Hello all, welcome to the next chapter of 'Like a Lightning Bolt'. I know that you have been waiting for a chapter for a while, I apologise for the delay and for further delays, I have just started my second semester for the year and I am strapped for time even more now. (Pre-publish edit) Wow, I began this chapter back in July, it's now December, and I am now on holiday. I'll be spending a fair bit of time working on my fan fiction in the next couple weeks, so hopefully I can get a couple more chapters written out so you guys don't have to wait so long.
Also, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.
Once again a few more time skips to cover the time of third year, I'm still developing my 4th year plot bit at a time, but I am getting there.
I know some people feel like the last chapter was too dark, but that should be the goriest bit for a while. I just wanted to establish that in my potterverse there is a reason that Dementors are feared, they eat then get very aggressive with other life forms in their vicinity. At Azkaban it's worse, because they are constantly fed, when they get a hold of a full soul, they are full right away. And the Glowing Man was just the Glowing Man.
This chapter isn't really gory, it just sounds kinda painful at the start.
Now, onto the chapter.
"Speech"
'Thoughts'
"Spells"
Book Names
Disclaimer: See previous chapters.
Chapter 14
Afternoon February 1st 1994
"BOMBARDA" Harry shouted, his spell slamming into Neville's shield before it fully formed, the backlash slamming Neville into the wall.
"I YIELD!" Shouted Neville, picking himself up off the floor, casting a glance to the girls, buried amongst a pile of books, "I am so glad you learnt the cushioning spell Hermione."
"Well someone needed to do something to keep the two of you from going to the Hospital Wing." Hermione grumpily muttered back.
"And considering the two of you were against the idea of say, toning down the brutal nature you have adopted for your training, we had to improvise and figure out how to stop the two of you from taking Skele-Grow every night." Luna added, glaring at a sheepish looking Harry as he rubbed his right arm, the first hospitalising injury of Harry and Neville's new level of training.
The instance that caused that had happened not even an hour after Harry and Neville had decided to prepare for war. Harry and Neville had stopped holding back, the only thing they stayed away from was lethal injury, and even then Harry had walked away with seventeen breaks in his right arm, a shattered right hand, and half of the bones in his right leg were cracked. Neville didn't walk away unscathed, with seven large lacerations on his torso and a half dozen on his left side, also with a broken left femur and a half shattered foot.
Later as the two had been stuck in the Hospital Wing together overnight, Harry found out from Neville that the spells he pulled out were old duelling spells of the Longbottom family, back from when they were a tribe of Viking wizards. Harry and Neville had actually surprised each other, both, when no longer holding back, pulled out spells the other didn't even know the other knew, Harry pulling out an advanced cutting curse known as the lacerating curse as well as showing his own private training of using both hands to duel, Harry citing that he eventually wanted a wand for each hand, so when one was disarmed he could return fire straight away. Neville on the other hand pulled out a side of himself hadn't seen, the Lion in Neville having truly woken up, with several Longbottom Family Magics on his side Neville thought he had quickly and viciously removed his friend from their first more serious duel, he had relented, causing him to receive the volley of lacerating curses while his guard was down, as well as a bludgeoning curse to his legs. However, neither of them were expecting the stunning curses that hit them.
The duel hadn't so much as ended that day, as Luna and Hermione decided the two were going to kill each other before they even graduated and so stunned the two before they could continue. The two waking in the Hospital Wing to a very upset matron.
After they were released they found the girls had modified their training area, the walls and floor were cushioned to prevent injuries that way, and two minor wards were placed over the area they duelled by Hermione to keep their spells slightly underpowered and to keep their spells from crossing over to where the girls studied when it wasn't their turn to duel.
"Well why would we stop? We aren't preparing for a schoolyard brawl anymore girls, we are preparing to fight Death Eaters, and they would kill us and not think twice about it." Harry said in a manner that sound rehearsed, purely because of the amount of times it had been said already.
"Well," Luna began as she began running a minor diagnostic spell over Neville, "We can't deny that, and looking after you two is helping us with learning healing spells."
"And the ward is at least keeping them from sending each other to the Hospital Wing. Every. Single. Day." Hermione glared at the two as she also performed a diagnostic on Harry, "But I have to admit, even you two are finding ways around the ward to deal damage."
