Harry stared at the golden egg sullenly. A while ago he had placed it under a silencing charm and opened it, then sat… and waited. After around half an hour he had thought he could identify distinct pauses within the screeching. An hour after that, he was recognising repeating sounds, such as a particularly high note with a deeper note a few seconds later.
By the time his friends walked in, Harry's vision was filled with the strange glow on the inside of the egg. He also felt like he could recount the noise entirely from memory.
"Hey Harry, what's up?" Ron asked as he settled himself down, only to be completely ignored.
"Harry?" Neville tried, frowning at him in concern.
Cautiously, Daphne poked Harry in the shoulder, which jerked him to awareness and caused him to launch himself out his chair and onto the floor.
"What's going on?" Harry asked in confusion, looking around and seeing everyone staring at him.
"How long have you been looking at that egg?" Daphne demanded, closing it with a tap of her wand.
"Only since one." Harry replied defensively.
"It's three thirty Harry…" Ron commented
"Huh, it doesn't feel that long. So I guess you're all here now for the defence club thing?"
"Well we were, until we walked in and saw you staring at the egg like a zombie. If you can't even defend yourself against a shiny egg, I think we'd do better without your tutoring." Draco said jokingly.
"Is that so, I guess that means you'll be able to beat me in a duel then?" Harry returned with good humour.
"Um, well a good Slytherin knows there's always more to learn." Draco announced, holding up his hands in surrender.
"Brave. Anyway, it's probably best we do another group duel anyway, to see where you've all improved and where you still need improvement."
A week later, after a double period of divination, Daphne beckoned him over as they were packing away their star charts.
"Do you have time to talk?" She asked once he had neared them.
"Sure, I've got plenty of time. What's up?"
"I'll tell you in a moment. I'll see you in the common room later Tracey, okay?" Daphne said, turning to her friend.
"Sure, whatever. It's not like I ever want to be involved." Tracey muttered sullenly as she left.
Sighing, Daphne nodded towards the open trapdoor and led the way out of the divination tower, then along the corridor instead of down the staircase with everyone else. Only then did she break the silence that had hung between them.
"Sorry about her, she doesn't like how I stopped spending so much time with her. Back when she was my only friend we'd be with each other practically the entire day… But after I started hanging around you and your friends she's been feeling left out. Of course, she doesn't want to hang out with us either, so I'm a bit fed up with trying to help her.
"Anyway, my dad's going to be here sometime over the weekend. When he arrives he'll listen to what you learned about my sister and make a decision. It's imperative that you don't upset him or mess up."
"Of course, although I doubt Snape would let your father leave without knowing the entire story anyway. Anything I should know about him?"
"He's smart, like really deceptively intelligent. He's really good at acting disinterested and dismissive, but then he'll ask a question and make it obvious he's not only understood every word, he's also come up with ideas of his own. So don't dumb anything down, or get upset if it seems like he isn't paying attention. He is also really protective of us, so be careful about how you phrase anything that might be risky."
"Smart and protective, got it, I'm sure it will go fine. So, assuming that's out of the way, do you want to know how I always get to Snape's tutoring before you?"
"What, by throwing yourself out of the top floor window? I've known about that for ages, it's been a rumour since the first time you did it." Daphne replied
"Oh… Well, want to 'jump out of the window' with me? Otherwise you'll be late to Snape's office."
Looking at her watch, she winced when she saw the time. "I don't really have a choice, do I?" She muttered.
Opening a nearby window and stepping out onto the parapet, he held out his hand to her. "Don't worry, it's mostly safe. I haven't died yet!"
"That's reassuring, given you've stood in dragon fire and beat a dementor in one on one combat. I'm fairly sure you're made of stronger stuff than any of us puny mortals." She joked as she took his hand and joined him on the ledge.
"Technically you could do both of those things." Harry returned, "Although, I will admit, my magic does give me a better chance of surviving such a fall." With that, he wrapped them both in a feather-light charm, before stepping closer to the girl.
"Unless you want to try your luck by yourself, you're going to have to put your arms around me for the fall down." He explained, to which she rolled her eyes before standing on tip-toe and throwing her arms around his neck.
