Disclaimer: Usually I write out a very specific disclaimer explaining exactly what it is I don't own but I find myself not really interested in doing so this time as it is very tedious. Suffice it to say I own nothing that was created by anyone else and I am not making any money off of this story or any of the other stories I have written.
AN: This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance.
Chapter 61: A Plan of Attack
"Where are you going?" Heero asked as he followed Taliesin out of the office.
"Down to the security office, so that I can use the Command Center to start looking for the location of Godric's Hollow since I gave the list of magical locations I retrieved from the Ministry to Ricardo so that he could finish entering the addresses coordinates of those sites into map database," Taliesin replied as he exited the stairwell. "I will also need to make a trip to the storage rooms so that I can dig out the vault inventories from Gringotts in order to determine whether or not any of the horcruxes are hidden within the vaults."
"When do ya plan ta deal with da horcrux that is hidden in da dungeons?" Duo asked as he caught up to Taliesin and fell into step beside him along with the guards.
"Ah, that reminds me," Heero muttered as he stopped walking and contacted Captain Shelby. "Command Center, this is Red Leader again; we have a Merlin Code Black in the western dungeons which will require an immediate evacuation of any individuals working in that area. Once the area has been cleared, please post at least two sentries at each entrance to prevent anyone from wandering into the area; access will be restricted to The Mage, the K-Nine Squad, myself, and the other four Leaders."
"Understood, Red Leader," Captain Shelby replied curtly.
"Merlin Code Black?" Taliesin inquired softly as he stopped and glanced back at Heero in confusion.
"Like the various code names that we came up with to deal with various scenarios, we implemented a color code system to identify potential threats," Trowa explained as the group began moving once more. "The Merlin Codes will be used for all situations involving spells, wards, magical artifacts, or the magical creatures; white means the situation is all clear, yellow means that something magical is interfering with one or more of the on-going projects, orange means that the situation could potentially turn harmful, red means that something dangerous has been encountered, and black means that known dark magic has been encountered. On the flip side, the Star Codes will be used in regards to non-magical threats such as spies, traitors, assassins, natural disasters, and such with the same five colors used to determine the level of the threat with white once again meaning everything is fine and black being a deadly threat or situation."
"Thank you, Trowa. Any other codes I should worry about?"
"I'll grab one of the procedure manuals that Captain Shelby and I had printed up for all of the guards so you can skim through it later since it would be a good idea for you to be aware of the various rules, regulations, and procedures that all of your guards will be required to follow," Heero stated as he caught back up to the wizard.
"Make sure it's a copy that you don't mind never getting back," Taliesin insisted as he decided it would be better for him to use the absorption spell to commit the entire manual to memory rather than try to find the time to actually read it.
"That shouldn't be a problem. Trowa, it might be best if you check in with Quatre and Wufei to see what they've found in the journals and to give them an overview of everything we just learned."
Trowa nodded and continued up the stairs when they reached the fourth floor while the rest of the group stepped onto the fourth floor landing where the security office was located just off to the right of the staircase. The location selected due to the fact that it was the center of the castle and therefore the most logical place to deploy guards from during an emergency as opposed to having it on the ground floor; which would have meant it would take longer to reach the top floor where Taliesin's rooms were located. Additionally, there were plans to build two separate barracks (one in the dungeons and one on the seventh floor) so that the off duty guards could be in a position to defend the entrance, the Great Hall (which currently doubled as Taliesin's throne room), Taliesin's rooms, or both in the shortest amount of time.
The moment Taliesin walked into the security office with his brothers, all of the guards in the room (whether they were working or not) surged to their feet, placed their right fists over their hearts, and bowed to him before they saluted Duo and Heero. Taliesin inclined his head in turn as he made a beeline for the Command Center trunk that was sitting in the back of the room, letting his eyes skim over the activated Marauder's Map that was spread out on a table as Captain Shelby directed the evacuation of the western dungeons with the aid of the magical map. The young mage hadn't liked parting with the treasured heirloom but until he could finish deciphering his father's and Remus's notes on how they made the map, it was far too useful in securing the castle to leave it locked up and unused.
Heero stopped beside the table in order to fill the man in on the details of the Merlin Code Black and to check on the progress of the evacuation leaving Duo to keep an eye on Taliesin while Squad Seventeen had stayed outside of the security office so as not to crowd the office while waiting for Taliesin to finish doing what he needed to do. Down inside of the trunk, Taliesin found Ricardo, Patricia, and Haddock working at their stations.
"Evening, boss," Haddock called out as he turned around to see who'd entered the trunk.
"Good evening, everyone," Taliesin replied back as he stepped down off the last stair and headed for his workstation.
