Welcome back to another chapter of Bad Moon Rising in which I sadly scrapped the Atalanta chapter. It just wasn't flowing as it should have and I didn't like it.
So we skip to the Harry one and the time skip from November to the end of the term.
On with the show!
Harry Potter, Hogwarts.
Out of all the things Harry had learned over the last few years, Occlumancy was the hardest. He would take a spear or a wand any day over mind magic. Delphini had described it as difficult at first but Harry would have used the term "fucking impossible" if he had to describe it in any way. The whole art form, and yes if Harry called it anything else Delphini would send a stinging hex at him, was based on knowing one's own mind. How it worked, how it thought, what process of decision-making did it use, everything. This was a very long and very boring process for Harry as he was forced to sit still and focus his magic and his mind.
Delphini explained the process as something like a charm. The magic from Harry was supposed to map how Harry thought so he could come to a better understanding of himself. Because that was the crux of Occlumancy, knowing oneself. After that he was to, for lack of a better term, build a place in his mind where he could organize his thoughts and emotions. And all of that was just the beginning steps, because after that came the hard part. The actualization and manifestation of nuanced concepts, thoughts, and emotions into forms that Harry was familiar with that could be organized in a way that only Harry could understand inside his mind space.
Needless to say, Harry was having a hard time with this type of magic because it wasn't something he could watch someone do and copy. But the payoff was worth it if this helped him with his anger issues, so, like any good Gryffindor he charged ahead. He had made some headway by the time Christmas break had rolled around, helped by the fact he already knew who he was.
Hero. Hunter. Killer.
Words that he etched upon himself in the graveyard almost a year ago, they were not words easily forgotten or erased from himself. It was just a matter of knowing how and why he thought the way he did and that was a question not easily answered. It also didn't help how much of a distraction that Delphini was. Don't get Harry wrong, she was a distraction in the best type of way when they were alone. But Harry was pretty sure if his mom learned just what type of distraction that Delphini was, she would disapprove. During those times when it was only the two of them were probably the most peaceful Harry had ever felt while at Hogwarts. It was like all his worries melted away as they talked, practiced Occlumency, or snogged each other's brains out
They would often sneak off the grounds under Harry's invisibility cloak to take walks around the pathways of the Forbidden Forest when they weren't in class or Gryffindor Tower. They would talk about all sorts of things when they were out there, their lives and the things they had done, what type of magic they were interested in, favorite foods, why their bird was better than the others, and all sorts of other things.
It was during those talks that Delphini confessed her use of technically illegal dark magic, or as she called it "Poppet Magic".
"So, what? You put on a show for kids or something?" Harry asks with a slight grin on his face as they walk through the forest after classes one day. The weather had turned cold in the last few weeks and ice began to form in thick patches on the ground. They were both dressed for the cold weather with Delphini bundled up in her old Durmstrang coat that fell to her knees with a pair of earmuffs on her head as she laughed at Harry's joke. It was an enrapturing sound to Harry to hear Delphini laugh and would never fail to make him smile in excitement.
"As if Pot-Head," Delphini said before slapping his arm, "Those poor kids would get traumatized from the show, and I think we have enough fucked up kids in the world without me contributing to that count," she said with a smile as they walked arm and arm under the bare tree branches above them.
"No, it's like, oh God, what do the muggles call them?" Delphini says with a flustered look on her face as she tries to recall something. Harry loved that look on her face, it was a mixture of frustration and excitement in equal measure painted on her face. It was the same look she would get when she was straddling his lap during more private times or when Harry said something particularly confusing to her. "Moodoo dolls?" she asked with a tilt of her head.
The small grin never leaves Harry's face. "Do you mean Voodoo dolls?" He asked and watched as pink overcame Delphini's face in a blush that made Harry smile wider.
"Oh, shut up you," Delphini said before smacking his arm once more. "But yes, it's something like that. The magic is called by a lot of names the world over: Voodoo dolls, poppet, fetishes, and shikigami, but it all refers to the same thing. A construct of the likeness of a person you want to curse built intimately with a piece of that person involved so you can curse them from half the world away," she told him as they continued to walk the paths set out by the teachers, passing by a few students who were also out for a walk.
They paused their conversation to let the other students pass by before Delphini spoke up again. "While I can do it traditionally, it takes time and power to set up, so I devise a much more direct method of applying the curse," she said before reaching down to the hem of her jacket and pulling it up before producing a long white ivory needle. She spun it between her fingers before showing it to Harry. It was at least six inches long with barbed hooks near the point with intricately carved runes on the back end of it. "This little needle is made out of human bone along with a knife, created through blood and pain under a full moon to enhance the potency of the ritual. All I have to do is stab this into someone and sacrifice a little bit of my blood with the matching knife and Tom's your uncle, I have a fetish in the shape of whoever I ensnared," Delphini said, causing Harry to blink in surprise at her words.
"Who did you make the needles out of?" Harry asked, slowly and carefully. Harry was trying to not let his fear and anger show on his face or in his face but by the small gasp from Delphini and the way she slowed and looked at him he had failed, or so he thought. He felt something stirring in the back of his mind, something old and hungry, something he knew all too well.
Delphini had slowed to a stop, looking at him with wide fear-filled eyes for a moment before swallowing. "There it is," she mutters softly before shaking her head, and before Harry can ask what she means she speaks again. "I made them out of me," she told him before reaching down and patting her thigh before explaining. "The ritual called for blood and pain but never specified whose blood and pain it had to be. So I did it to myself which makes it, by the letter of the law, not dark magic, because for it to be considered dark I would have had to do it to someone else," she says with a wicked grin and mischief filling her eyes. It was a smile Harry had seen on the face of Dora and Sirius right before they had done something that was nothing but trouble for everyone else.
Harry scoffed but sighed inwardly at her words before shaking his head as they continued on their walk, basking in the quiet forest for a little while longer. "Since I told you that little tidbit about little old me, do you mind if I ask you something?" Delphini asked Harry to which he just shrugged. There was very little that Harry would keep a secret from most people, the demi-god stuff aside.
"Your magic is odd," Delphini said slowly with a frown worming its way onto her face as she spoke. "It's not something I've ever felt before and I was wondering why?" she asked, looking over at him.