"Well I read in Duelling Strategies of Champions that Professor Flitwick won a championship by slipping a blasting hex into the forming shield of his opponent, causing him to be blasted back by his own spell in combination with Flitwick's." Harry grinned at Hermione.
"Well at least you use the books I got you." She grumbled, her book love keeping her from arguing further, a snicker from Neville and Luna not being missed by the bushy haired witch.
"Ah yes, I remember that tournament," A voice from the doorway causing all four within the room to spin around with their wands pointed at the source, "Now now, is that anyway to treat a teacher?"
The four students all saw at the end of their wand point a grinning Professor Bloodrune, casually leaning against the doorway like he belonged there.
"Sir, what are you doing here?" Harry asked as he and the others lowered their wands.
"Tsk tsk, lowering your wand without ensuring I am who I say I am. As to why I am here, I heard the sound of your duel some twenty minutes ago, so I came and watched. I'm legitimately surprised I stood here for almost the entirety of that duel without any of you spotting me." The grin never left Bloodrune's face.
"You were there the whole time? Then can I ask, how did we do sir?" Neville asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.
"I would say that you are quite a lot more skilled then you have been showing in class, holding back I take it?" The nods from the four being all the proof he needed, "Well, firstly, why don't you pack all this up? You may as well come and train in the Duelling Classroom where there is a professional if you need their help, and I'm sure you would all like to see the new addition to my classroom. And my secondly can wait till we arrive."
Seeing that Bloodrune's suggestion was more of an order by their teacher, the group packed up and began to follow behind their teacher, a comfortable silence descending on the group of five as they walked. Arriving at the classroom the four student's eyes went wide when they saw the modifications to the Duelling Classroom.
On one of the walls, with an obvious line of wards, was now various alcoves lined with bookshelves, couches, and tables. From where they were they could see the various categories listed such as Healing Magics, Battle Magics, Elemental Magics, Defensive Magics, General Magics and a few more categories visible but ineligible from where they were standing. The floor of the duelling room now seemed more uniform, and from what they could tell this was achieved by the intricate lines of Runes running along the floor, their purpose not known to the four.
"I took the liberty of modifying the room while we had the Christmas break, as my class has not started again yet, you are the first students to see the changes. The runic lines on the floor allow for a thin, physical stone ward to rise from the floor, allowing parts of the room to be sectioned off for those attempting to practice in private, such as yourselves. The books feature a mixture of my own collection and those I have bought to bolster such with my funding for my class."
"How much funding did you HAVE sir? There are thousands of books here." Hermione stated, the glittering light in her eyes showing the others how much she was in love with this new room change.
"Well, I had the standard course funding of 2000 galleons, I spent basically all of that but about 200 of them on these books. Everything else was spent on outfitting the room with the practice dummies, couches, bookshelves, and the tools I needed to work all of the Runes into the floor. I actually still have some funding for this year left." Bloodrune shrugged as he finished.
"How did you get all of that extra stuff for only 200 galleons?" Harry asked, shocked about how thrifty his teacher seemed to be.
"Well thanks to the elves, I was able to transport everything free of charge, I carved all the Runes, so I only went through two Rune carving sets. The dummies and furniture were very cheap sets bought from the muggle world and then I placed Runes on them to cause them to be sturdier and comfier to sit on. For the dummies I placed Runes to basically make them have the same variables as the human body, and considering even I like to train, they are designed to be set anywhere from the standard first year in skill to a post mastery adult. Thankfully the school sits on Ley Lines and has enough ambient magic to power the damn things or they wouldn't be worth squat."
The four students stared at their teacher in awe at his work.
"You basically have the perfect grounds to train how to fight." Neville murmured, amazed at what he was hearing.
"Basically, yes, yes I do," Bloodrune replied, a toothier grin adorning his face, "And the four of you are welcome to come in anytime there isn't a class to train if you would like, less likely to be work for the elves in here you know."
"Thank you Professor, that's a generous offer." Luna whispered, focused on the books.
"Not at all my dear, oh yes, and from what I saw of you two," Bloodrune gestured at Harry and Neville as he spoke, "These might be helpful." With a flick of his wrist two books flew from the shelves to his hand, where he placed one into the other hand before handing one each to Harry and Neville.