"Is everything alright up top?" Patricia asked in concern as she spun around in her chair. "We overheard Heero declaring a Merlin Code Black with orders to evacuate the dungeons just a few minutes ago."
"There is no immediate threat though I was just informed that there is a dark artifact hidden behind a rather sinister ward scheme down in the office attached to the Potions Lab," Taliesin answered as he logged into the laptop that controlled his mapping monitors and brought up a map of what used to be the South-West Peninsula of England and zoomed in on the Dartmoor National Park; which had thankfully retained the same name in the current age as that made it far easier to find (though the boundaries of the park were a fair bit larger than what he remembered from his youth). "In addition to the one in the dungeon, there is a second dark artifact somewhere in the castle but the exact location has not yet been determined plus another three that could be here in the castle, buried somewhere in Old Hogsmeade, locked in the vaults at Gringotts, or hidden behind wards somewhere on the north-western edge of the Dartmoor National Park."
"That's not countin' da one that could be crawlin' round on its own somewhere," Duo muttered as he leaned on the wall dividing Taliesin's workstation from the rest of the room.
"What do you mean?" Ricardo inquired as he glanced up from where he'd been entering the coordinates of the magical addresses into the mapping database.
Taliesin stilled his hands and stared blankly at the keyboard for a moment before he straightened up and glanced at his brother before looking passed Duo to meet Ricardo's gaze as he instructed, "Contact the rest of the squad and tell them to join us as soon as they can and I'll debrief everyone at once. Don't forget to include Zechs, Noin, Abdul, and Cathy as well; they will all need to be made aware of the threat. Haddock, please contact Wufei to pass along the message and ask him to gather all of my notes from the memories and bring them with him. Quatre and Trowa will be with him so he'll be able to pass along the message to them."
"What are ya plannin', kiddo?"
"We'll need to hold a war council, Duo; those horcruxes are a serious threat. Finding and destroying all six of them is my number one priority right now; and the sooner it is done the sooner I can get back to rebuilding the wizarding world. If you'll stick your head out up top and let Heero and Captain Shelby know that we'll need them to join us, then I'll go ahead and start setting up the conference room."
Two hours later, Taliesin was standing at the head of the conference table waiting for everyone to take their seats so that he could start the meeting. While he'd been waiting for the others to be gathered from where they'd been scattered about the grounds, Taliesin had sat down and written out a list of objectives that he would need to accomplish in order to find and destroy all six horcruxes. After Wufei had brought him his notes, Taliesin had stepped out of the trunk so he could clean them up with a quick spell to make them more legible before he'd made plenty of copies so that everyone would be able to follow along. He'd also set Wolfstar to searching the internet for any unexplained deaths or disappearances (of humans, wild animals, and pets) within the former British Isles that could have potentially been caused by Nagini.
"What is this all about?" Lucrezia inquired once everyone was seated.
"I called this meeting to discuss a serious threat to all of New Avalon," Taliesin replied as he let his eyes travel around the table to meet everyone's eyes for a brief moment. "A threat that is ten times worse than the threat that the Shafter woman posed to the Wizarding World's safety. Most of you will recall the incident from this past summer when Khushrenada was possessed by the shade of a long dead wizard through contact with an enchanted locket that he'd managed to get his hands on while in the castle."
"Wasn't that locket destroyed?" Shelby demanded as the man paled in remembrance of the incident in question as he'd been present when Taliesin had dealt with the possession.
"Yes. However, since that day I have spent a number of hours researching the life of the man behind the shade in order to determine if there might be other objects with the same abilities with the help of my brothers. Unfortunately, there are at least five more objects that could potentially see one of four dark wizards rising from the dead if one of those objects falls into the hands of an innocent. There was one more that was created but there is a slight chance that it was destroyed at some point over the last four hundred years."
"Do you know where these objects can be found?"
"What do they look like?"
"Will you be able to destroy them the say way you destroyed the locket?"
"Is that why you had the dungeons evacuated earlier today?"
"Is there a way we can protect ourselves from being possessed?"
Taliesin waited for everyone to fall silent before he started answering questions, "No, I don't know where all of the objects are located though I do know a handful of potential locations where their creators might have stored them. I do know that there are at least two of them here in Hogwarts with one of them being locked behind some nasty wards down in the dungeons while the other one is supposed to be in a hidden room. And yes, the presence of that object is why the dungeons were cleared out. I know what five of the objects are supposed to look like and have a good idea of what to look for in the sixth one and yes I know exactly how to destroy all of them. Unfortunately, no, there is no way to protect yourself against a possession from one of the objects."
"What exactly are these objects you are speaking of?" Zechs asked in the silence that had fallen after Taliesin finished.