Harry raised a brow at her. "What? Can you feel magic or something?" he asked back and was a bit surprised when she nodded.
"It's called magic sensitivity, I can kind of feel what other people's magic feels like when I'm near them. Like Hermione, she feels like an old book in my hand, with a creased spine and feathered pages. Dumbledore is like a towering inferno of welcoming and nurturing warmth, and Professor Árd-Greimne is like a storm of shadow and steel waiting to be released," Delphini said breathlessly as she spoke with a soft voice on how others felt to her when their magic hummed on her skin. "But you, your magic is different, sometimes it's this soft light in the darkness, gentle and fragile. Other times it's as enrapturing and illuminating as the full moon on a snowy field and other times…" she trailed off and looked deep into the woods for a moment before shaking her head with a smile as Harry felt her shiver.
"And other times it feels like fangs to my throat, like I'm being chased or hunted while you wait for me to start running. Anticipation for something, for an end you know is coming soon and nothing in this world is gonna stop you from getting it," Delphini said as her smile grew and her breaths came out a bit ragged. "Other than a moment ago, the last time I felt it was during the night your owl got hurt, so I was wondering why your magic feels so weird," she said before looking at Harry with a small smile.
Harry blinks, surprised by how Delphini had talked about the feeling of other people's magic and how accurately she spoke of the Domain of the Moon and Hunt. "Um, I'm lunar synchronized. My core follows the phases of the moon, the fuller it is the denser it becomes," Harry admitted to the surprised and blushing face of Delphini.
"Damn Pot-Head," Delphini said, surprise and shock coloring her tone. "Talk about winning the lottery on magical gifts, huh?" she asked with a grin as Harry bobbed his head.
"Ah, yeah, I guess," Harry said with a shrug, looking away from her. As they carried on through the woods for a little while longer before they both became too chilly and decided to head back to the castle.
"What does Voldemort's magic feel like?" Harry asked as they walked through the front door underneath his cloak. He could tell the question bothered Delphini as soon as he asked by the way she almost stopped behind him. But after a moment she does answer, coming out like a haunted whisper.
"Cold," Delphini says in a hard voice. "Cold like the scales of a snake wrapping around your body, slithering and slimy and broken like it was missing pieces," she said before falling quiet once more as they made their way back to the tower.
Harry would continue to question how Delphini could feel the domains for a few more days until he and Scáthach met up once more for training. Where she would tell him the answer as well as show him something he had been curious about since she first did it.
Mantling.
Harry Potter, Dueling Arena.
Scáthach and Harry's relationship hadn't changed much in the wake of Harry learning he was the incarnation of her nephew. She still called him Greaca, still had a proud smile on her face every time Harry met her challenges and overcame them, and still showed him how to become better than his current self. Harry didn't mind all that much because of the simple fact that he wasn't Connla, but there was still a small part of him that wanted to call her Aunt Scáthach just to see her reaction.
But as November grew ever closer to its end, Harry, Ron, and Hermione completed everything set out by Scáthach. Ron was now beating Scáthach in every other game of chess, and Harry and Hermione had gotten silent casting down and spent time teaching it to Ron so he wasn't behind them in the private lessons. After all those months of Scáthach helping them with their casting it was time to step up the training once more.
Ron was pulled to the side and taught the Animation Charm alongside a few transfiguration spells to create empty sets of armor and weapons. The smile on his face when he was told what the spells did didn't leave his face for days as he began to practice them. In less than two weeks he had the spells down enough and was able to string them together fast enough to create his own chess set. They only came up to knee height, any bigger Ron would flop onto the ground and groan in pain for an hour or two like the first time he tried to make a three meter tall knight.
Hermione was set to cut the casting time of her spells down with Harry as well as get a crash course on warding. In a matter of a few weeks, she had learned and mastered at least a dozen different war wards and was able to set them up in minutes without fail. Shields, invisibility in a given area, setting anyone not keyed to the wards on fire if they cross them, anit-portkey, anti-apparition, muggle repelling, and unplottability among a few others.
It was after both Hermione and Ron mastered what Scáthach had given them to her satisfaction that she had them step into the dueling area with Harry.
To fight her.
Needless to say, this scared both Hermione and Ron after watching how Scáthach and Harry fought over the last four months or so. For everything that Scáthach was in a fight, vicious, punishing, cunning, and just ruthless, she knew how to pull her punches with Ron and Hermione in the arena. They only came out with minor bruises and cuts at the end of it, but they were able to work together to fight off Scáthach by turning Ron's little knights into gunpowder. The knights charged her as Harry barely held her still and grabbed onto her for dear life before Harry jumped back and set them ablaze with Fleur's Ignis spell and detonated them as Hermione threw up a ward to protect them from the heat and force.
Scáthach had gotten a laugh out of that trick before congratulating the three of them for their progress, even though Ron and Hermione scrambled around the first half of the fight like headless chickens. Dodging spears and fighting enchanted armor from Scáthach, Hermione had fared better than Ron in first reacting but not by much.
But as the weeks toward Christmas break were winding down, Scáthach had cut back on the hard training to teach all three of the trio something they were interested in. Hermione had asked about healing spells that were a bit more potent than what they had been taught in the first-aid section of DADA last year. Ron, surprisingly, wanted to learn a bit of rune craft to enhance his knights much to Hermione's beaming pride. Harry, however, wanted to learn about something else.
"Mantling, could you teach me a bit about that?" Harry asked to the surprised face of Scáthach who quickly chuckled at his request.
"You certainly don't pick easy subjects, do you, Greaca?" Scáthach said with a smirk as she stood in front of Harry with her arms folded behind her back. "But yes, I can teach you a bit about it. I would be lying if I said I hadn't thought of teaching the basics of it beforehand. But keep in mind, Greaca, that other than one aspect of it, most of it will be useless to you unless you have a spare god on hand," she said with a slight smile at Harry who nodded at her words as Hermione looked up from her book to watch intently.
"But what do you remember of what I originally told you of Mantling?" Scáthach asked as she began to pace as she normally did when lecturing someone.
"That it's a process of a god and a magician becoming one, and in doing so we get to break all the rules. Whatever that means," Harry told his teacher who nodded at his words.