Harry looked at the book in his hands, it appeared well read, and well kept, flipping it over so the cover was facing him, and Harry saw elegant writing on the front cover, with clear markings of a dicta-quill hopping between the words. The title read Shocking Spells to Make Your Enemies Hertz by Nikola Tesla. The title made Harry glare at it as if the book had wronged him, before his mind caught up with the implication.
"Lightning magic? You want me to learn lightning magic?" Harry asked, his eyes darting upwards to his forehead, "Is that meant to be a joke? Are you joking with me Professor?"
"How dare you, I meant that in all seriousness. To be honest, I kind of forgot about that, you weren't really a big thing in France. Voldemort was powerful yes but he hadn't really looked anywhere else, and I honestly don't remember much about the first year or two of my self-imposed exile. Bottom of the bottle, hair of the dog, and all that."
Harry nearly burst out laughing when he saw Hermione's face at their teacher's admission to having been an alcoholic when they were all babies. Looking at Neville though he seemed to be entranced by his own book, a dark brown book with what looked like squiggly lines on the spine.
"Hey Neville," Neville lifted his head up to look at Harry, "What book have you got?"
"Making the Earth Move by Charles Francis Richter. It's a book on earth magic." Neville murmured in reply."
"Well of course, considering you naturally make spells bigger than they are meant to be, making use of earthen magic will allow you to shape the battlefield to your will, as well as to cause a lot of problems for your opposition. Seriously though, boulders hurt." Bloodrune winced as he finished speaking, rubbing his stomach at the same time.
"What about us Professor?" Luna asked, gesturing to herself and Hermione.
"Hmm, what kinds of magic do you too want to learn? Because if you two have been holding back too I have no idea what to recommend." Bloodrune replied, shrugging as he did.
"Well, I think I'd prefer to learn some more complicated healing magics, and if Luna wants to learn more spells for combat, she has a tendency to try and fill the air with as many spells as possible." Luna beamed at Hermione's description of her fighting style.
"Yes, I would like more low cost spells I can learn to point cast, preferably ones that hurt." The gleam in Luna's eye was unnerving to the others, finding it did not fit her.
"Hmm," Thinking for a few seconds before clicking his fingers, Bloodrune once again waved his hand and another two books flew over from the shelves, "These two should cover the subjects you would like to learn from, these two don't have authors though, they were just notes stuck into a book, then copied out to be printed by a friend of mine."
The two girls took their books from Bloodrune. Hermione's bore the Staff of Asclepius with no title, the Greek god Asclepius' staff being all Hermione needed to know it was a medical book. In Luna's hands was a book covered in random blotches of colour, although unlike the others Luna had already flipped open her book and was randomly inspecting pages.
"Thank you so much Professor, these will really help." Harry said, a genuine smile upon his face.
"You're more than welcome, and remember, the duelling room is always open to you. Now, let me show you how to raise the walls around specific areas." Bloodrune gestured to a far corner from the door.
The group all moved over to where Bloodrune gestured, with him running through what they needed to do to raise and lower the walls in order to ensure their training remained private.
Night February 1st 1994
Borgin collapsed to the ground, barely able to stand after what he had just went through. The glowing man before him slowly lowered the wand that had just been casting at Mr Borgin. The only sounds in the shop being the slow breathing of the glowing man, Mr Borgin's harsh intakes of breath, and the delicate intake of breath from the woman behind the glowing man.
"Hm, so I was right after all," The glowing man muttered, breaking the silence, "Get me what I asked for Borgin, or the next spell will be the last you hear."
"I will go with him master, to make sure he doesn't try to keep anything from you." The woman said, moving after Borgin as he slowly pulled himself into the next room.
"Excellent, everything is going all according to plan."
February 17th 1994
Sirius was taking a day off from his activities of cleaning up the Black Family home, completely unhelped by Kreacher, the Black Family House Elf. Sitting in the kitchen nursing a cup of coffee, Sirius closed his eyes and just listened to the thrum of magic within the house, his unique connection as the Head of House Black allowing him to feel all of the ebbs and flows of the energy in the house. Finishing his coffee and pouring another cup, Sirius decided to walk up to the Tapestry room to relax.
