"Child, before we do this you have to understand one thing", the Shaman was saying, "What we are going to do will be extremely painful in ways that you cannot imagine. This process will bring up your worst memories, your greatest fears, the foreign piece residing in your scar will try to take over your body, it will try to fight you, maybe you will be consumed by unsatiable hunger, greed of power or it would try to seduce you to succumb to it. It is a test which will decide your fate and that of the world. If the wretched being took control over you, you will remain only a figment of what you used to be and there will be no one who will be able to stop him. You are a child of prophecy and your future hangs in clouds which can't be perceived by me. It is the desire of the powers that be that I perform this procedure on you though uncertain I am unaware of the consequence. You will need to be ready to do this for this to take effect. If you are going to back down during the procedure, then it is better if we don't do it at all. Mind that you can still live with this thing living in you and it won't hurt you. The only damage that it can cause is to cause you pain like the Cruciatus curse whenever he is near you or is touching that scar. It is his pathway to remain alive. That soul piece is leeching off your magic and will continue to do so till it resides in your body. You can think over your answer and tell me in the morning."
Before the Shaman could go away, Harry spoke, "My mind is made up, revered Shaman. I am going to get rid of this soul piece which is latched to my scar. It is otherwise causing no harm to anyone but I can't let it remain. My parents gave their lives to protect me and the world and I won't let their sacrifice go in vain. If I have to over think about it then I will certainly have second thoughts and maybe I will back off. My mind is made up and I want to go through it before my resolve breaks."
The Saman spoke gently, "It is not very often that I see such determination, such resoluteness in one so young as you. Child you may be, but you possess the courage and determination that many adult wizards don't. You do justice to the rumours that are spread in the world about you while I don't believe all of them. What I know is that you will be as renowned as the fiend who did this to you and you will do deeds that ordinary wizards would call legends. I know you have not rest easy since you have found about this contamination and you want to be rid of it at the earliest opportunity. As the dawn breaks tomorrow, we will start to extract this soul piece out of your scar."
"What will you do to the soul piece that you take out?", Harry asked him.
"There are ways that one can torture the soul, Mr. Potter. Since it is an unstable piece of his scar, our priority is to trap it before it finds another host or tries to return to its original host. Having been its host for 13 years, it will most likely try to inhabit your body again so we will make your body unfit for it. Then we will capture it in some contraption where he will remain until we see fit to destroy the essence of that soul piece which we have so captured. Now go to sleep, Harry Potter."
"Fawkes! Will you take this letter from me to Moody?", Dumbledore asked of his trusted companion, "And I expect an answer from the return mail."
Fawkes, the phoenix trilled loudly, soared into the air and vanished.
Having sent the phoenix on its way, Dumbledore turned to the problem at hand. His contacts who had been keeping an eye on Voldemort were troubled. Since Tom had lost his body, they knew that he had been hiding in Albania but lately, he had become restless and that part of the forest had also started seeing a lot of activity. Worst of all, there had been no reported movements of Tom at all. It was like as if he had already perished or he had moved away.
Dumbledore knew that Tom could not be killed at all so the only logical conclusion was that the dismembered Dark Lord was on the first move on the chess board has been made. It was now his turn.
His suspicions and anguish were also increased by the fact that Bertha Jorkins, an employee of the Ministry of Magic had been missing for quite some time now and no one had found her. Ludo Bagman, the head of her department was dismissive of the entire situation and speculated that she had probably forgot her way and ended up in Australia instead of Albania, but Dumbledore knew it better.
He had already started to try and find out where the Horcruxes could be hidden. There were not a lot of places that they could be. He also had a lot of memories from over the years which were about Tom. Each memory was important to him in some way and this year, he intended to sit with Harry Potter and show him these memories one by one. Once they had figured them out, he will send people to find them out there. He knew he was taking a huge risk if he was willing to trust anyone with this secret, but he also knew that time to keep secrets was not yet. The war wasn't yet started and if their efforts bore fruit then it will never be started. No war could mean a lot of lives were spared. It will require him to make some friends, trust people he never trusted in the past. It will make him play the game of manipulation, something that he did when the occasion called for it. He could not afford to keep all his secrets in one basket. Everyone will have a role to play.
At that moment, Fawkes flashed in and dropped a scroll in his lap. Dumbledore opened it and read it and a satisfied smile played upon his lips. Things were progressing nicely.
"Susan, what do you know about Harry Potter?", asked her father.
"Dad, why the sudden question about Harry Potter?", she asked.
"Because he is the heir of not one but two houses. The Potters traditionally have lived in the shadows but the Blacks were most vocal of the bunch. Now Sirius Black is sitting on that seat and if there ever was a rebel, it is him."