"Correct," Scáthach said as she continued to pace. "To answer your unasked question, Greaca, when a god and a magician mantle, the magician gains all the powers of a god without a majority of the drawbacks that come with godhood," She informed Harry, who raised a brow at her words.
"Godhood has drawbacks?" Harry asked, sounding confused. From what he had seen there weren't many if any drawbacks to godhood.
Scáthach frowned at his words and nodded. "When godhood is attained, no matter how that comes to be, we give up our free will," she told Harry solemnly. "We are bound to the domains that empower us and the rules that they govern us by. We are no longer allowed to choose our fate as freely as mortals can," she told Harry with a hard voice.
"Scáthach never wanted godhood," Cait-Sith had told Harry in the woods just a few weeks ago, and from Teacher's tone, it sounded as if she still resented it.
"But we digress, the process of Mantling is rather simple in concept and requires only three things. A god, a magician's consent, and for that magician to master or at least know how to access both their cores at once," Scáthach said, holding up one finger for each thing that Harry would need to Mantle. "If we would Mantle without you accessing both your cores, then you would be in for a long healing process at the very least, or you might explode," Scáthach said with a shrug as Harry's jaw dropped.
"You mean you could have killed me when you did it against Cernunnos!?" Harry yelled in shock and watched as Scáthach simply nodded before speaking again.
"If I hadn't done it, Greaca, you would have been dead anyway," She tells him, unbothered by the danger she had put him in. "Cernunnos would've killed you without a second thought before running off to fight your mother. Was it an extreme gamble? Yes. Did you live? Yes," Scáthach says with a sharp and wicked smile as Harry just blinked at her.
"Between when we first met, the chasm, and that, I'm starting to think you want to kill me," Harry had said flatly and without humor before Scáthach just chuckled.
"Only through great adversity can a warrior truly find himself, Greaca. The weak die, the strong survive, and Terminus claims all in the end," Scáthach said the words that have been the motto of her life and the way she teaches those who pick up a weapon to her student. Harry makes a face of grim acceptance before answering her back.
"Only the hottest fires forge the greatest swords," he said just to see his teacher nod her head.
"Another way to say it, but essentially yes," Scáthach said, her face remaining blank as they both fell into silence for a moment, both lost in the memories of what had forged them.
"What do you mean by accessing both his cores? Isn't Harry already doing that?" Hermione spoke up, catching both Harry's and Scáthach's attention as she leaned forward in the stands with hungry eyes. Ravenous for new knowledge.
"No," Scáthach said with a shake of her head. "He has accessed one or the other, but never both at the same time to my knowledge. The closest he has gotten is when he pulls on the domain of the moon to empower his magical core, but never both," She tells the bookworm before turning back to Harry. "The power achieved when a magician accesses both his magical and divine core is noticeable to anyone around them. For Cú, it was his ríastrad, for me it was a control over the briars and shadows in the form of armor, but I do not know what it would be for you," Scáthach told Harry before pausing for a moment, almost like she was hesitating.
"It manifests in the domain the magician it is closest to as well. For Cú it was war, for me, death. But for you Greaca," she said trailing off as Harry answered her without pause.
"It would be the Hunt," Harry said with a frown on his face. "But two big problems with that, I'm currently cut off from it, and if the Hunt manifests-" Harry began to say only for Scáthach to finish for him.
"It may not end well considering the very nature of the Hunt," Scáthach said with a nod of her head and a frown on her lips. "But to answer your question with far more depth, Hermione, think of the two cores as a clock ticking away. The tick would be one and the tock would be the other. With a little bit of each other leaking into the other between the two, Harry's soul is the magic core that can influence the world around him with will and intent. While his divine core is his heart, reinforced by the divine blood he holds in his veins that influences himself," Scáthach said, turning back to Hermione to explain it as Harry blinked in surprise.
"Does that mean that the Hunt sometimes leaks into my magic?" Harry asked before his teacher turned back to him with a nod of her head.
"Yes, but with the Hunt sealed away I doubt we will be able to make any true progress with the practice of Mantling, so perhaps we should wait until it returns?" Scáthach suggests before Harry sighs and nods his head as Scáthach visibly relaxes much to Harry's confusion. He doesn't comment on it and lets it go as their training would go long into the night only to awake to a newspaper declaration of the worst possible thing.
Harry Potter, The Great Hall.
AZKABAN MASS BREAKOUT!
Early in the morning hours last night the security at Azkaban was breached and scores of prisoners escaped into the night, including many of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's Death Eaters. Even the deepest holding cells of Azkaban were breached with the likes of the Rodolphus, Rabastan, and Bellatrix Lestrange freed and now on the run.
The Minister had this to say during a press release:
"We urge all citizens to remain calm and be vigilant in this dark hour. We have already called in all aurors to begin the search for the escaped convicts and we will not stop until they are once more locked behind bars!"
The Minister went on to inform that current evidence indicated that the prisoners had outside help to escape from their cells and ordered a warrant of arrest for the only other soul that even escaped Azkaban's icy depths; Lord Sirius Black. The Ministry went on to deny any involvement of a rumored returned dark wizard and dismissed them as wild speculation from deranged minds who are just fear-mongering
However, a few Wizengamot representatives had a few things to say about the breakout.
"All citizens should remain calm and stay out of the aurors way. These scum will be put back behind bars shortly, this isn't some return of a dead man like some had suggested. But mark my words, the auror department will not lack in funding to find these monsters."
-Lord Lucius Malfoy.
"Piss off."
-Dowager Augusta Longbottom.
"Funny what the blonde hair twat said, he just voted to cut the DMLE funding for the rest of the year."
-Lord Lugh Leòmhann
"Blaming this event on anyone but his Office's incompetencies is nothing less than pathetic by this point. Ignoring the signs and not replacing the guard with good hit-wizards or just executing the prisoners when this ministry had the chance has shown nothing but weakness from both the Minister and his Office. I, for one, will be pushing the vote to call in the International Confederation of Wizards ICE division to come help us during this national emergency."
-Lady Lupusregina Nott
"I told Cornelius that this would happen, and now look at what weak leaders have done to this country. I think it's about time for a change."