"They are called horcruxes; which is basically a fancy name for soul receptacle as each object holds a soul fragment that was torn from their creator's soul. I know that the ability to tear the soul sounds rather ridiculous and many of you might ask how that is even possible and the answer is that magic makes it possible. A wizard's magic is part of his soul and the creation of a horcrux basically rips away a portion of a wizard's magic along with a fragment of his soul and seals it into an object and so long as that object remains intact, the wizard is unable to fully die. It is, in a way, a form of immortality but one that comes at a high cost as the creator will have mutilated that which made him human; his soul."
"I have personally destroyed two such objects; one when I was twelve years old and the one that was possessing Khushrenada. My godfather helped destroy another one without realizing it and my brothers and I witnessed a fourth one being destroyed in one of the memories that we were reviewing during our earlier research. I also faced the undead shade of the man that made the majority of the horcruxes and witnessed the process through which he regained a body after his first body had been destroyed the same night my parents died. As unbelievable as these objects sound, they are a deadly real threat as the soul fragment can possess anyone that comes in contact with the object and it is imperative that we all take that threat seriously."
"What are your plans for neutralizing the threat?" Brian inquired as he leaned forward in his seat.
"The short answer is that I will hunt them down and destroy them," Taliesin replied with a slight shrug. "It is a task that is easier said than done though, as aside from the one that is supposed to be sitting in the dungeon, all I have are hints and possibilities as to where the others might be located."
"What can we do to help?" Takoda demanded briskly after he exchanged a glance with his fellow knights.
"Unfortunately, there isn't really much that any of us can do to help Taliesin," Wufei interjected with a slight scowl; a clear indication that the teen was highly offended that his skills were practically useless in the current situation.
"While it is true that there isn't much that any of you could do to help me destroy the various objects, I can still use your help in narrowing down the possible locations of the horcruxes that are not in the castle," Taliesin stated as he tapped the stack of copied notebooks that held all of his notes on Voldemort's life and the horcruxes (minus the information he'd learned from portraits as he'd not yet added that to them). "These notebooks hold a copy of the notes I took during our research bar what I learned from the portraits earlier; there is one here for each of you but I will ask that you not remove them from the Command Center as I do not wish for the information in them to fall into the wrong hands."
Taliesin split the stack of notebooks in half before pushing them towards Trowa and Heero who were seated to either side of where he was standing. They each took the notebook on top and pushed the rest towards the individuals seated beside them. As those were being passed out, Taliesin tapped into his connection to Wolfstar in order to use that connection to display his memories of Hufflepuff's Cup and Nagini up on the monitor that was hung on the wall behind him.
He had no idea what Ravenclaw's diadem looked like but figured that the Sorting Hat could at least tell him where he could find a picture of the object. He also knew that he could get a picture of his mother's engagement ring from Sirius's memories or from the pictures of his parents wedding that were in his photo album. That just left him drawing out a picture of the rings that Grindelwald and Dumbledore had used for their horcruxes along with the written description that the portraits had given to him (or asking Wufei to draw a picture of them based on the description).
When he glanced back up from his laptop, everyone had a copy of the notebook and they were patiently waiting for him to continue the meeting. Taking a deep breath, Taliesin took a moment to lock down his emotions (making Quatre shiver a bit in response to the loss of feeling that the blonde experienced each time Taliesin closed himself off) before he began, "According to the portraits of past headmasters and headmistresses, the horcrux that is sitting down in the dungeons was created by Severus Snape and will be one of the most difficult one to deal with due to the fact that the horcrux is purported to hold more than one soul fragment."
"The soul receptacle in question was created using my mother's engagement ring and while I do not know what the ring looks like, I am certain I have a photograph of the ring amongst my things. The ring is secured in a hidden compartment within the desk of Snape's former office and it is protected by several lethal wards. The second horcrux that I know for certain is somewhere within the castle was another of the ones created by Tom Riddle, who also known as Voldemort, and the object used was Ravenclaw's Diadem. As with my mother's ring, I do not know what the diadem looks like but I believe one of the portraits or the Sorting Hat will be able to provide me with a description of the diadem or point in the direction of a book that will have the information."
"The next two horcruxes were created by Albus Dumbledore and Gellert Grindelwald and it is believed that they will be found together in one of three places; the Hogshead Pub in the ruins of Old Hogsmeade, in the Dumbledore Vault at Gringotts, or somewhere within the village of Godric's Hollow. The objects used for those two horcruxes are a pair of identical gold rings set with a large ruby with the Peverell Coat of Arms carved onto the stones. The portraits are certain that neither horcrux was brought here to the castle but there is nothing to say that Dumbledore didn't sneak them in without their knowledge."