"Going down." He announced before casting a quick sticking charm to ensure she couldn't let go and launching himself off the parapet. Reaching out with his aerokinesis, he formed a now familiar shield of air around them, while simultaneously forming a complex structure of air above them.
After numerous weeks of using his aerokinesis to jump off the roof, along with the fairly rigorous exercise Nicholas had put him through prior to the first task, his aerokinesis had grown considerably. It was hard to say if it had reached his previous capability or surpassed it, since he had never tried to use his power in this way before.
The result was that when they passed the second floor windows, he unfurled the structure to create an air based parachute, which killed the majority of their remaining momentum. All he then needed to do was cast a slow falling charm, which ensured their feet barely touched the ground.
"How was that?" He asked giddily, releasing the magic and letting them both break apart. From behind her now completely ruffled hair, he could just make out Daphne glaring at him.
"Never again." She announced as she began sweeping her long blonde hair back to its usual position. "I would much rather take the stairs."
"Unfortunate, at least you've now tried it. Now, I believe Snape awaits, time to find out if the dementor's ash will improve the pepper up potion."
On the day of Lord Greengrass' arrival, Snape led Harry to the Hogwarts visitors chamber. It was easily the poshest room in the school, with walls covered in dark purple tapestries with the Hogwarts emblem impossible to miss. There they waited until Dumbledore entered, followed by Lord Greengrass.
"Lord Greengrass, a pleasure to meet you." Harry announced cordially.
"Mr. Potter, the pleasure is all mine. When my daughters said you believed you held a cure to my family's curse, how could I not see for myself." The man replied, holding out his hand for a firm handshake.
To Harry, the man felt like he was trying to exude power. No doubt most people would've been intimidated by the man, but when it came to magical power the man was insignificant compared to the people Harry regularly met with.
"Well then, tell me how you plan to save my daughter." He ordered, taking a seat at the conference table.
"First, sir, I will have to insist on a mutual secrecy oath. This would ensure I could not talk to other people about anything pertaining to your family's curse or secrets, while also ensuring you cannot tell anyone that it was me or what I did.
"It will of course allow us to talk about our own sides, so you are allowed to talk about your curse and I am allowed to talk about how I did it, so that we are both protecting our interests."
"I applaud your desire to keep your interests private, while ensuring the oath is mutual, but are you sure such an oath is necessary?" Lord Greengrass questioned.
"For my own part, my 'interests' are definitely worth protecting. Already there is a list of people who would want to see me dead simply because I am the boy-who-lived, I don't need to add to that list by breaking a millennium old blood curse."
"Good to know you are as wise as my daughter mentioned. Very well, I will submit to your oath. I trust that everyone present will also be tied to it?" He asked, looking at the two professors.
"We will, although I have business to attend to once my oath is sworn. I trust you will have no issue with me viewing a memory of the discussion once it has been concluded?" Dumbledore stated.
"So long as you are bound to the oath, I have no issue against it. Very well, let us get on with it."
With the oath quickly sworn and after Dumbledore vacated the room, Harry began. "Sir, I hope you don't mind answering a few questions before I begin, as they will help with my diagnosis?"
At the man's nod, Harry began listing his questions "First, how does the curse spread? Daphne mentioned it was every seventh Greengrass, but I'd have thought after so many generations the family tree would be so wide it would be impossible to track the seventh child?"
Nodding, lord Greengrass explained "In short, the curse follows the lordship. As such, the seventh child will have some relation to the lord, being sibling, descendant, niece, nephew, aunt or uncle. Before my Astoria was marked, my brothers' were unwilling to have an heir, since that heir would've been in-line for the curse.
"However, my cousins had no such worry, as with me taking the lordship from our grandfather they were unable to receive the curse. To answer what I suspect is your next question, the curse isn't entirely hereditary. When my grandfather was the lord, his younger brother was marked, who then died without any children."
"Okay, that should help a lot. My main worry is that by removing the curse from Astoria, the curse may pick a new family member."
"I would say the chance of that happening is unlikely. With the curse, we only know for sure it has chosen a victim when their magic is marked, often around their 5th birthday. This is no doubt because that age is the point where we know if the child is going to be a squib or wizard.
"There have been a few times when the seventh child has coincidently been a squib, where the curse has spread to what would've been the eighth child. Likewise, if the child dies before their 5th birthday, then the curse will move onwards.