"Rebel?", she asked, her forehead scrunching in thought.
"The House of Black's traditional stance was always to support the dark. That family has sat in the dark faction for ages. Sirius was named the heir to the house by his grandfather since he was little. But Sirius Black despised those ideals which his family embraced. He had different views of blood purity than his family and it led to him being estranged from his family. He was tortured by his hag of a mother to support the dark but he never gave in. His family were traditionally Slytherins but he became a Gryffindor against their wishes. He denounced you-know-who while his entire family supported him. He was a rebel against them and now he heads that house. It is also worth mentioning that House of Black currently leads the alliance of the dark and is one of the biggest voting blocks. When Sirius took it from Malfoy, he seriously hurt his ambitions. It has also been heard that Sirius is very friendly with the Minister and everyone knows that Sirius Black dotes on his godson, Harry Potter."
"So you want to know if Harry Potter will support the light faction?", she asked.
"Yes, that is what I want to know. If Sirius were to side with the dark, Harry would too and that would hurt our chances."
"Harry Potter is an enigma. No one knows him well except Weasley and Granger who are his best friends. From what I have seen, he idolises Dumbledore and if I were to hazard a guess, he will not go against him."
"Dumbledore is another problem", her father said, "He leads the light modernists but stalls progress at every step. He does not want to work closely with the light traditionalists but want to dominate them."
"I thought House of Bones stood with him and the Order of the Phoenix in the war", Susan said.
"We did but that was only whilst the war lasted. We had a common foe in you-know-who but when he fell, he wanted to assert his authority upon us. We could not have that."
"What do you wish me to do, father?"
"I want you to befriend Harry Potter", he said, "Find out where his inclinations lie and if he can be brought to our side."
"That is a mighty task indeed", she said, "But somehow I will make it happen."
The building was a house built on the lines of Gregorian architecture from years ago. One of the Black ancestors coveted the house for its location and its beauty and 'persuaded' the Muggle owner to sell the house to it has passed into the House of Black, the house was put under every known charm and ward to make it invisible to Muggles and made the Townhouse of House of Black. When Sirius Orion Black's father Orion came into his own, he had put more spells into it essentially making the house unplottable.
After the first war, only Walburga Black remained and she lived in the house until she died. Since then the house was gathering dust and not being tended to. There was a horrible portrait of Walburga Black in the hall which would scream obscenities at anyone who dared to enter the house and did not fit House Black's definition of wizards.
After Sirius Black has been pardoned, he had sent Remus Lupin to take care of the house. Remus cleaned the house, found the horrible portrait and stunned its occupant. The entire time that Remus was there, he kept a dark heavy curtain over the portrait and things were blissfully silent around the place. After Sirius had visited the place once, they decided to get rid of the portrait on the wall. They took down the wall and expanded the hallway.
Before Sirius left for Africa with Harry Potter, he had Dumbledore cast a Fidelius charm upon the house with Dumbledore as the secret keeper. Dumbledore had asked to the house for the purpose of the disbanded Order of the Phoenix. Since Sirius knew why the order was needed even when there was apparently no threat, he had acquiesced.
Dumbledore had sent messages to a few of his trusted friends who were members of the order in the past and he had decided to bring in some new blood to the task, especially the Weasleys and an Auror named Nymphadora Tonks. Nymphadora was the daughter of Andromeda Tonks nee Black.
Andromeda Tonks was another black sheep of the Black Family. Sorted in Slytherin at Hogwarts, she fell in love with a Muggleborn and went against her family to marry him. Consequently, she had been banished from the family but Sirius Black kept in touch with her. She was also on good terms with the Potters where Sirius eventually went after running away from his joke however was on the House of Black because Nymphadora was a Metamorphmagus, which was a gift of the House of Black and had almost vanished until it manifested in Nymphadora after more than 3 centuries.
Seated around him at the table were Remus Lupin, Sturgis Podmore, Arthur Weasley, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Nymphadora Tonks, Hestia Jones and Emmeline Vance and Rubeus Hagrid.
"Welcome to the first meeting of the reconvened Order of the Phoenix. I know most of you are wondering why I have called you here", said Dumbledore, "There is apparently no reason for us to gather here at this moment because there is no threat but what I am going to confide in you is extremely secret."
"What is it, Albus?", asked Kingsley Shacklebolt, a big black Auror with a ring in one of his ears and having a deep baritone voice.
"Firstly you all most swear oaths of secrecy", said Dumbledore gravely, "This is about the safety of Wizarding Britain."