"The final two horcruxes were both created by Tom Riddle and like the one that is hidden somewhere in this castle, one of them was created out of an object that belonged to one of the four founders of the school," Taliesin continued as he sent the command to throw the image of the cup up on the monitor behind him. "Hufflepuff's Cup and Slytherin's Locket were both stolen from a witch by the name of Hepzibah Smith by Tom Riddle. Slytherin's Locket was confirmed to be a horcrux; it was also the horcrux that I destroyed this past summer. There is a high probability that the cup was also turned into a horcrux and the evidence that has been collected so far supports that theory."
"The problem is that we don't know where Riddle would have hidden that horcrux or if he trusted one of his followers to hold onto it for him like he did with the diary that I destroyed when I was twelve. Headmaster Phineas Black suggested that his granddaughter, Bellatrix Lestrange (formerly Bellatrix Black), might have been entrusted to hold onto the cup due to the fact that she was one of Voldemort's most trusted Death Eaters. If she hid it in her home, then there is a high probability that it ended up being confiscated by the Ministry of Magic when she was arrested and thrown into Azkaban when the Dark Lord was temporarily defeated in nineteen-eighty-one. If that is the case, the cup might have made its way back here to the castle with the rest of the salvage."
"There is also a chance that the cup was stolen by an employee when the Lestranges belongings were confiscated or when the Ministry fell during Voldemort's second rising; in which case the cup could be just about anywhere within the former British Isles. The other place to check for the cup would be in the Lestrange Vaults beneath Gringotts since there is a chance that Bellatrix placed the cup in her vault to prevent the Ministry from getting their hands on it if she was ever caught. So that means that there is potentially three horcruxes sitting beneath Gringotts."
Taliesin fell silent as he considered the last horcrux; the one horcrux that was not just a dangerous artifact but a deadly creature that could kill with just a look. And while Taliesin knew he'd killed one ancient basilisk, he wasn't arrogant enough to think that killing another one would be any easier than killing the first had been and he'd nearly died fighting the first one.
"Taliesin, are you alright?" Quatre asked in concern when he had been silent for close to five minutes.
"No, I'm not. I am deeply troubled and disgusted by the things that I learned today. I am also afraid. The five horcruxes that we know for certain still exist are terrible enough but they are nothing when compared to the final horcrux. There is a slim chance that the final horcrux did not survive but there is no guarantee; so its continued existence can't be just be discounted or ignored."
"What is so terrible about the last horcrux? Is it filled with multiple fragments like the first one you spoke of?" Zechs asked when Taliesin didn't say anything further.
Taliesin shook his head in response to the question as he dropped his hands down to his laptop once more in order to bring up the next two memories, the first one was of the unnamed basilisk that he'd killed in the Chamber of Secrets close to five hundred years earlier. The second memory was of Voldemort's familiar as they'd last seen it in the seaside cave as it fought against Dumbledore.
"All of you have seen the remains of the creature in the first image; it is the basilisk that I killed when I was twelve, nearly thirteen, years old. If you look closely, you will notice that the creature in the second image bears a close resemblance to the basilisk I slew and that is because the smaller creature is an immature basilisk. The younger basilisk, aside from being Voldemort's familiar, was made into a living horcrux. Nagini, the basilisk in question, was last seen in the seaside cave where Voldemort had hidden Slytherin's Locket and none of the individuals I've spoken to about Nagini know where the creature disappeared to after it fled."
"Wouldn't it have died a long time ago? I mean, it's been over four hundred years since it was last seen, right?" Lucrezia inquired with uncertainty and hope.
"The basilisk I slew at the end of my seconds year was a thousand years old, give or take a few decades and it had been living on rodents and stray magical creatures that ventured down into its domain for most of that time. I'm sorry to say that there is a very good chance that Nagini is still alive and there's no telling how large it would have gotten if it had found a steady supply of larger prey. I have currently Wolfstar searching the internet for any patterns of unexplained deaths or disappearances or a large, steady drop in animal populations occurring throughout the former British Isles. If Nagini still lives, the basilisk will most likely be the very last horcrux I face."
"Which one are you planning on starting with?" Wufei asked.
"The ones here in the castle," Taliesin replied without any hesitation. "First thing tomorrow morning, the entire castle will need to be evacuated. Once everyone is clear, I will retrieve and secure the horcrux from the dungeons. After that, I will need to systematically search the castle from top to bottom for the hidden room containing the other confirmed horcrux. While I am doing that, I will need someone to search through the vault inventories from Gringotts in the event that one or more of the horcruxes were placed there; starting with those vaults belonging to Dumbledore and Riddle's Death Eaters. Should those two searches not turn up the missing horcruxes, then I'll need to start shifting through the stuff that was retrieved from the Ministry before I attempt to find and search Godric's Hollow and the various estates of the Death Eaters."
