements quickly. They were going to be entering the Ministry through every entrance. There would be about a dozen entering through floo, and at least double that going through specified apparation points. A few would enter with the help of Harry's special apparation, including Bellatrix, Nott, and a few Harry didn't know. Lastly, around forty would go through the phone booth and the other muggle entrances.
Harry heard a loud roar and looked up to see Goliath landing beside him. He quickly walked up and rubbed Goliath's scales. His dragon let out a mix between a purr and a rumbling sound. They'd obviously both missed eachother, Harry hadn't been to Riddle Manor in at least a week and being bonded seemed to make them unable to be apart for long amounts of time. Not that Harry minded though, he enjoyed his mellow dragon's company, although he'd found that Goliath was extremely protective from a few times he'd been injured. The dragon had simply eaten anyone who'd gotten near Harry one time when he'd gotten sick with dragon pox, which hadn't been particularly helpful for Harry getting better. Luckily the Death Eaters of the Inner Circle had managed to convince the dragon that the nurses were there to help. This only happened after three had been eaten though.
Harry chuckled as he remembered. After a minute, he grabbed one of Goliath's spikes and hopped on. He did take a moment to admire Goliath's size, likely bordering a hundred feet. It was unusual, as the largest Hungarian Horntails recorded were around seventy feet long. In fact, Goliath was possibly one of the largest dragons to ever exist. Harry supposed it was because of the blood bond, but he wasn't sure why. He wiggled a bit to be better positioned and screamed for joy as Goliath shot straight into the air at shocking speeds. He held on to his dragon's spikes with both hands as they bolted into the skies. After around thirty seconds in the air, Harry could barely see the ground, and suddenly Goliath stopped pumping his wings. Harry felt as the wind stopped whipping his hair and for a moment he felt weightless until Goliath tipped backwards and suddenly Harry was upside-down.
Harry watched as Goliath finished his flip so that he was barreling headfirst towards the ground. Harry let out a whoop that was lost in the wind and Goliath let out an ear-piercing roar. Harry then turned and let go of Goliath. This caused him to start falling slightly slower than Goliath because he was lighter. It gave an odd feeling as it looked like Harry floated upwards. As the ground approached, Harry watched as Goliath flipped on his back and spread his wings. This resulted in Harry somewhat-quickly slamming into his dragon's chest. Goliath hugged him with his legs before flipping back over so that he was flying normally. Harry then grabbed Goliath's right front foot and let himself be lifted high enough so that he could drag himself back onto Goliath's neck.
He cast a tempus, "Better get back to the manor," He told Goliath. The dragon groaned in disappointment but Harry was jumping in excitement. It was still half an hour before the raid officially started, but he thought it'd be a good idea to be ready before then. He couldn't wait to kill someone, and hopefully a challenging someone as well!
AN So yeah! Hope you all enjoyed the chapter. Thank you for the reviews and I'll try to post tomorrow! Please follow, favorite, and review for more!
-Ariana Flynn Riddle