"Will this oath impede with our authority to work for the ministry?", Tonks asked.
"No, it will not. I am asking you to take this oath because the truth is so terrible that it can cause mass panic if it were to come out and the ministry is in bad shape to deal with any issue at the moment."
"I trust you, Albus", said Remus Lupin, "I will take this oath."
Since Moody was willing to do it, others readily agreed.
"You all know how Voldemort had vanished on that fateful night in 1981? The Ministry found no trace of him except for his robes. I told the wizarding world that Voldemort was vanquished at the hands of Harry Potter and that was it. What nobody bothered to pay attention to is that I did not say that Voldemort was dead."
Remus Lupin asked him apprehensively, "Do you mean that Voldemort is not dead?"
Dumbledore nodded, "No, he is alive. He is currently living as a Wraith without a body but there is no doubt, he is very much alive. He has tried in the past to get a body but his efforts have been thwarted by little Harry so far. I am sure that Auror Office remembers the report about Quirrell's disappearance."
Kingsley nodded, "I saw the report before it was sealed as 'top secret' by Rufus Scrimgeour. It mentioned something about a Wraith trying to take possession of a dangerous artefact."
"That dangerous artefact was the Sorcerer's stone and Voldemort was trying to find it", Dumbledore said, "He intended to gain a body with it, but he was thwarted by Harry Potter. The next year, one of his old school books were found by a student and with it he opened the Chamber of Secrets and used the Basilisk to spread terror in the school. Again it was Harry Potter who killed the beast and saved the school and thwarted another attempt by Voldemort to gain a body."
"If what you are saying is true then we need to act immediately", said Kingsley, "What do you suggest we do?"
"Kingsley and Sturgis, you both will spy on Lucius Malfoy and keep an eye on him. If Voldemort ever returns, he will be first one to go back and with him standing behind Fudge, we can't let him out of our sight."
He then turned to Nymphadora, "You will start an investigation into House of Malfoy and other Death Eater's dealings. Their loyalties, the social circle they walk in and if they are acting jittery."
"Why are you suddenly worried, Albus?", Remus asked, "I mean you have known it since that night then why the sudden interest."
"I always knew where Voldemort was hiding all these years but recently he has been on the move", Dumbledore said, "Despite my best efforts, I have not been able to find his whereabouts."
"What will have you me do?", Remus asked him.
"There are things that we need to find out if we are to defeat Voldemort finally. Your duty is to help Sirius find these things. When Sirius returns, we will make a list and find where they can be hidden."
"Also remember that whenever Harry Potter is in Hogsmeade, one of you should be around him in case anyone tries to harm him. Igor Karkaroff is coming to Hogwarts with the Durmstrang contingent, and I will confess that I don't trust him at all. He sold his brothers-in-arms for freedom and he would run back to Voldemort if he were to arise from the dead."
"What are we supposed to do, Albus?", asked Emmeline pointing to Hestia and herself.
"You and Hestia will be gathering information on the Werewolves. I have recently heard that Fenrir Greyback has been seen in England again after all these years. I want you to keep a very close eye on him at all costs. Track his movements and report them to me. If the need arises, we will have to neutralise him."
"What about the Giants?", Rubeus Hagrid asked.
"You will be leaving as an envoy to them when the New Year starts and take them gifts from me. I will also try to get the ICW to change its stance on them. We need them on our side if possible or neutral."
"Headmaster are you not being paranoid?", asked Arthur Weasley.
"I may be a little paranoid, Arthur but it is necessary. Can I ask you to send William Weasley to me? There is something that needs to be done in Gringotts."
"He can't get into any vault if that is what you imply", Arthur said.
"No, I am not asking him to enter in any vault, but I want him to keep an eye on finances of the Death Eaters. Whenever there is something afoot, money is often involved. But if you refuse, I will not take an offence to it."
"Madam Bones", said her secretary entering her office, "Chief Warlock Dumbledore is here and wants to meet you."
She frowned. It was very unusual for Dumbledore to personally come in her office. She could count on one hand the number of times that Dumbledore had visited her office in the past. There was something fishy going on and she was going to find out.
"Send him in, Sallie", she said.
A few seconds later, Albus Dumbledore entered her office, "Good afternoon, Amelia."
"Come to the point, Headmaster", she said, "I know you are not here to exchange pleasantries."
"Honestly refreshing, Amelia", he said chuckling, "I am here to discuss something urgently."
She raised her hand stopping him while she cast some charms around her office, "Now tell me, what you want to talk about."
"I believe you have read reports of the last three years at Hogwarts", he said waiting for her answer.
