Hey everyone,
Well, that Cliffhanger definitely came to bite me in the ass as it took me until the end of the month before I thought of a way to continue on from where I left off. So, yeah, I know I apologized for the cliffie, but it seems as if the muses of my stories decided to further punish me by draining me of my inspiration for this story.
Well, wish me luck,

Venquine1990


Chapter 20
Even Means Business – Part 02

Aldair's POV

It was quite obvious from the first sight I laid on young Harry Potter as I walked into the Great Hall that the boy was quite nervous to meet us, yet my daughter proved also that she herself and Harry have grown quite close in the last few weeks as just a single nod of her head seems to bring self-confidence back to the boy.
He had stood up and spoken to the people of the Great Hall, who had fully agreed with both his decision to make a young woman named Aqua his Queen as well as a man named Lea his mate for the Potter line. Yet while the man named Terra had said nothing about him being the Gryffindor mate, had the Ravenclaw mate spoken out.
He had only spoken one sentence, yet the look on his face had proven how badly he wanted to make his words true and after a short moment of confused shock had Harry nodded and by now has the man moved out of the Great Hall, the man named Lea and a purple haired man following him closely behind and with mirroring expressions.

This had, apparently, brought the Gryffindor out in my future son in law and he had drawn Excalibur and kept it in his hand with his other hand holding his wand and the sight of such a warrior made me both worried for whatever had pushed him to be so war-hardened and proud of how serious he takes this new challenge.
His mates had taken him – and a lot of other students who had felt the need to aid their new king – to the Seventh Floor and there the man with the purple hair had spoken and said: "For the last few days have we sensed and even smelled a very dangerous and dark presence somewhere in here, yet we can't fully point its location down.
Even here has a theory, but even my Lexicon doesn't seem able to either confirm or deny that. We were hoping you could shed some light on the situation and then allow for Even to discover a proper and quick method to get rid of this evil, foul-smelling presence. After all, a castle like this should not be tarnished like this."

Harry nods at this and says: "It's probably in the Room of Requirements. That's a room that only appears if you walk past that wall three times and think very clearly of what you want. Thought I can't say for sure if you can get this room to appear if you just focus on the presence." The three nod and then Lea asks:
"Who wants to try first?" And Even instantly steps forward, his hand raised which – to my shock – makes him summon an incredible blue shield with white metal framing around the blue and with several ice-like crystals at the top and bottom of the shield and with this shield at his side, does he start to pace in front of the wall.

A door appears at his third passing of the wall and after opening the door, does he turn to the purple-haired man, who moves slightly inside, but then shakes his head and walks back out as he says: "The scent did not get stronger. I'm sorry, Vexen, but our mate is right, you thought of the wrong description of your desired room."
The blonde looks a little put out at this and then the boy says: "My turn." Even nods and moves away, the door vanishing once his partner closes it and once the purple haired boy passes the wall 3 times, does a different door appear, yet he needs only open the door for a few minutes before he closes it with another shake of the head.
"Okay, my turn." Lea then says and while he and the other one switch places, does he turn to Harry and ask: "Any suggestions, little King?" And while Harry turns contemplative for a moment, does he then ask: "Maybe – a room to hide and keep things? That's what we used it for throughout the year while training defense."

At this, while his mate smiles at him, does Even sigh and say: "Why didn't I think of that? I was thinking of a room to experiment on methods of darkness." To which Lea snickers as if he was expecting something like this and the other says: "I was imagining a room where one could dispel and create darkness."
And while Lea seems to consider this a valid attempt, does he then pass the wall three times, his face proving he is indeed taking Harry's suggestion into account and for a third time does the door appear and when Lea opens it, do his face and the faces of his friends cringe as Lea says: "Yep, Harry's suggestion was spot on."
Shocking Harry as Aqua asks: "So there is actually darkness hidden in a room that is meant to hide something away?" And after recovering from the cringe, does Lea look into his room and his eyes widen before he says: "Yes, along with a whole lot of other things." And just the way he says this makes me look in with him.

The room I see that the man has called on amazes me as it looks like an old gigantic church with bent shapes all throughout the ceiling and with tons and tons of mountains that are created out of old school chairs, broken benches, metal that seems to have origins in broken statues, stained and broken class room desks and other things.
Books, quills, ink bottles that are either broken or empty and even things that look like small snacks just thrown away somewhere and then transported here are around the entire room and some of them smell like they have been here for years, making me ask: "Are you sure you guys didn't just smell rotten food or something?"
But the three shake their heads and the unnamed boy says: "No, this is definitely the smell of darkness. Anyone who comes from our Universe and has worked either with or against our evil selves can confirm this." And then the new Lord of Gryffindor says: "Even I can confirm it, but I have my own direct history with Darkness."