Finding a spot on a nice comfy couch, Sirius began to stare at the tapestry, noting the lines of magic that had disappeared from it just over a month ago. He found it quite interesting how the tapestry had truly come alive when he had placed his ring to the House symbol in the bottom of the tapestry, the magic of the tapestry had flared, and the damage caused by his mother had been repaired. It was quite the curious site to watch as the tapestry wrote in all the information known to Sirius, how members of the family had died since the tapestry was last activated, when they died, their sons and daughters, everything his father had neglected to record. It brought him great joy to run up and see the tapestry, proving to himself that Rudolphus Lestrange had indeed vanished from the tapestry, his cousin once again Bellatrix Black.
The only thing that stumped him was his own brother's entry. There was no date of death, no cause of death, just a question mark.
"Dammit Regulus, even in death you make my life difficult." Sirius murmured.
"Do not insult Master Regulus!" Came Kreacher's roar from the doorway, "Master Regulus died an honourable man! Kreacher is a bad elf for failing Master Regulus' last task! Filthy traitor will not speak ill of Master Regulus! Filthy trait-"
"Kreacher! As Head of House Black I command you to be silent!" Sirius bellowed, the little elf being unable to talk after his master's command, "Now, nod your head if you know how and when Regulus died," This was followed by a nod, "Nod your head if you are still trying to follow an order given by Regulus," Another nod, "Kreacher, I need to know, nod your head if my brother died a good man." A final nod, Kreacher's eyes showing that he truly believed that Regulus was a good man when he died.
Sighing to himself, Sirius pondered what he could do, he could walk away from this, let Kreacher die with his secrets, or, he could do the right thing.
"Bloody nobleness. Kreacher, you will tell me how Master Regulus died. You will tell me what this final task he gave you was. Do you understand me?" A nod was all he got, "Good, then speak."
After a lengthy explanation, where Sirius had to stop Kreacher from harming himself multiple times, Sirius had been told the whole story, and his perception of his brother and Kreacher had massively changed.
"Kreacher, bring me the locket, bring it to me, and with all the books and knowledge within this house, we will destroy it!" The steely look in Sirius' eyes changed Kreacher's outlook on Sirius.
"Of course….. Master Sirius." Kreacher bowed as he cracked away.
February 25th 1994
Friday afternoon saw the Gryffindor and Slytherin Defence Against the Dark Arts class awaiting for Professor Lupin to arrive and begin the lesson, however, given that the class had meant to start a couple of minutes before, and this was not the first time he had been absent, the class were waiting on the arrival of Severus Snape, as had become the norm. The door opening slowly behind them however was not part of this norm.
"Oh good, I finally found the lot of you." The voice of Professor Bloodrune echoed around the silent room, causing the entire class to spin around as he pulled himself through the door.
"Professor?" Came Lavender Brown's questioning voice.
"Ahh, yes, normally you have Professor Snape take over for Professor Lupin, but Professor Snape has unfortunately been called away on urgent business. That basically means he has gone to frolic in a field picking rare flowers to make his brews." A cheeky grin adorned his face as he strode to the front of the class.
"What do you mean sir?" Came a question from Dean.
"I don't know, I didn't honestly read the memo beyond telling me I had to come up with a class. So, what are you meant to be learning? Miss Granger, you probably know." Bloodrune said, as he leant against the bench at the front of the class.
"We have been studying dark creatures Sir." Hermione answered the question.
"Ah, right. Hmmm. Well, I don't know squat about them, but I can give you a lesson on creatures, because I know quite a bit about a rare type of creature I bet not even some Ravenclaws have heard more than a passing mention about. So? Who wants to know something a Ravenclaw doesn't?" Seeing quite a few hands go up at his statement, Bloodrune grinned to himself, "Excellent. Now tell me, what have any of you heard about a group of creatures known as Avatars of the Old Ones?"
Only silence met Bloodrune's question, as the students looked around and at each other, trying to see if anyone knew the answer. Harry saw several students, even Draco, glance at Hermione to see if she could answer the question, but even she looked stumped. Much to everyone's surprise, it was Neville who raised his hand. Bloodrune nodded in Neville's direction once he took notice of Neville's hand.
"I found a reference to them in my family library sir," Neville started, a slight waiver in his voice as he said family, "It spoke of creatures born from the elements, given life by powers so old that they embody them. When I tried to find something on those powers, all I could find was a scrap of paper that said they cannot be where they can be observed."