"Wouldn't it be better ta have everyone lookin' for da soul jar thingies instead of kickin' them outta da castle?" Duo questioned with a frown as he tugged on his braid.
"No. I can't let anyone else search for the horcruxes alone and I wouldn't be able to keep track of more than ten or fifteen individuals. It is far better to kick everyone out of the castle so I know that everyone, especially the children, are safe."
"What do you plan to tell everyone when they ask you why they need to leave the castle?" Jack asked as he scribbled a few notes at the back of the copied notebook.
"The truth."
"That's not a good idea," Heero immediately countered as he frowned at Taliesin.
"Why not?"
"It could easily start a panic," Zechs answered succinctly. "And while everyone you've hired to date has been accepting of your magic, revealing that it is possible for a wizard to split his soul and take possession of another might make people start fearing your magic. And they will start wondering whether or not the people in the past had the right idea of exterminating all magical beings in order to prevent a wizard from taking over the world."
"It wouldn't be all that different that how people started treating you after the Battle of the Moon," Quatre gently added as he leaned forward to meet Taliesin's gaze from Trowa's other side. "Wanting to warn everyone about the dangers involved in certain magics is admirable but fear drives rational thought from a person's mind and when you have a large number of people their fears multiply as they bounce them off one another until they either panic or form a lynching mob."
"So what are we supposed to tell them?" Taliesin demanded with a slight scowl.
"We tell them that a section of the castle has become unstable and that we need to temporarily evacuate the castle in order to due the repairs," Captain Shelby replied. "That was pretty much the excuse we used to clear everyone out of the dungeons."
"I don't like the idea of lying…"
"It wouldn't exactly be a lie; since any defensive magic protecting the two horcruxes that we know for certain are here within the castle could bring the castle down around our ears if they are triggered," Heero interjected as he cut off Taliesin's clipped retort. "Withholding a measure of information in this case is really no different than you hiding the full extent of your abilities from the world at large."
"We're also going to need at least twenty-four hours in order to coordinate the evacuation in a way that doesn't create a panic," Wufei pointed out the moment it became apparent that Taliesin wasn't going to continue arguing over what to tell the castle residents. "We'll need that time to set up appropriate housing for those who are being displaced since the search could potentially take days; especially when it comes to the children. Ideally, we'd hold off until the weather was warmer but I realize that is not an option at this point."
"What do we have available for temporary housing within New Hogsmeade, Cathy?" Taliesin inquired as he began to look beyond his immediate need to neutralize the threat.
"Not enough to house everyone currently living within the castle," Cathy replied after spending a few minutes pulling up the information on her laptop. "There should at least be enough vacant houses to accommodate our displaced friends from the Sanc Kingdom and the children; security would be an issue that would need to be addressed before they could be moved though. If push comes to shove, we could set up all of the employees in the hanger; if we could protect the entire building against the current weather."
"There are at least two storm fronts expected to hit the area within the next week and a half that will drop an estimated eight inches of snow; so we will need to take the temperature drop into consideration as well," Ricardo added without looking up from his own laptop.
"How long would it take to make the hanger livable enough for it to be used as a temporary refuge?"
"At least two days; if we pull all of the construction crews and have them prepare the hanger, otherwise it would take longer," Abdul answered without any hesitation.
"That will give us enough time to address any security issues involved in evacuating the castle," Heero stated as he pulled up the current guard listings alongside the unfinished map of the still growing New Hogsmeade Village before he glanced at Taliesin. "That will also give you plenty of time to draw up pictures of each of the five non-living horcruxes that we will need to find as well as dig out the inventories for the Gringotts Vaults in order to start looking for the three items whose location are unconfirmed. While you are doing that, the K-Nine squad and Wufei can search for potential leads on the living horcrux."
"We should also start preparing everyone for the upcoming evacuation so that it will be far easier to move everyone once accommodations have been secured," Quatre added on the heels of Heero's statements. "That will allow the scientists time to secure any sensitive experiments that they are in the middle of running so that their projects won't be set back weeks or months due to their work being inaccessible for an indeterminate amount of time."
"None of my earlier adventures ever seemed this complicated," Taliesin complained in a weary tone that was laced with frustration.
"That's because you were far too busy rushing headlong into danger instead of sitting down to put together a proper plan of attack," Trowa dryly pointed out. "We're looking to minimize potential casualties; not add to your scar collection because you charged in like you usually do."
"Don't make me turn you into a rake and give you to the stable hands the next time they need to muck out the barns."