And while this makes the new Queen to be and their blonde haired friend look at the new Gryffindor lord in worry, does it also convince me that there is indeed Darkness within the castle and then Dumbledore takes action, standing in front of Harry as he says: "You lead us and I will see how I can help you destroy this."
The three men nod and with the ancient wizard between the three smellers of Darkness and their younger mate, do they all enter the room, the other mates behind Harry and the rest of us behind them, me right behind my daughter and my wife to my side. And like this do we pass one hill of old and broken stuff after the other.

Even's POV

"A room to hide away Darkness. Anyone who thought of such a thing cannot have anything good planned with this school. Yet while do I feel as if, for some odd reason, this all has to do with our precious mate?" Goes through my mind while I allow for Ienzo, who's scent of smell is the best of us all, to lead us deeper.
We pass several incredible heaps of either junk or just things that are thrown away carelessly and while I wonder if Harry is intending to take all of this with him when we move the people and the castle to the new world, do I also glance between him and whatever appears ahead of us as we pass all of these mountains.

Then suddenly, as we pass yet another mountain that has a whole lot of old brooms in the bottom of the heap, do I again feel the need to cringe and Lea hisses: "We're closer than ever. Weapons out, guys. And keep it memorized, this is our chance to prove ourselves worthy as mates to their King, do not forget this."
All three of us nod and while I have no doubt that some of those behind us look confused as they see Ienzo summon his Lexicon, does Lea not summon his Chakrams, but his actual Keyblade, the whole weapon still appearing in a burst of flames to prove that Lea is ready to burn through the Darkness we are about to approach.

Yet suddenly I notice something that worries me as Harry's eyes get a glazed look to them, to which I instantly respond and snap: "Harry!" The harsh tone of my voice shocking others, yet also snapping Harry out of his daze and I look from him to the others as I say: "My suspicion as we passed through this room is true.
Whatever this Darkness is, it has a hold on our mate somehow. Forget examining it, we must find it and destroy it. And then find out how it links to our Light-hearted mate." Lea and Ienzo nod, yet a single look behind me betrays something I'm not sure I'm comfortable with as Dumbledore suddenly looks very, highly troubled.
Wondering if the ancient man could perhaps know what this Darkness is, do I turn back to the direction from which I can smell the stench of Darkness and hiss: "Let's move out." And while Harry now has a sliver of worry shining through his determined, powerful stance, do we slowly move further towards the stench.

"Over here." Ienzo softly says when we reach it, the item that reeks of Darkness being just a small piece of headwear that is stationed on a very ugly looking statue of a lady, yet when we surround it, do many of the students who came with us and who have blue trims on their robes gasp in shock before one of them whispers:
"Rowena Ravenclaw's lost Diadem." This makes all of us share a gaze of shock and then Lea says: "No way is the connection of this darkness aligned with Harry's heritage. It has to be something else." And the cringe I can see Harry trying to suppress makes me both worried for the young child as well as agree with my partner.
Said partner then sighs and says: "Okay, let's see if we can lure this Darkness out and then destroy it." Yet this seems to cause exactly the one thing I had slightly feared would happen. Harry's eyes fully glaze over, the vibrant green of his eyes dulling down to a soft moss green color and a snarl that scares the others escapes his lips.

Quicker than we even expected does he tear past the headmaster, grasp the headwear and dash off, actually using his wand to summon one of the old brooms to him and jumping on it mid-run before using his free hand to make it fly high over our heads, where his glazed look glares down at us with a hatred I know is not his own.
"Sorry for this, little one." Lea then mutters and instantly I know what he plans, me sharing a single nod with him and Ienzo before we all phase over, me wrapping my arms around the boy himself, Lea taking control of the broom with both his hands and Ienzo slapping his Lexicon closed around the diadem in Harry's hand.
The boy screams and snarls, his eyes wide and wild with the glazed look of whatever magic or form of Darkness that still has him in its hold and while Lea moves the broom back to the ground, do I then hate that I don't get the same chance he did a few days ago as I know this is the only way to pull the boy out of his trance.

I look at Ienzo and silently tell him to keep Harry close yet restrained and while the man gives his Lexicon to Dumbledore, does he then comply before I press both my hands to Harry's small cheeks, my long fingers moving past his ears and into his hair as I lovingly whisper: "I'm sorry, my precious little Ice-Crystal."
And while the boy still snarls, do I pull his face to mine and kiss him, wishing with all that I am that this sign of my love for him will not just prove exactly that, but also release whatever hold this crazy form of Darkness has over him and after a bit of struggling does Harry indeed seem to come to his senses yet again.
The boy tenses in shock, but then relaxes into my grasp and softly moves one hand to move one of my fringe locks behind my ear, making me smile in love before I part and the first thing Harry asks when I do is: "Even, what – what happened?" And while all three of us remain close to the confused and slightly dazed boy, do I say:

"We were right, Harry. The Darkness we sensed and smelled had some kind of connection to you, one that allowed it to control your mind and made you believe you had to stop us from destroying it. I didn't desire it, but I couldn't think of any other way to help you resist this strong form of Darkened magic, none other than to kiss you."
This makes Harry both blush and turn his head down, yet Lea seems to read his mind and says: "Don't feel bad, little one. Even the strongest of us can be manipulated by the Darkness. Trust me, we all speak from experience." And Terra, Ienzo and I myself all nod in agreement, to the shock of those around us.