"Congratulations Longbottom, I think the only peoples who have more recorded knowledge of the Avatars than your family are the Unspeakables, and the Vampires. Of course, you all will have more knowledge than that by the time I'm done with you all today."
"How do you know so much if not even the Oldest Families have more than scraps of knowledge?" Came the voice of Theodore Nott.
"Why young one, personal experience," As he said this, Bloodrune lifted his arm, only for pitch black flames to appear there, before a phoenix that Harry recognized materialized from the flame, before shifting into the form of a Crow they all knew as Murder, "Murder has been with me since I was a boy, and so I have come to know a lot, mostly about his own kith and kin, the Avatars of the Power known as Death." With this Murder let out one caw, before shifting again, dropping to the floor in a canine shape those who had done Divination knew, that of the Grim.
"Before you all is one of the most magnificent creatures to have ever been born, born of the war between Morgana Le Fey and Merlin, for war is where the Avatars of Death, are born into the world. Murder is, to the best of my knowledge, one of his mother's favourites." Bloodrune paced as he talked, Murder having curled up to sleep in his Grim form.
"The Avatar's are creatures of more than one form, ranging anywhere from two forms, to four forms. Murder, just like all Avatars of Death, have three, the Grim, who forewarns of approaching death, the Midnight Phoenix, who sings to ease the passing of the dying, and finally, the Crowe, the carrion bird, the bird of shadowed wings who takes souls from the departed within it's claws to carry them to the afterlife. The Avatar of Death signifies these three things. However, not all Avatar's are so directly tied to the Power they are born from."
"What are the varying Powers sir?" Asked Dean Thomas.
"I only know of a few, naturally, Death, I also know of Fire, Earth, Water, Air, Blood, Life, and Lightning. This is not an exhaustive list though, I have heard many different tales that suggest others."
"What makes these Powers so powerful?" Inquired Pansy Parkinson, who, just like everybody else, was taking diligent notes, truthfully surprising Bloodrune, who hadn't even noticed how much they had been truly paying attention to him.
"Well, that's just it isn't it, nobody has ever known, because whenever they walk the earth they are felt, heard, smelt, but never seen or touched, with very few exceptions, usually the Powers have a purpose if they show themselves. I have heard of only two occasions in which cocky wizards and witches have attempted to summon and control these Powers. There were the foolish members of the Wizard's Council of Atlantis, who attempted to summon and bind the Power of Water, naturally, this went against the order of things, so in order to protect itself, it sunk their city in the span of an hour by working it's power through it's Avatars, with only a few survivors able to spread the tale of their people. Does anyone care to guess what happened when another culture attempted to do the same to the Power of Fire?" Quite a few put their hands up, so Bloodrune picked Seamus.
"Was it the Great London Fire sir?" He asked, not even sure of his own answer once he voiced it.
"No, that was done by a dragon that got let loose in the city. Anyone else?" Hermione raised her hand after having been thinking for quite a while, so Bloodrune acknowledged her.
"Was it something to do with a volcano sir?" Here Bloodrune grinned, and nodded, "Was it Pompeii?"
"Aye, the Romans tried to bind the Power of Fire, so he set loose a few of his Avatars, who brought the volcano to its eruption, interrupting the ritual, and burning all of the men who had tried to bind him."
"So they are violent?" Was Harry's question.
"No, they are not violent, they are merely weary of mortals, they have seen what mortals can do with the smallest amounts of power, to control one of the Powers, think, had Atlantis succeeded, they would have controlled the oceans, the rains, the rivers, the lakes, all water, would have been under their control. Had the Roman's succeeded in controlling the Power of Fire, the volcanoes of earth would be under their control, they would have burned the world to conquer it."
"So, it's a good thing that they do these things?" Was Harry's retort.
"Truthfully, yes and no. The Powers keep themselves from being controlled, but they are also subject to their own whims. Nothing is as important as their freedom, but second to that is their entertainment. Respect the Powers, but fear them as well, they can do so much with but a moment of time."
"Are the Avatars like the Powers?" Lavender asked.
"Usually, yes, they act in some way like the being that gave them power and life. However they do develop personalities of their own over time. The one thing to consider though is, attempting to bind an Avatar has dire consequences of its own, as the Powers love every single one of their children."