Everyone in the room chuckled over the teasing threat before they buckled back down in order to finish discussing their plan of attack for dealing with the horcruxes. Each individual present had at least two or three suggestions to offer and more than a few of them raised several arguments for or against each suggestion presented. Taliesin butted heads more than a few times with both the captain of his guard and his brothers over his unwillingness to allow the guards to search for the castle for Ravenclaw's Diadem. It wasn't that he didn't trust the guards; it was that he had no wish for one of them to get caught up in any magical traps that were potentially surrounding the hidden horcrux.
Eventually, Taliesin would agree to allow the guards to help him search the castle once they managed to get him to approach the situation logically instead of emotionally. Once they had his agreement (grudging though it was), they began putting together several plans on how to go about systematically searching the castle. That included making note of those areas that the guards could search without needing Taliesin present (those areas that were currently in use) and those areas that Taliesin had to be present to access (such as the secret passages ways and short cuts). The one constant in all of their planning was that no one (not even Taliesin) would be working alone; each search team being assigned a minimum of seven members.
Shortly after they had several viable plans ironed out, the meeting broke up as those assigned to deal with the task of preparing accommodations for the soon to be displaced castle residents and those in charge of organizing the evacuation set to work. Taliesin (and Squad Seventeen) headed up to his office where he would add the information he'd learned from the portraits to his notebook and start searching for a picture or clear memory of his mother's engagement ring. He took a short detour to speak to the portraits and the Sorting Hat a second time in regards to locating a picture of Rowena Ravenclaw's diadem.
Taliesin felt like an idiot the moment Dilys Derwent (who happened to be a former Ravenclaw) stated that a statue of Rowena Ravenclaw wearing her diadem could be found in the Ravenclaw Tower. Taliesin had forgotten all about the strangely non-magical statue of the founder that had been put into storage when the tower had been gutted and converted into apartments for his single employees. He made a mental note to have the statue dug out of storage so that it could be cleaned up and installed beside the main entrance to the renovated library; the young mage imagining that spirit of Rowena would have preferred to stand watch over the knowledge she had treasured in life. A second mental note was made to have duplicates of the statue made along with statues of the other three Founders (if their likenesses could be found) so they could be placed in other key locations.
Turning his thoughts back to more important matters, Harry resumed his journey up to the Wizard's Roost and his office so that he could finish his notes, find the picture or memory of his mother's engagement ring, and distribute the images to those that would need them. The notes were fairly easy to deal with as Harry simply pulled a copy of the memory from both sessions he'd spent with the portraits and took his notebook with him when he entered the pensive. The memory of the day they cleared out Ravenclaw Tower was viewed next and Harry took a good long look at the simple if elegant diadem sitting on the Founder's head.
After that was done, he headed to his bedroom to grab the secure box where he kept all of Sirius's memories and brought the entire box with him back to his office. He then spent several minutes hunting through the pensieve that Sirius had given to him for all of the memories his godfather had of either of his parents with his mother's engagement ring. Those memories were then transferred into Dumbledore's old pensieve (which is what he'd been viewing all of the memories with so as not to disturb or lose his godfather's precious memories).
Diving into those memories made it so easy to forget the deadly threat that the horcruxes represented and Taliesin couldn't help but take the time to view each and every memory even after he'd gotten a good look at his mother's ring (from Sirius's memory of the day his father had purchased said ring). Watching his father propose to his mother while Sirius, Remus, and the traitor inexpertly hid in the bushes brought a smile to Taliesin's face. He laughed so hard he nearly cried over at the end of the memory when his mother hexed the snot out of all three eavesdroppers after they made gagging sounds the moment his newly engaged parents kissed.
It was with great reluctance that Taliesin exited the pensieve after the final memory played out; a sad smile still tugging at his lips. A moment later, Taliesin collected himself and focused on the issue at hand as he began putting away the memories. Instead of tossing the memories back into the pensieve with the rest of Sirius's memories though, he filtered them into separate jars and carefully labeled them. Once he was finished, the young monarch sat down at his desk and opened up his laptop in order to tap into the external connection with Wolfstar so that he could load the memories of the diadem and his mother's engagement ring.
That just left the group without visual data on Dumbledore and Grindelwald's horcruxes; though they did have very clear descriptions of the two rings. Taliesin flipped through his notebook for the exact description of the ring and quickly typed up that information to send it to Wufei with a request for his artistically inclined brother to draw a picture of the two rings so that the guards helping in the search could have a visual reference rather than leave them to rely upon a written description. As soon as he finished sending the e-mail to Wufei, Taliesin logged off the laptop and straightened up his desk; there was nothing more for him to do at the moment.
Sighing, the young monarch removed his glasses and wearily ran his empty hand over his face. It had been a long day filled with grim revelations and he felt more than a little frustrated that a past he thought well and truly buried (in more ways than one) was coming back to haunt his future. He was more than a little angry too. He was downright furious that the three wizards that had ultimately been responsible for the destruction of the wizarding world could potentially rise again. The mere possibility that one of those monsters (because he could not longer see them as mere men) could destroy everything he and his self-made family had worked so hard to rebuild stoked the flames of his rage each time he thought about the horcruxes.