"Indeed, I have", she said, "And I have noticed that things are suspicious and very scant on details. For example, you told in that report that the monster of the Chamber of Secrets was a Basilisk but you did not tell who opened the Chamber or who killed the Basilisk."
"It was kept a secret knowingly", he said, "the Basilisk was slain by Harry Potter in the Chamber of Secrets and the Chamber was opened by a student who was being possessed by Tom Riddle."
"Who is Tom Riddle?", she asked.
"This is another secret, and it is time that you know about it. However, keep it in mind that knowing this can put you in mortal peril. Tom Marvolo Riddle was born of the union of Merope Gaunt and Tom Riddle Senior, a Muggle from Little Hangleton. Tom attended Hogwarts was sorted in Slytherin House. In his fifth year, he opened the Chamber of Secrets for the first time which resulted in death of a muggle born student named Myrtle Warren and Hagrid was blamed. Later, Tom Riddle got rid of his identity and became Lord Voldemort."
She shuddered in fright, "That is his real name? And he is a half-blood?"
"Yes. And since that Halloween night, he has tried to return to a body twice. In first year, he possessed Quirinus Quirrell and tried to steal the Sorcerer's stone. He was thwarted by Harry Potter that time also."
"There is no report about Voldemort behind that event", she said.
"It was necessary to prevent it from leaking."
"You can't justify it, Dumbledore", she said angrily.
"I am not trying to justify it", he said, "But can you imagine the panic it would have caused if I had let it become known that he was alive? What do you think Fudge would have done?"
"Why tell it to me now?", she asked him.
"Because there are things that you need to know. Voldemort is on the move again and it is feared that he would be able to get into a body now. If that happens, it will mean another war."
"What will you have me do?", she asked.
"First you need to recruit more Aurors. Convince the Ministry that you need them and relax the requirements a little. The Auror Department is severely understaffed from the last war and if a war happens again we will be hard pressed to defend ourselves."
"And how do you think I can do it?", she asked him.
Dumbledore smiled, "The same way that you got rid of Madam Umbridge. I can assure you that Sirius Black will willingly side with you."
"Does it mean that we will have to side with you in the Wizengamot?"
"No. I am planning to give the leadership of my faction to your brother, Lord Bones. I have grown old and it is time that I stand back and watch things from afar. This year there will be a lot of things to occupy my time otherwise."
"What more do you want me to do?"
"If Voldemort comes back, he will definitely try to storm Azkaban and rescue his faithful followers. Need I remind you that at least 10 of his most dreaded followers are currently serving their life sentences in Azkaban?"
"What do you want me to do?"
"I will leave it to your discretion, Amelia. You were an Auror, and you know these things better. Further I want you to form a team of your trusted Aurors who would do as I say. A time may come soon when we will need them."
"I will do everything that you said but I am not joining you", she said, making her thoughts clear.
"I am not asking you to join me", he said, "I merely require your assistance at times. That is all."
"How did Tom Riddle open the Chamber the second time?", she asked, "I mean how could he do that if he is a Wraith, as you say?"
"Tom Riddle used a very obscure dark magic to tear his soul and hide those pieces into different things. One of those things was his diary which he had given to Lucius Malfoy, and it was smuggled into an unsuspecting child's school supplies. When I found about the diary, the soul piece was already gone and there was no way to prove it was what I said it was. This is also the reason that Lucius Malfoy escaped any punishment."
"Do you know where these things are?", she asked.
"I don't know at the moment but I am trying to find out. I will let you know as we find these things and destroy them", he said, "I don't need to impose on you how important it is for us to keep it quiet."
Harry Potter was clothed only in his under garments and seated in a runic circle. There were Shaman sitting around him and watching him intently while waiting for their chief.
After he woke up, he had been asked to take a bath in a nearby river and from there he had to come here to this circle. The Shaman had drawn his blood and mixed it with some potions and drew runes on his body and especially around his scar. Since they had drawn the runes, his scar had started itching. it was not painful but very persistent and there was dull throbbing in his temple as if someone were stomping around in his head. He felt morose and scared. Scared of whom, he didn't know but there was something that felt not right in his bones. It was like someone had tied up in a strait jacket making even breathing a herculean task for him.
"Are you ready to do this, Harry Potter?", asked the Shaman.
"Yes", Harry said.
"Harry, please reconsider", said Sirius, "I know what he had said yesterday. I don't want to lose you. We will run away from England; we will stay hidden. There is no need for you to go through this."
Harry ruefully smiled, "If I were to run away with you, I will be giving a lease of life to Voldemort. Till I am alive, he will remain alive and he will remain a threat to everyone. I can't have this sword hanging on me all my life. If you can't bear witness to this exorcism, I ask you to please leave. You will weaken my resolve."