"Do you know of any examples of someone binding an Avatar sir?" Asked Daphne Greengrass.
"Unfortunately I don't. But unfortunately, that's also about all I can teach you on them. I guess that would be the end of the lesson today? Unless anyone has any questions?" Bloodrune asked, looking around.
"Sir, have you ever heard any of the Powers? You said they can be heard." Came Neville's question.
"Yes, yes I have. Not their voice, but several times in my life I have heard the Power of Death play a tune for her child. They are powerful, but they also have all the time they need to entertain themselves."
"Play a tune? Like, on a flute?" Was Lavender's follow-up question.
"A violin. The only reason I know as such is because while in France I found a street musician who played the same tune." A small smile graced his face as he thought back to his time in France.
"You keep referring to the Power of Death with female pronouns sir, might I ask why?" Hermione inquired.
"Because I have heard her sing to her child as well. It's a song I will never forget, even if I never understood a word that was said," A flick of Bloodrune's wand made a hazy group of numbers float into the air, "What do you know, we actually are out of time now. I hope you all enjoyed my class, no homework."
With a disappointed groan the class filed out, even the Slytherins were upset that the lesson on such an unknown type of creature was over. When the door to the classroom closed behind the last student, Bloodrune smiled to himself, it felt good to teach.
March 16th
Harry was walking up to the Infirmary, the letter he had received from Madame Pomfrey that morning in his hand. Apparently Poppy's friend had finally figured out what the information from Harry's scans meant. Harry couldn't wait to find out what had finally made his scar fade away.
Walking into the infirmary, Harry saw only a small sectioned off area at the back.
"Ahh Poppy, you owled me?" Harry called out. In response Madame Pomfrey stuck her head out from behind the curtain.
"Ahh Harry. Just pop up on one of the beds and wait, I just need to finish up here." Poppy replied before going back to work.
Hearing Poppy talking to someone, Harry couldn't help himself, he began his best to listen to the conversation.
"The results are ba….I still cant tell ho….the damage is extens….I have no idea how to heal it….At most I would predict you have a maximum of ten years bef…ts you from the inside." Came Poppy's voice from behind the curtain, becoming clearer as she and her other patient came from behind the curtain. Harry was surprised to see Professor Bloodrune being the patient walking from behind the curtain.
"Hello Harry, I hope you haven't hurt yourself training with Neville again? I don't fancy needing to ask the elves to clean up your blood again." Bloodrune's smiling face unnerved Harry after what he had overheard, but he kept his face from showing it.
"Not at all sir, I was asked to come here by Poppy."
"Ah, well then I best leave you to her tender mercies. Goodbye Harry. Poppy." Bloodrune tipped a non-existent hat to each of them as he said goodbye, leaving shortly after.
"Alright Harry, I'll just go floo our guest, and they can explain what they have found." Poppy smiled as she walked into her office. Nervousness formed in the pit of Harry's stomach as he began to wonder what he will be told by Madame Pomfrey's associate.
The sound of someone stepping through a fireplace was heard from inside Poppy's office, and Harry allowed his nervousness to fade, waiting for the healer to come in to explain the results.
The person who walked into the room with Poppy was not what Harry was expecting. The individual was completely covered, no skin could be seen. They wore a mask that covered their face and veiled their eyes. Harry was not able to guess the gender of this person, as the thick robes covering everything prevented Harry from seeing any gender markers.
"Harry, I would like you to meet Unspeakable Harrow, he was given the information on your scans from my associate Healer Lloyd after he realized he too hadn't ever seen anything like it."
"Nice to meet you Mr Potter, I just need to cast a single spell to confirm my suspicions before I tell you my findings." Unspeakable Harrow immediately pointed his wand at Harry, Harrow nodding his head immediately after.
"What have you found sir?"
"Mr Potter, your scar was an object known as a Horcrux, a piece of dark, filthy magic. Horcruxes are a piece of soul, torn off of a person's soul, stored in an object. The soul container then allows a person to avoid death. This leads credence to intel that has suggested that Voldemort still lives. You are the only known human Horcrux I have ever heard of." A gasp from Poppy and the widening of Harry's eyes met Harrow's statement.
"Y-You said was. So that means it's gone." Harry said, his tone showing the horror he felt.