Shaking away his frustration and anger, Taliesin took a moment to center his emotions before he replaced his glasses and made his way to the door leading out into the castle proper. He stuck his head out the door and let the guards on duty know that he was turning in for the evening (in case someone needed him) before he closed the door and headed for his quarters. The moment he entered the common room, he was greeted by Luna and her passengers; the young centaur filly carrying Seth and another two serpents as well as a small assortment of small magical creatures (two owls, a kneazle kitten, a pixie, and what looked like an entire colony of rushlow hatchlings – which looked something like a cross between caterpillars and seahorses).
Taliesin smiled at the sight; out of all five centaur foals, Luna had the closest connection with all magical creatures. The other four centaurs also had their specialties; Firenze had a strong connection to the heavens (and therefore divination), Orsus loved history and had the clearest connection to the herd's shared memories, Stella had a close connection with the earth (specifically with plant lore and life) and a strong interest in healing and potions, and Caleo was fascinated by all things magic. Taliesin knew, from the long talks he'd had with Obduro on centaurian culture while the ancient centaur still lived, that the diversification of the foals interests and skills wasn't just about free will; it was also about the herd's innate magic seeking to preserve itself.
As the first centaurs born in four decades, the five foals were ultimately the keys to the future for their species and their abilities reflected that; Firenze was well on his way to becoming the herd's new Stargazer, Orsus would be the herd's Historian, Stella was destined to be the herd's Medicine Walker, Luna could be considered the herd's Warden, and Caleo would most likely become the herd's Mystic.
The next set of foals born (of which there were another five – once again with a two to three ratio of males to females), would also likely play important roles in the herd as they lacked a Lead Stallion, a Lead Mare, a Guardian, a Healer, a Shaman, and a Magister just to name a few. They also needed warriors, hunters, gatherers, and farmers. It would take years before they reached the numbers needed to sustain the new herd but just the fact that they would one day reach that point was a miracle when one considers the fact that there had been only one dying centaur left on earth less than a year ago.
Taliesin was pulled from his contemplation of the centaurian society when Luna addressed him, "Firenze wished for me to tell you that our sire's portrait has woken from his slumber at last. He also said to tell you that the heavens are holding their breath as the fate of our world teeters on the blade of a knife between rising glory and madness reborn."
"I see," Taliesin murmured softly as he immediately picked up on the fact that Firenze had read the stars for the first time. "Thank you for passing along both messages, Luna dear. I will make time tomorrow to visit the indoor gardens to say hello to Obduro. I would do so tonight but I've had a rather long day and I know that the five of you will wish to spend most of tonight asking our sire all of the questions that were left unasked while Obduro still lived."
"I will let the others know," Luna replied as she passed all three snakes to the wizard.
"Thank you, dearest," Taliesin stated as he kissed the filly's brow and let his hand brush through her hair and down her back in a centaur's equivalent of a hug; the wizard silently noting that the filly was slightly taller than him now despite the fact that she was still less than a year old.
Luna kissed his cheek in return before she slipped out of the Wizard's Roost to return to the indoor garden on the first floor where the other four young foals were undoubtedly seated at the foot of Obduro's life-sized portrait. Once the filly was gone, Taliesin turned his attention to the three snakes he was now holding. He was long used to Seth seeking him out but the other two snakes were ones that he had only seen in passing once or twice during the years after he, Trowa, and Cathy left the circus. One was a dice snake (a non-venomous snake that lives near rivers and typically eats fish or amphibians) and the other was a viperine water snake (another non-venomous snake that was semi-aquatic and survived on a diet of fish).
'The sand-slider said you wished to know of the rumors of a living Spawn of the Damned,' the dice snake hissed as it slid most of its body beneath Taliesin's shirtsleeve in order to wrap around Taliesin's bare arm for warmth.
'Yes, I need to find the basilisk and destroy it if it still lives.'
'The currents of the deep carried many tales of the Damned's Spawn to the shores of my nesting ground,' the viperine stated in a wispy voice that gave the impression of great age. 'The currents spoke of a broken stone house buried beneath the sands of the sea where cold demons wail incessantly and the Spawn of the Damned feasts upon the living empty flesh of the wave-singers that have fallen pray to the cold demons.'
Taliesin sucked in a sharp breath as he gathered two important facts from the viperine's statement; Nagini still lived and it was holed up in the watery ruins of some long buried building. The fine hairs on the back of his neck stood up when he got an inkling as to what the 'cold demons' could be and why they'd turn their prey into 'living empty flesh'; at least some dementors had escaped the destruction of Azkaban. That realization also told Taliesin exactly where he would need to look in order to find Nagini; the ruins of Azkaban Prison.