"No, I will stay", said Sirius determinedly.
The Shaman turned to him, "Remember Wizard, you cannot in any stop or interfere in our ritual. This is not for the faint hearted to witness. This runic circle will not allow anyone to come inside and any attempts to tamper with it may prove fatal. You have been warned."
He then turned to his brethren and started speaking in a different language, "My brethren, today we are going to attempt a task which may prove beyond our capabilities. We are encountering something of which we have only heard stories. A fiend has broken his soul into pieces to achieve immortality and one of them resides in the scar of this boy. This boy is a prophecy child who must be saved at all costs, no matter what. This may as well be the test of your abilities for we have never exerted ourselves so far. There is nothing in the world which can be sufficient reward for this feat, but we do it as part of our service to the world. We must banish this soul piece from this boy and then trap it. Once we do that this soul piece will be for us to torture. The fiend who made this deserves to burn in the pits of hell and that is future which awaits him."
With that, they started waving their hands in air. At first nothing seemed to be happening but then Sirius noticed eldritch of energy on their fingertips. As the waving got faster, their fingers started glowing and soon the little clearing was lit with multitude of lights.
The weather had turned and it turned stormy as opposed to clear skies that were there before the waving began. The trees were waving in the wind, the Shaman were zoned out, their eyes upturned in their heads. It looked very eerie to Sirius. He cast a look at Harry and shuddered.
Harry was waving on his own, his eyes closed, and it looked like he was ready to tip over. Sirius's first instinct was to rush over to him but then he remembered the warning of the Shaman. It took all of his will to remain seated.
It was then the chanting started. First it was low like humming of bees and pleasant to hear. He could not understand the words, but he could feel the effect that they were having. The ground under him was rumbling and a distant hum could be heard. He could feel as if someone was chastising him for every wrong that he had done, every bad decision that he had made flew before his eyes.
Harry looked like he was having an attack and was violently shaking, his hand had automatically flown to his forehead where the scar was, clutching it. Sirius was sure that if it were not the chant, he could have heard Harry shout in pain. He wanted to reach out to his godson, to help him somehow when he saw Harry gritting his teeth and releasing the scar.
At that moment, Sirius really realised how powerful his godson was. He must have been going through immense pain but was tolerating it.
Then the chanting got a bit louder and the ground started to vibrate more loudly. His teeth started to chatter and he had to cast a spell to immobilise his jaw so he would not bite his own tongue. The Shaman were sweat drenched, their faces were contorted in concentration and with each chant it seemed to him like they were putting more and more of their strength in it.
As they chanted it felt like someone was hitting him with curses as punishment. He could remember when his hag of a mother had used dark curses on him to torture was like being subjected to those curses at the hands of his mother again. He wanted to cry out in pain but the spell that he had performed to immobilise his jaw stopped any sound from escaping his mouth.
Harry was worse. The runes which had been drawn on his body were starting to shine and Sirius was worried. Were they supposed to shine? Harry's whole body was shuddering and he felt like tearing his hair out. He should not have agreed to this insane plan. To his amazement however, Harry was still clutching his teeth and did not make a sound. His scar looked angry red and as if it were about to burst open.
Finally, the chant got louder and two of the Shaman fell down, breathing heavily. To his amazement, two others came forward to take their place instantly. The other Shaman had turned pale as if someone was taking away every drop of blood from their bodies. Their faces looked haggard, and Sirius was sure that many of them will fall down before it was over.
He spared a glance towards Harry and his heart was ready to jump in his mouth. Harry was curled upon the ground, tears streaking his face. His scar was burst open and dark red blood flowed out of his scar. Sirius braced himself and tried not to jump up and whisk Harry away. As the chanting progressed, Harry cried the louder.
Finally, Harry let out an inhumane howl and a dark mass was expelled out of his scar which again tried to enter Harry but before it could, it was stretched in other direction. Sirius followed that dark mass as it flowed towards an earthen pot which the chief Shaman was holding.
As the black mass was driven into the pot, he closed the lid and then sealed it with some spells. As the chanting ended, Sirius ran towards Harry who was still curled up in foetal position and crying.
Before Sirius could touch him, the Shaman said, "Do not touch him yet. He will need to be bathed and cleansed of the impurities before you can touch him."
"But will he be alright?", Sirius asked.
The Shaman smiled, "The boy has the soul of a warrior. He has lived through this process, and he will be fine after we have bathed him. We will like to keep him under observation for 2 days before you can take him away."