"Yes. The soul shard appeared to have been badly damaged by the Basilisk Venom and Phoenix Tears in your system. Your bout of accidental magic in the summer appears to have been a combination of your body acclimating to it's unrestrained magic, the Horcrux having leeched from your magical core throughout your life, and your body finishing off the Horcrux that it was now aware of, the Horcrux having been a part of you since you were young, so your body didn't acknowledge it as a separate entity."
"It was Voldemort's, wasn't it. It was a piece of Voldemort's soul in my head." Harry had gained an angry edge to his voice. Poppy had turned pale by this point, the information almost too much for her to hear.
"I believe so. The signature was damaged in the scans but it mostly matches old readings of Voldemort's magical signature from scans of his victims. Now, the suspicion I had, to which I checked just now, is that the soul is gone, but not the memories contained within. If you were to learn Occulemency, you could gain the information from them." Harrow's continuous monotone voice was getting to Harry.
"Why on earth would I want the information from his SOUL that was LIVING inside of me?" Harry's expression was disgusted and confused.
"Why would you NOT want to try and gain some of Voldemort's knowledge, who knows what information is within those memory fragments? Ancient magics he found? Names of his followers, his safehouses? The information within those memory fragments could be invaluable Mr Potter, think rationally, not emotionally."
"He's right Harry. That MONSTER may have put his soul inside of you, but that information will be invaluable to fight him with." Poppy looked ill, but determined as she spoke.
"All right Harrow, how do I go about learning Occulemency?" Harrow pulled a large stack of books out and handed them to Harry.
"Read these. They will teach you how to perform Occulemency." Harry took the books from Harrow, he knew just the person to help him learn from these.
"Thank you Harrow, I will have a friend of mine who is good with books help me understand these. If you don't mind, I'd like to go, this has all been a lot to take in."
"Harry," Poppy said before he could leave, her wand in hand' "I swear on my life and my magic the information I have been revealed today pertaining to Harry James Potter shall never leave these lips without the express permission of Harry James Potter." A flash of magic and the widening of Harry's eyes followed the magical oath Poppy swore.
"Poppy, thank you." Harry's eyes had begun to water, the knowledge that Poppy would put her life and her magic on the line to prove to Harry that she could be trusted warmed Harry's heart. Before he could stop himself Harry wrapped Poppy up in a hug, conveying how truly thankful he was with actions rather than words.
"My oaths as an unspeakable already keep me from informing anyone Mr Pott-"
"Harry, please call me Harry Unspeakable Harrow. You have more than earned that right with the research you have conducted." Harry interrupted Harrow, giving leave for the Unsoeakable to make use of his first name.
"As you will Harry. I want you to take this as well," Harrow handed over a necklace with a small black bead at the end that appeared to have strange, swirling, multicoloured streaks of light inside of it, "If you find another Horcrux, please place upon the ground and say 'Speak Black Bird', this will alert me and the Director to the Horcrux and we will assemble a team to come and deal with the object immediately."
"Thank you Harrow. Goodbye Poppy, goodbye Unspeakable Harrow." Harry began walking to the doors of the Hospital Wing, before being stopped by Harrow's final shout.
"Harry, I want you to remember, the Unspeakables have their eye on recruiting you and your friends, don't forget us as an option when you contemplate your future career."
Harry nodded to Harrow before walking out of the Hospital Wing.
"Are the Unspeakables truly already interested in Harry, Hermione, Neville, and Luna?" Poppy asked after Harry left.
"Aye, the girls for their amazing minds, the boys for their overwhelming power."
"Their power?" Poppy asked, confusion in her tone.
"Those boys both have more magical energy than the rest of their grade mates put together, but to any who have trained to feel magical cores, there's even more there inside of them. An untapped power they both have, it's wild, animalistic almost, and I've never seen anything like it before, but it could be the best weapon either of those boys can wield if they can get a hold of it and control it."
"You can't be serious can you? They couldn't possibly have that kind of power already Tristan, they are only young." Poppy sounded as if she doubted Harrow, now named Tristan.
"I am serious. Those boys will fight a war that should have been put to bed 12 years ago, and the power they already have will grow even more as time goes on. I cannot wait to see them once they have reached their Majority, they will dwarf me in power as I am now after having gone through my Prime. But enough of this talk, I must return to the Department. It's been good seeing you mother." Tristan 'Harrow' Pomfrey hugged his mother before vanishing into the floo, leaving his mother to stand their contemplating his opinion on two boys she had begun to see almost as grandchildren, before that thought made her heart clench as old memories were brought up.