-Lady Taila Peverell.
Harry was glaring down at the offending paper that announced the escape of the Death Eaters and the warrant for Sirius' arrest. If it wasn't for the letter from Remus that had arrived with the rest of the owls that morning, Harry would have already been off on a tear to cut through anyone who stood between him and Sirius.
Remus' letter had already explained what had happened and that Sirius had voluntarily turned himself over to the Ministry for questioning. It was from Professor McGonagall that Harry had learned that the Headmaster and Fáumnach had left for the Ministry before the sun even rose for the day. That gave Harry some comfort in knowing that some people weren't about to let his godfather go back to Azkaban anytime soon. But Harry wasn't the only one affected by the news at the Gryffindor table. Both Delphini and Neville sat staring at the front page at a maniacally laughing Bellatrix, both pale and looking lost to the world. In fact, an atmosphere of uncertainty and dread hung over the Great Hall like a thick miasma with whispered worries echoing around the hall.
It was Luna who spoke first. "I do not believe that Minister Fudge will be long for office, his dealing with the Lizard People and the escape of so many of his political opponents from Azkaban will be the final nails," She muttered as she put down the paper before picking up the new copy of The Quibbler to read its article on the breakout. Luna started to sit at the Gryffindor table with Harry a few weeks ago. None in the school could say just why, but most knew how it started.
Harry had walked into The Great Hall one morning to see the odd girl sitting at the end of the Ravenclaw table alone with no one sitting remotely close to her. He paused halfway to his house table before looking at Luna for a long moment before handing Ron his bag and walking over to Luna. And without even saying a word he had picked the surprised girl up princess-style and walked over to the Gryffindor table to sit her down right next to him and Delphini before introducing her.
After this, Luna asked if this was how one got inducted into Harry's secret magical harem, which got a rousing answer of "No, there isn't one!" from Hermione, Ginny, and Harry. Delphini however thought it was hilarious and asked Harry why she wasn't the Madam of his harem yet, causing Ron to look at both of them with narrowed eyes.
Harry didn't pay much mind to what his odd friend had said, instead looking at his girlfriend with worry. Delphini, always the most talkative of the two of them, hadn't said a single word all morning. It worried him to see Delphini like that, quiet and scared of something he couldn't stab. Harry also could make out the whispers and pointing at her from others who had read The Prophet that morning, which had started to annoy him to no end once more.
But it wasn't until the group of three aurors walked into the Great Hall being led by Umbridge and made a beeline directly to the Gryffindor table that Harry's temper finally flared. McGonagall wasn't at the staff table and neither was Scáthach, both elsewhere in the school taking care of things while Dumbledore was away. As the whispers grew at the arrival of the aurors, Harry quickly stood from his seat, ignoring the hiss of Hermione telling him to stop. But she hadn't even finished her sentence before Harry's willow wand fell into his hand as he made his way to cut the aurors And Umbridge off.
"What the hell do you want?" Harry said harshly to the toad-like woman who looked at him like he was something vile she had stepped in.
Umbridge stopped, letting the aurors move in front of her before she speaks in the sickeningly sweet fake voice she uses. "I would suggest you step aside, Mister Potter, We aren't here for you yet. We're here to talk to Miss Lestrange on official Ministry business," Umbridge said, her mouth hooking into a wide smile that did nothing but fan Harry's already rising temper.
"What? Just gonna let the Death Eaters who got busted out of Azkaban run around while the Ministry picks on some school kid?" Harry snapped back at Umbridge as his knees bent and a faint growling echoed in the back of his mind. But it wasn't just the echo in his mind, the growl reverberated around the Great Hall as the massive form of the Hound of Dún Scaith stepped into view, right behind Umbridge and the aurors. The great hound had its jowls raised and baring his fangs that were like blades as it stalked forward growling like a motorcycle. As the students in the great hall all turned to look at the commotion, Harry slowly reached into his jacket for the Golden Rose of Mortality wrapped around his bicep.
"Harry! No, stop!" snapped Delphini who had come jogging up as Cú appeared behind the aurors. She grabbed onto Harry's arm and tried to pull him back away from the aurors who had now drawn their wands while facing down both Harry and Cú. "Pot-Head, it's fine. Calm down, it's cool. They probably just want to ask me some questions, that's all," Delphini said before abandoning Harry's arm to stand in front of him. But it wasn't until another voice was heard that both Harry and Cú would stop.
"Greaca! Cú! Heel!" the voice of Scáthach rang out across the Great Hall as she walked in with a glare on her face aimed right at Umbridge. But Scáthach didn't come alone, oh no, the woman trailing at her heels was dressed in robes that looked like they cost more than whatever Harry had in his vault. Her face looked to be carved from glacial ice and quiet rage as her eyes burned with indignation. Her long two-tone color hair of blond and inky black were braided together and hung in loops down her shoulder. Narcissa Malfoy had come to Hogwarts and was looking for blood.
"Delphini, over here, now if you please," Narcissa said in a cold and calm voice that betrayed nothing as her eyes flicked between looking at her niece and glaring at Harry.
Delphini looked between Harry and her Aunt, her lips pressed into a thin line before she nodded to Narcissa. She turned back to Harry, who had relaxed upon his teacher's showing up and leaned in to capture his lips. Harry was surprised that Delphini did that; she had been enjoying sneaking around and snogging in places where they could be caught by people. As she broke the kiss, Harry felt her caress his face "I'll be right back, Pot-Head," Delphini said softly to him before turning and walking toward her aunt, who was now looking at her with a brow vanishing from her forehead from how high it shot.
"Greaca," Scáthach said, catching Harry's attention. "Go back to enjoying your breakfast, I'll make sure Miss Lestrange is safe," she said with a soft tone of voice as she nodded her head toward the Gryffindor table. Harry nodded in return before he turned around, walked back over to his seat, and sat back down. He couldn't help but feel the eyes on him as he looked up to Hermione looking at him like a gaping fish as Ron's face was in his hands.
"What?" Harry asked, knowing full well what caused their reaction.
Harry Potter, Dueling Arena, Hogwarts.
December 17th, three days away from the Yule Holiday.