Ienzo then turns to the Headmaster and asks: "May I have my Lexicon back, Headmaster? It should be done analyzing the strange magic we just encountered by now." The man nods, his troubled look having yet to have left his face and when Ienzo opens his Lexicon on the page that holds the headwear, does something new happen.
Harry moans as he reaches for the scar on his forehead, rubbing it as if in pain and then he says: "I – I recognize this. I – I felt this same pain when you guys spoke of destroying that thing. Before it – its magic took control over me." And while the confused, befuddled tone of his voice concerns me, does Ienzo read and say:

"Apparently this item is a wrongly created Horcrux.""Wrongly created?" Dumbledore asks and while I wonder how much he knows of these things, does Ienzo answer: "Yes, Horcruxes are usually created when one kills without feeling guilty to kill. However, if one kills and then does not honor the one killed, the magic goes wrong."
"How?" Lord Greengrass asks and Ienzo reads some more as he answers: "Apparently Horcruxes can be considered a form of neutral magic as they are usually used by those who wish to fight evil and live long lives doing so. They fight heinous crimes, yet honor their foes and therefore get blessed with the gift of immortality.
However, if one were to kill just a random person and not feel anything about it nor make any motion to honor the one they killed, the darkness of their hearts get infused with the part of their soul that they impart in the items of their choice. However, Darkness of one's Heart is not even half as strong as the darkness of one's soul."

He then looks up and says: "A Horcrux that is created like this – is similar to how Xehanort created Organization XIII. Meaning that whoever created this item – is now similar to Xemnas, the Nobody Leader of the Organization." And while I hate the memory of what was once my superior, does Harry gasp and mutter:
"Voldemort." Making several around him shiver and then Dumbledore says: "You may be onto something there, Harry. If what Ienzo says is true – and I know Voldemort as a man and boy, so I know he was capable of such even in his young teens – then the murder of young Myrtle and creation of the Diary –."
"Was his first step to creating Voldemort. Only Voldemort was never a thought to him to create until Myrtle's death. Tom never wanted to create the monster that terrorized our Kingdom in the Seventies. He just wanted to become strong and feel like a true wizard, so he made these Horcruxes, but did it the wrong way and so –."

"Created the Nobody Voldemort." Lea then says and while there are still some who shiver at hearing the name are others too shocked at what they just heard and then one of Harry's friends asks: "So, two questions. One, what exactly is a Nobody? And two, how does one go about destroying one? Cause you sound like you've done so."
To this the three of us share a look, all of us a little hesitant to answer the brown-haired lad who has grown to be both a better friend to Harry as well as a close friend to us and then Lea is the first to nod, Ienzo and me following him before he says: "We didn't really ever destroy a Nobody, Neville – rather, we were Nobodies – years ago.
And a Nobody – is simply put someone who refutes his heart and makes his body vanish, only for a creature called a Heartless, which is the Darkness of one's heart turned alive and a Nobody, which is the Darkness of one's soul turned alive, to take their place. And all three of us did so – when I was 8 years old."
And with that do we give both an incredible secret bare to many people we don't even really know as well as shock both those we don't know and those we do and silence the entire room – bar the item that still lies on Ienzo's open Lexicon and which has, throughout our explanation, started to tremble and shake ever so slowly.


Wow, bombshell!
Okay, so next chapter will be about the destruction of the Diadem Horcrux and after that the whole group will agree. The Horcruxes must be hunted down and destroyed and after that it will be up to Terra, Aqua, Ventus and Lea to deal the final blow to the Nobody reigning terror upon the country of their mate and king.
But seriously, who saw that coming? You split your soul in half and with that – create a Nobody? I mean, come on, splitting your soul and moving it elsewhere; doesn't that sound almost similar to destroying your body just to create something out of the Darkness of your heart and soul? To me it did, so I created this.
Also, I really didn't plan for Even and Harry to share their first kiss like this, but I felt it would be a good way for Even to prove his loyalty to his mate, plus I didn't think either Ice, Fire or Illusions could do the trick, so I resulted in this. And no, I don't think Lea would have used Thunder to wake Harry either, good lord.
See yah all,

Venquine1990