Poppy quickly wrote a letter before sending it with the Hospital Wing owl, telling Minerva to get Pomona and her good scotch, tonight Poppy needed a drink.
March 18th
Hedwig glided through the air, enjoying the way the wind ruffled her feathers. It was always nice to get out of the stone nest that her Harry stayed at all the time. She loved her Harry, but he was a trouble magnet. First the strange two people person and the special rock, (bah, no rock is special), then the big snake that the stuck up bastard Fawkes helped her Harry fight. Stupid Fawkes, he thinks he is sooo great because HE is a Phoenix, big whoop, Murder is able to be a Phoenix but he isn't all up in your face about it.
Then this year that mean woman and her stupid dog pissed her Harry off, and he made her a balloon. She screamed, SCREAMED when she was in the air, how ridiculous, there is nothing scary about flying. Then he got attacked on the metal snake thingy, Harry called it a 'tain' or was it 'tran', not important, but he was attacked there by the cold drape people! The gall of them, making people all sad and cold with their drapeyness.
Then that tasty looking rat that the rude red head boy had turned out to be a human! She nearly ate him some times! But then the scraggly dog she had seen near the whale man and the horse woman's house turned out to be a person too! So many people animals, they should be called peopimals! Then the chocolate wolf turned out to be the dog mans friend!
Then her master and his new friends (No more rude red boy!) started attacking each other a lot, something about one of those cage liners the delivery owls brought. She reprimanded the one that brought that, silly fool upset her Harry and his friends!
Hedwig's musings took all of her attention, such that she didn't notice the dark shape till it hit her. Hedwig felt searing pain along her back as she become aware of the larger bird attacking her. This bird made a mistake though, she was much smarter than the normal bird, being her Harry's familiar made sure of that!
When the bigger bird came in for another attack she rolled out of its way and clawed open it's side. The two birds began descending because of their wounds, clashing repeatedly as they came downtoward the ground, before they both made contact one last time, Hedwig's talons coming up and killing the other bird. A momentary feeling of victory came over Hedwig before she felt the last blow the other bird had dished out, as the other bird's beak slid out of her stomach.
Hedwig tried to take off, to get to someone who could help, but her wings wouldn't work. She HAD to get back to her Harry, he needed her! He needed his Hedwig! But her wings wouldn't flap, and she began feeling unseasonably cold, with a weak barked hoot Hedwig dropped to the ground, her vision going dark. Every moment she had spent with her Harry ran through her mind, from him finding her in the Wizard Alley to this morning when he gave her bacon and gave her a quick wash at the table with his fingers and a goblet of water. Hedwig began to cry, she wouldn't ever see her Harry again, he wouldn't know what happened to her, where she lay in her final roost.
As Hedwig's eyes closed but before she lost consciousness she heard a voice, it sounded strange, wild, but friendly.
"Well now, isn't this convenient?" Then a pair of hands picked Hedwig up, and she fell unconscious.
I know, I'm a bastard. I post after nearly six months and I end with THAT?!
But seriously please don't hate on me for the Hedwig thing. It's needed.
But I hope everybody is satisfied with my resolution to the whole scar thing. Harry knows what Horcruxes are, he no longer is, it took so long because it had to go down a chain of people (seriously guys no random healer was gonna be able to tell) Harry is learning Occlumency and Poppy has a son who knows something about Harry and Neville. Is it the Power he knows not?
Yes, I hurt Hedwig, I made it look like I was gonna end on a nice happy Hedwig recap of the story, then I get her attacked and mortally wounded. For those trying to picture where that beak went, im sorry, kept the details out of that. Who is this voice? Why do I like mysterious characters so god damn much?
That's right people, Murder is an Avatar of Death, a type of creature that will be in all HP fanfics I right. Yes that means the Powers are too. Don't ask for an opinion on the Power's personalities as as whole. That would be like plucking 50 people off the streets and expecting they would all have same personality.
What did the Glowing Man want from Borgin? Will Sirius be able to destroy the Horcrux?
Well, until next time,
Lucison