"No, it's more of a twist, like this," Harry says as he stands next to Tracey Davis on the wet, compact sand of the arena. Harry draws his wand back in a straight line, twisting his wrist as he does. "Torquens Hastam," he says loudly and clearly as he focuses his magic to enact as will. Matter twists and forms a long solid piece of silvery metal shaped into a long spiral that hovers in the air. The spear itself was nearly six feet in length and solid metal, from the head to the butt of the weapon was twisted into a spiral, so when banished to a target it would begin to rotate in mid-air gathering speed and velocity before drilling through whatever stood in its path.
Tracey nods her head before copying his movements and repeating the words, sweat breaks out across her forehead as she focuses on her magic. She smiles widely as the spear forms in front of her, matching Harry's almost to the color. She turns to him with her proud smile as Harry inspects the spear with a nod of his head.
"Not bad," Harry tells Tracey with a small smile as she cheers, jumping up in the air and pumping her fist as a few others who were watching to clap and whoop at Tracey's accomplishment.
"Look, Theo! I did it!" Tracey calls out to the stands where Theodore is sitting with a small book open in front of him. He pauses his reading before looking up and seeing the floating spear before smiling at his girlfriend.
"Nice! How are you feeling after that?" The mismatched-eye boy asks as he closes his book with a bit of worry on his face.
Tracey rubs her throat a bit before smiling at Theodore. "Fine, won't be able to do that a lot but I can do it," Tracey says with a bit of a manic glint in her eyes that much her grin. Harry honestly didn't know how he ended up in the dueling arena with all the people in the stands watching as he showed Tracey some more advanced transfiguration.
She had approached Harry that morning at breakfast as he was sitting with his friends and had asked if he could show her a few tips and tricks for Transfiguration. Tracey told him that without her normal study buddy in Daphne, who had left school for a few months to help her mom watch over her sister and father, her grades were slipping in McGonagall's class. Which wasn't all that surprising, Transfiguration was the hardest class after potions and took a fair amount of both willpower and knowledge to be even halfway decent at. So, wanting to help out the girlfriend of his mate, he agreed. This led to Ron and Hermione wanting to tag along, which was fine. Then Delphini and Luna wanted to come, Okay, sure, why not?
But then Susan Bone heard it from Theodore, who was going because it was his girlfriend, and Susan decided to tag along, which was weird but okay. Then Hannah Abbot heard and decided to come along with Susan, then Neville perked up and wanted to practice as well, Then Ginny, the Twins, and the rest of the Gryffindor team wanted to come. Which was getting a bit much, but Harry couldn't say no to the Quidditch team.
Then Cedric and Cho wanted to show up with a gaggle of Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs Harry didn't even know existed. Jenny Blackmoor in Hufflepuff and her Ravenclaw cousin, both who were in the inter-house band, Chimera. They brought the other two bandmates who decided to set up their instruments in one of the corners for practice. Two Hufflepuffs by the names of George and Gréagóir, wouldn't stop arguing over something or other. A few other students also showed up that Harry didn't catch the name of but were hanging outside of the door to the dueling arena for some reason before all coming in. Some had brought games, while others brought snacks and drinks, and Harry honestly didn't know what to do with all the people watching him, Neville, and Tracey practicing Transfiguration. But oddly enough, Harry was having fun with it all.
Someone once asked if this was a dueling club, which Harry had told them it wasn't before Hermione spoke up by saying that they would need a teacher to sponsor and oversee the club for it to be a club. But no sooner did the words leave her mouth did the large iron door swung open and Scáthach stepped into the room.
"What are you all doing here?" Scáthach asks politely as she steps into the arena with an amused smile and her hound at her heels. Some of the older students were quick to hide things that they would rather a teacher not see as Scáthach walked over to Harry.
"I was, ah, helping Tracey out with some Transfiguration, and everyone else kinda just showed up I guess," Harry says back while scratching his cheek awkwardly.
Scáthach smiled at Harry playfully as her blood-red eyes danced with amusement at the cortege that followed him to the dueling arena. "Well, as awkward and odd as you no doubt find this, Greaca, this is an opportunity for something I've been planning for the last few weeks," she says as she turns and walks away from her favorite student to the middle of the room. The eyes of the students up in the stands relaxing before dinner and waiting for the weekend to arrive look on in curiosity as Scáthach takes center stage.
"Students," Scáthach says in her normal lecturing voice that causes everyone in the room to pay attention to her, even the band has stopped playing and quieted down to listen to her. "While I am aware that this is a bit unorthodox to announce this here and now, I felt with so many from all four houses, it was a good enough time than any. I was going to wait until after the holidays to tell each of the classes, but since we are all here, I would like to announce the revival of the Hogwarts Inter-House Dueling Championship starting next semester," Scáthach says, her smile never leaving her face as the students all start to whisper and talk with excitement at her words.
Scáthach holds up her hand to hold off the whispers of questions from the students so she may continue. "I will answer any question you have, but let us treat this like a classroom and-" But before she could even finish, several hands shot into the air making her chuckle. "Excellent, let's start with Miss Bones," Scáthach says while gesturing over to Susan who was sitting in the stands next to Hannah and Neville.
"Thank you, Professor, I was wondering what list of approved spells we will be using?" Susan asks with a smile before putting her hand down.
"We will be using the approved list of spells from the European Dueling Circuit with one caveat, No Bombarda will be allowed," Scáthach informs everyone listening in. "For those who don't know the list, I will have the list in full pinned to each notice board in your common rooms by the time everyone is back from Holidays," she says with a smile.
"What the facken 'ell do you mean no Bombarda!?" Yells someone from the stands sounding angry with the ruling. "Do you know how many problems can be solved with vigorous use of Bombarda Maxima?" he says with an outraged tone before scoffing loudly. "And they gave you the title of Scáthanna? What the bloody hell were those old cunts thinkin' in the Circle of the Fianna I'll never facken know." His Irish accent was as thick as pudding and almost to the point where Harry couldn't understand a thing that was coming out of the guy's mouth. He was an older student, in his sixth or seventh year, with long and stringy red hair he had braided and going down his back. His blue almost silverish eyes looked down at Scáthach with injustice at what she said as he leaned back in the stands. There was something off about the Hufflepuff, but Harry couldn't put his finger on it. He seemed sharper somehow, his eyes, cheekbones, fingers, and even his ears all seemed to have an edge to them.