Closing his eyes, Taliesin took a deep breath in order to beat back the trickle of fear that had filled him over the idea that there were still dementors around before he asked, 'Is there anything else you can tell me?'
'When last I slipped through the waters of my feeding grounds, the currents still spoke of old magics and dark shades that do not belong of this world when it spoke of the broken stone house beneath the sea,' the dice snake replied as the snake's coils reflexively tightened around Taliesin's arm. 'The rumors spoke of time that turns on its tail and glowing walls of fire that trap the unwary. Once it was said that the currents of the deep spoke of a Speaker trapped within the broken stones buried beneath the sands of the sea.'
'Thank you for sharing that information with me; I believe the two of you have given me more than enough information to find the basilisk so that it can be destroyed,' Taliesin hissed as he tried not to think about the implications of a Speaker living beneath the ocean in the place where Voldemort was last seen alive. 'I will see to it that the elves bring all three of you a special treat.'
Taliesin called for Dobby to return all three snakes to their habitats and fetch them each a treat (salamanders for the dice snake, yellow fin fingerlings for the viperine, and two sand shrews for Seth) once it became clear that there was nothing more to add. Before he was taken away, Seth made it a point to inform Taliesin that he would be going with the wizard when it came time to hunt the basilisk; so that he could see the Spawn of the Damned killed with his own eyes. Taliesin then made his way back into his office in order to draw out a copy of the entire conversation so that he could share it with his brothers in the morning.
He also took the time to send a note to Wufei and Ricardo to let them know to refocus their efforts around the former location of Azkaban Prison (the location of which should have been on the list he'd collected from the Ministry of Magic). Before he logged out of his account a second time, he also redirected Wolfstar's search so that the sentient suit was scanning for reports of large scale marine life deaths, disappearances, or strange illnesses that have symptoms similar to dementor victims.
The rest of the evening was an exercise in self-control for the young mage as he fought to control both his fear and his anger.
Notes:
Serpent-speak terms:
Cold Demons – dementors
Current(s) of the Deep (or just the Currents) – refers to the water currents and tide flows; may also at times be a reference to those animals that migrate or travel with the currents
Feeding Grounds – the territory in which a snake frequently lives, hunts, and feeds
Living Empty Flesh – victims of dementors whose bodies have not yet died
Nesting Grounds – the place where a snake lays its eggs (typically used by a snake to mean the place where it hatched)
Sand-slider – a desert dwelling snake
Spawn of the Damned/Damned's Spawn – any basilisk
Swimmers – snakes that spend a good percentage in or around water (used in the previous chapter)
Wave-singers – whales
Centaurian titles:
Guardian – the herd's equivalent to the Captain of the Guards
Healer – the herd's doctor
Historian – the keeper of the herd's history
Lead Mare – the highest ranked female in the herd
Lead Stallion – the highest ranked male in the herd and the acknowledged leader of the entire herd
Magister – the herd's instructor/teacher (also Latin for instructor/teacher/schoolmaster)
Medicine Walker – basically the herd's pharmacist or to use a magical term, a potioneer or potion master/mistress
Mystic – the keeper of the herd's magical lore
Shaman – the herd's spiritual doctor/healer
Stargazer – the herd's astronomer/astrologist and typically the herd's seer
Warden – a game warden and shepherd all rolled into one (basically they protect and look after the creatures living in the herd's forest)
The rest of the centaurian occupations/titles listed within the story should be self explanatory.
AN: HAPPY NEW YEAR and a belated HAPPY HOLIDAYS to all of my readers! I know I'd intended to have this story finished by now but the last week did not go as planned. It started because I had messed up in my research on the origins of a basilisk and I had to fix that (including going back to earlier chapters to edit in the corrections as I'd mentioned in the previous chapter). Then there was the down time on the 25th and the normal holiday activities to deal with and since my daughter is on winter break, I had distractions to deal with. I love my daughter dearly but she has this tendency to interrupt me every five minutes when I'm on the 'puter.
Anywho, this here is a treat for everyone's patience with me and my erratic posting schedule. And, it's the first chapter of the new year because I didn't finish this note until the time changed over. I still plan to post one more chapter later today on this story as an extra treat and apology but that won't be until later. I even have it already uploaded and prepped for posting so as to make it easier for me to remember to get it up. =)
I'd hoped to have chap 3 of WWYR2 ready as well but I've been neglecting that story these past few days because I have to go back through my notes again to fix the last half of the chapter. I'll try to have that finished up soon though. =) ~ Jenn