Scáthach turns around to the boy sitting in the stands with a light glare. "If you have a problem with that Mister Uí Néill, then I suggest taking it up with your head druid, and not screaming when I am talking," she says, her voice coming out firm and angry with the boy who scoffs before looking away. Harry decides he is going to punch the kid before the school year is over as he narrows his eyes at Uí Néill.
Scáthach turns back to the gathering of students before pointing at Theodore to ask his question. "I was wondering what dueling format you were thinking about using?" he asks in a respectful tone.
"We will be using a five-person team with an extra person to substitute if necessary. Best of five rounds with each team dropping a team member after each round, each house will have a chance to face one another with the house with the most eliminations being the winner," Scáthach explains, pacing back and forth as she spoke with Cú the hound having wandered into the stands to be pet by Luna. "The winning students of the competition will receive one hundred points to whatever house they belong to, the championship cup, and a prize of one hundred Galleons to split amongst themselves," She says with a smile as the whispers start back up once more.
"The matches will be until surrender or knock-out and no students below fourth year will be able to enter. Teams, however, are up to each captain to create however they please," Scáthach informs everyone in the hall once more before turning to look at Harry with a glint in her eye.
"Oh, …shit," Harry mutters before facepalming. This was why Scáthach had held him back in practice duels during Defensive Arts; she had this planned from the start. She showed the students who didn't know how to duel just that so she could host a dueling tournament later in the year. "You do know I'm still on the probation thing, right?" Harry asks with a groan.
"Yes," Scáthach says, the smile never leaving her face. "Lucky for you that Gryffindor's first match isn't until after it ends, isn't it?" she says with her smirk turning wicked before she turns and walks away to take a seat at the far end of the arena.
Later that night.
The tiles were cool beneath her scales as she slithered along the dark hallway. Blending in with the floor and shadows that were long in the torchlight. "To the Ministry," her master had whispered softly to her, "Find out where it is," he had told her, and so she would. Her tongue flickers out tasting the air, it tasted of magic and death and blood.
She turns the corner and moves down the short hallway her master had told her to turn down to find the door she was to go through. She tasted something warm then, something fresh with a game hint that made her fangs throb and her stomach ache. It had been weeks since her master had last let her eat the useless two legs she wanted to taste so badly. As luck would have it, her next meal was at the end of the hall with hot blood pumping through it, right next to the place she was to go.
Oh, how tasty it was. A hint of wild game and oceans of blood on it, yes she would devour it whole, she would bite and strangle it.
"Hungry, …musssst eat, sssssso hungry," she hisses out as she slithers closer to her next meal. She sees it in the dark curled up against the wall and asleep. Sssssilver jacket and the sssssscent of wild cats on the two legs.
She rears back, lifting into the air, and parts her jaw to bear her fangs before striking. She hits one of the two-legger's legs to stop it from running, and oh how she screamed in pain and shock! How divine its hot blood tasted on her tongue! She strikes again! And again! She strikes a third time but hisses in pain, she had tried to bite the two-legs on the shoulder but all it did was crack her fangs!
She hisses in rage and pain as the piercing sense of her master watching twitches in her mind, she rears back once more to finish her prey off.
But an iron collar finds her throat and begins to squeeze.
"You motherfucking Python wannabe!" her prey growls before the room spins and twists and flies by with a sudden stop. She looked around trying to find out what had happened, she bared her fangs and tried to bite the prey once more but all she saw when she did were the two-legger standing and… and holding her?
She writhed and thrashed in the grip of the prey but she could feel nothing below her head. The prey wobbles before dropping her to the ground, she tries to pick herself up once more. But all her body does is flop around uselessly. Does that mean…
Is she…
Was she the prey?
"Gonna…turn you in…to boo-" the prey says before falling sideways, collapsing onto the ground as blackness overtakes her for the final time.
Harry Potter, Gryffindor Tower, 3:22 AM
Pain. Burning, bursting, flashing pain is what woke Harry from his thrashing nightmare. Like fireworks exploding behind his eyes in a cacophony of bright burning pain. Throbbing, like it was stabbing deep into his mind as he thrashed and twisted on the floor trying to escape the scales of the serpent he was just a moment ago.
Then there was the growling roaring in his mind along with the rattling of broken chains with the sensation of hunger and starvation, the want for a kill, the want for blood, hot and fresh, the undying need for a Hunt. "Get up!" it felt like it shouted in Harry's mind. "Get up and feed me!" in a battering ram of feelings and hunger.
Next was the rage and all-consuming anger. Like a bloody red swath of destruction and death, it raged in his mind; bringing Harry's own temper to the forefront of his mind. Harry could feel the wand that wasn't his in his hand, he could feel a never-ending wellspring of magic snap forth and shatter the room he wasn't standing in. His snake, his Nagini, a part of him was gone!
Next was the hands trying to hold him down as he thrashed and struggled, seizing and kicking as he screamed and roared in pain and rage and hunger. The roar of thundering panicking heartbeats over his own screams sounded in his ear like ancient heartbeats in the deep, sounding out the call of a hunt and fresh kill.
Next came the words he could barely make out over the heartbeats, screams of his name(was it his name, his name was vol-)
"Harry!"
"Potter! Snap out-"
"We need to get him to-"
"Pot-head! Harry! Please-"
"Oh gods, oh gods his scar, it's -"
"Move! Out of the way! Greaca! Greaca! Can you hear-"
Finally, something gave, something tore and ripped and set him free. He quickly stands and throws himself forward, lunging at the first thing he sees (platinum blonde hair and wide fearful blue eyes), it is pulled out of the way as he crashes into the bed on the opposite side of the room. Everything was spinning and screaming, Harry covered his ears as the Hunt, wild and free, flooded him. Harry grabs onto the sensation, wanting nothing more than the world to make sense once more and to be silent.
Harry hears a soft sigh that echoes around him and in him, before he feels twin cold hands press against his cheeks. It was like ice on his flushed and burning skin and calmed him, the Hunt, ever hungry, is pulled back as that ancient cold fills him to his core. Breathing heavy and deep like he had just burst from the black lake after almost drowning Harry lies on the floor shivering.
"Harry?" someone asks before he hears someone step forward.
"Don't," Snapped a voice like ice. "Get anywhere near him," someone says before someone walks forward. "Gr-Harry, I need you to say something, anything, please," she says, desperation in her voice, worry echoing throughout her words that struck him like the butt of her spear.
The only thing that comes from him is a ripping and deep sob from a fresh flash of pain that tears through him. "At-Atalanta," Harry chokes out as he tries to push himself to his feet, only to fall back down. "Atalanta was attacked, at-at-The Ministry, we need-we need to-," Harry tries to say, but as he talks he tastes blood. Warm, red, sticky blood running down his face and leaking onto the floor, forming a pool on the floor.
"We need to get you to the hospital wing, Pot-head," Harry hears the voice of Delphini moving closer and snapping at someone to move before he feels her hands grip his arm and try to haul him to his feet.
"N-no," Harry says through gritted teeth as he wobbles a bit and gets his feet under him. "The-The headmaster, I-I need to get to Dumble-" Harry tries to say as he turns to try and leave his dorm room only to stubble before being caught.
"Harry!" Delphini says, worry lacing her tone as her arms wrap around him to keep him on his feet. "Fuck the headmaster, we are taking you to the Hospital Wing. Now!" she demands as Harry weakly tries to push her away. He felt drained, empty, like he was being pulled into three different directions by three different things. "Ron! Get your arse over here and help me!" Delphini snaps at the Red Head looking on with a pale face before her words shock him into moving.
"Stop," Says the calm voice of Scáthach as she moves forward to Harry's other side to loop his arm around her neck and hoist him up as if he weighed nothing. "I'll take him, Miss Lestrange. He is my responsibility after all," she tells Delphini softly before pulling Harry away from her. "Minerva, bring your house back to order and calm the wee ones. I suggest hot chocolate and soft words, I'll be back as soon as I can," Scáthach says, but thanks to not having his glasses on Harry couldn't make out anything but blurs in the room, but he was sure one nodded as Scáthach and Harry make their way from the tower.
They don't speak again until they're past the portrait hole. "What happened, Harry?" Scáthach asks softly as they move through the castle at a slow pace.
"A-A dream or a vision or-or something," Harry tells her, he could still taste his blood (Atalanta's blood) on his lips as he spoke. "A snake, Voldemort's snake, Nagini. She-she attacked Atalanta, I need-I want-," Harry says, trying to get the words to come out of his mouth but the throbbing pain just under his hitches his breath and chokes the words in his throat.
"Are you sure this wasn't a demi-god dream? Of what might come?" Scáthach asks as she picks up the pace.
Harry shakes his head, flinging blood over the stone floor. "No, this-this was different," he says, clutching his eyes shut and allowing Scáthach to lead him. The sound of claws on stone sounded out behind them before being followed by a whine from the hound that appeared from the shadows of the castle.
Scáthach doesn't even turn to Cú as she speaks. "Cú, wake the headmaster," she says as Cú lets out a single bark before vanishing from the corridor.
"The-the Hunts back," Harry admits with a groan and feeling as his teacher and his aunt in a weird pull him closer.
"I know," she whispers to him softly. Harry felt a pulse coming from her, it was dark, cold, and solid as ice. It echoes around the school and into its deepest depths as the stone that made up the castle begins to move and twist out of Scáthach and Harry's way. Before Harry knew it, he felt Scáthach helping him up a flight of stairs he was reasonably sure wasn't on this floor.
"What did you do?" Harry asks, trying to talk to distract him from the claws at the door and the anger building in the back of his mind once more.
"I changed the layout of the castle, this will take us right to the headmaster's office. I will have to remember to put it back once we are done," Scáthach comments with a soft tone of worry. "Oddly enough, I'm not the only one who can do this," she says as an offhand comment, one that Harry latches on to.
"Who else? Cú and Dumbledore?" Harry asks and feels as Scáthach shakes her head.
"While Cú can, he never really needs to with his ability to travel through the wards of the school. No, it's Miss Lovegood who can do it, but whether she knows it or not I have no clue," she explains to him as they make their way up the steps.
"Why? How? I thought this was your castle?" Harry asks, sounding confused.
"Oh, it very much is," Scáthach states before adjusting Harry's arm midstep, "But when the castle was rebuilt, one of the builders added a bit of her soul to the castle to watch over it and that soul just so happens to reside in Miss Lovegood now. It also helps that when I first built this school she was a constant visitor and the school loved her even then," she explains before pausing for a moment. "Speaking of love, what were you doing outside of the ritual room?" Scáthach asks and Harry almost freezes when she does.
"How could you tell?" Harry asked, shocked.
"Greaca, you're in my school, I can tell where you are at any given moment of the day. It also doesn't count the fact all you did was hide under an invisibility cloak, I could quite literally see you," She told him, and this time Harry did stop.
"You can see through the cloak?" Harry asks, shocked.
"Yes," Scáthach answers simply as if it was the most obvious thing in the world to do. But before Harry could say anything to that, Scáthach was dragging him up the final stairs to a simple door before opening it to the headmaster's office. "Albus!" she cried out into the office.
Albus Dumbledore, Hogwarts, 4:15 a.m.
"Look at me!" The words still echoed in his mind that came from the bleeding and scared boy who was sitting in his office not fifteen minutes ago. It was nights like these that he felt every single one of his one hundred eighteen years, his heart had almost stopped when he saw Harry's face covered in blood. Then the conversation that followed after, his dream…
"Are you sure, Harry? This wasn't just a normal dream?"
"I'm sure, it didn't feel the same,"
Then Albus rushing to deliver orders to gather information and rush allies to the Ministry.
"They found her Albus, right where you said she would be. But she's in a bad way, they're on the way to Saint Mungo's right now. But she killed that bloody snake,"
Atalanta was in critical condition, but thankfully they had the snake's head, they could hopefully brew an antivenin from what was left of the venom in its fangs. But the question remained, how did she kill the snake? He was sure, even more sure now.
"Were you a bystander? How did you see the attack happen?"
"No, I was the fucking snake. I can- I can still- taste Atalanta's blood,"
The answer from Harry had shot an icicle through his heart, he had to quickly turn away from him so he would not see the realization in his eyes; not the fear.
"Look at me!"
And when he had turned to look at Harry in shock and fear, expecting to see Tom's eyes looking at him all he could see were the scared eyes of a boy.
"What is wrong with me?"
His words came out as a desperate whisper that cut Albus so deep that it took all his will to shove the emotions that it brought away from him. His heart wrenched and twisted, his stomach curled with hate and sick for what that fool boy did all those years ago. But worst of all, Albus was now sure of it as he told Harry he didn't know.
Albus stood in his office, looking up at the only picture that mattered to him in this office. A portrait of a young blonde girl sitting by a window, smiling down upon him as he fought to keep his own emotions from crushing him.
"Albus," a soft voice spoke, causing Albus to jump and turn around to see a pair of blood-red eyes looking at him in concern. "Are you okay?" Scáthach asked.
"Yes," Albus says before coughing slightly into his hand. "Yes, My Lady. I was a bit… lost in my own thoughts," he admits to the queen of the school. Scáthach looks back at him with a piercing look in her blood-red eyes, searching for something. But Albus knew with all her power and all her knowledge and all the things she could do, there were lines she would never cross. Invading someone's privacy was one of them. Of all the gods he had met in the last few years, Scáthach had struck him as the most human of them all.
She watches him for a moment longer before nodding her head. "As you say, I think I will go see what I can do for the young ones who are still up," she says before turning around and leaving Albus with his thoughts. Harry had left five minutes ago via portkey, given leave to go back to Grimmauld Place due to the dire injuries to a family member.
As the door to his office shuts behind him, Albus takes a deep breath before letting out a deep sigh. The sound was lost in the whispers and rising voices of past headmasters and headmistresses vying to pass on some nugget of wisdom, some hard-learned lesson. But with a flick of his wand, they all go quiet and still, the only one moving is the small blonde girl whom Albus turns to look back to. She smiles down at him but doesn't say a word, having lost her ability to speak long before the painting of her was made.
With another flick of the Deathstick, he silences his office so no sound can escape as he feels the walls of his mind buckle. The burn in his eyes grows worse as rage and anger at the world, at the unfairness of it all, at Tom Riddle and his cruel and foolish choices build until…
"Aaaaahhhahhhhaaaaaahaaahaaah!" The raw, primal, rage-filled scream fills the office. Books are shredded, wooden furniture explodes into splinters, and the silver instruments that line the shelves of his office are shattered into a thousand pieces. Albus' wand, the Deathstick, lashes out, and the metal stairs that lead up to his bedroom are reduced to metal sand and ugly shards of bladed metal that lodge themselves in the stone wall. Albus rages and ruins, he shatters stones and destroys all things within his reach, and he reduces his office to ruin in his wrath. He feels his heart break into a million different pieces as exhaustion begins to take him over.
His rage turns to sorrow, his wrath, to heartbreak, and his hope to ash. For Albus realized something this night, that he hoped and prayed wasn't true.
That Harry Potter was a Horcrux.
That the boy he had come to love and care for would have to die to end the threat of Voldemort once and for all.
And as Albus walks over to the last standing chair in his office, he slumps into it, old and exhausted. Tears slide down his face as the soft cry of Fawkes could be heard throughout the office, and as Albus weeps, he can't help the words that float through his mind;
"It is always the good who die young,"
*Walks back into the story after being gone for three weeks like he did nothing wrong*
What up folks!?
The only thing I have to say is that Baldur's Gate 3 is a hella of a game.
Also, Happy Halloween everyone!
But to the story,
Harry is having trouble with the mind arts because he honestly lacks the focus for them but he'll get better with time. Delphini showing off a bit of Black Magic she can do with her needles, I'll be showing off later on in this fic so it should be fun. How Delphini feels other people's magic is hard to describe for most people so she does it with what their magic reminds her of.
Then we get a little more on mantling which is gonna be a big thing in this story soon, so pay attention to what Scáthach said in this.
Does Harry have (basically) a super form? Ehhhhh, Kinda? We've already seen it twice before and it makes Harry incredibly dangerous.
The Azkaban break-out happened earlier than in the book for a reason we will touch on in the next two or three chapters. No, Sirius is fine and was very much released from custody quickly because he had nothing to do with it and had proof of that. While Harry is now showing his, let's call it, dissatisfaction with the Ministry that is going to play big into his personality coming up.
Lol, Narcissa, Ron, and Hermione all watching those two kiss all thinking the same thing "Red flag! Red flag!" it's just a shame both Delphini and Harry are color blind.
That's right folks, it's not Mister Weasley that got attacked in this; it was Atalanta. Ambushed in the middle of a cat nap, but Nagini fucked up and went after one of the order members that one shouldn't fuck with. And for those who are keeping count; that's three down.
Harry waking up from a vision with the Hunt returning in a rage of Hunger did not feel good. But hey, at least we got two interesting tidbits. One: Luna has some control over Hogwarts(we will get into that in the February chapter) and two: Scáthach can see through the Hallow. Now I wonder why that is? Hmmm?
Then the last scene: Dumbledore learns Harry is a Horcrux and realizes what he has to do in the end.
I want to be very clear on this.
Dumbledore DOES NOT want to do this, the very idea of it damn near breaks him. But he knows it has to be done because what is the worth of one life compared to the world? It's a cold and unfeeling logic, one death to save the many, but sometimes you have to choose between what is right and what is easy.
But I wanted to show this scene, his heartbreak, his rage at it all, and how he feels in this because while in the books Harry meets Dumbledore at the end in this story he doesn't.
In the book when Harry confronts Dumbledore over what he had done, setting Harry up to die, Dumbledore breaks down crying and begging Harry to forgive him.
Unlike the movies, which were fucking stupid.
Anyway,
Kingsaxcul, out!
Chapter edited by Politically Problematic Prose Pundit
Editor's Note:
A conversational excerpt from earlier:
Saxcul: Well, the new chapter is done and off to the editor.
A shame one of his favorite tags on pornhub is edging.
Me: That's a lie. My favorite tag is hand-holding, which is exactly what being your editor entails.