"But, if the child dies after being marked, in events unrelated to the curse, then the curse simply does not strike until the next seventh child. Similarly, there was a single instance when the marked Greengrass lost their magic. Without their magic, they no longer had the curse, however nobody else was marked until the next seventh."
"That suggests it would indeed be safe to remove the curse. Very well, if you want I will talk you through first how I can identify the curse, then how I theorise the removal." Harry said, getting a firm nod from the man.
"Well, to start with I have an exceptionally powerful form of mage sight, which I've had since I was a child. With sufficient concentration, I can use that mage sight along with another ability to extend my consciousness outside my body. I was then able to hide all other magical signatures from my sight, so that I was blind except for Astoria's magic.
"After that, I was able to inspect her magic far closer than what would otherwise be possible. During that inspection I discovered the Fae magic around her heart, specifically the part that would sacrifice her life." Harry explained, passing over a parchment with symbols on it.
"Under my sight, a magical's signature appears as both a unique colour and symbols. For the most part the symbols are near incomprehensible, possibly due to them being a pure representation of magic, which is far outside my ability to understand.
"But, every so often you get symbols that resemble runes. On that parchment is as many of the symbols as I could draw, although the incomprehensible ones I was physically unable to draw. Perhaps you may be able to understand more of the runes than I could."
"I can certainly understand what you mean by them being runes. There are several I can understand from numerous languages, such as the sacrificial rune you identified… It is quite remarkable."
"You should be able to see the ice runes? It is my belief that both the ice powers and curse are bound together, so by removing one you remove the other. With that in mind, I would use my magic to remove the Fae magic from Astoria's magic, removing the curse and her ice aptitude.
"My problem comes in how the sacrifice is used. Initially I believed the curse uses the sacrifice to power the Fae magic, but after you said that those marked with the curse have died without being sacrificed I am less sure. I assume the family kept the ice boon even without the marked being sacrificed?"
"You assume correctly, to the best of my knowledge there has never been a time when the Greengrass main line hasn't had our ice prowess ever since the Fae deal. What you would be unable to discover, being from outside the family, is that the Fae magic is powered directly from our Family Magick." Lord Greengrass explained.
"That is excellent then. The second problem is removing the Fae magic. Normally, I'd say it would be no problem, however the Goblet of Fire has severely weakened my ability to do so. You may be familiar with Goblin metal? Well I can do something similar called mithril, which allows me to do a great many things.
"With my full powers I'd be able to use that power to slip the magic out of Astoria. But, due to me being chosen as a Champion the Goblet prevents me from summoning the mithril. I could try and remove the magic using my own magic, along with what tools I have already made, but it would have its risks."
"I take it the alternative is waiting until the Triwizard Tournament is concluded, assuming you regain your ability then?" Greengrass asked.
"Yes sir, but there is a risk I will die in this tournament. If that does happen, then obviously I will be unable to lift the curse. It is your choice, I certainly won't be trying to die, but it is a risk."
"Daphne seems convinced nothing can kill you. Given she is normally one to play down other people's achievements, I think I will trust in your ability to survive. I propose a deal, you survive through this tournament, then you come round the family manor over the summer and heal Astoria of her curse. Should you be successful, then you may ask for any favour from the Greengrass family."
"Before you all pack up and leave, I have an important announcement." Flitwick announced after their charms lesson. This year on Christmas day, a traditional Yule Ball will be held for fourth-years and above, although younger students may attend as the partner of an older student.
"The ball is an opportunity to socialise with our foreign guests, along with being a chance to revel in the Christmas spirit. Dress robes will be compulsory to all students wishing to attend, although in tomorrow's class I will be teaching you all a charm to turn standard robes into basic dress robes.
"While the ball is a chance to relax and have fun, the standards of behaviour we expect for you all will still be enforced. I will be most disappointed if anyone from my House decides to embarrass the school in any way."
With that, the bell rang and everyone hurried to pack away their bags and leave. Over the noise, Flitwick called for Harry to remain behind.
"You should know Harry, that the champions and their partners open the ball. As such, while I am loath to say it, it is important that both yourself and your partner are dressed appropriately and are capable of dancing with some proficiency.
"While charmed robes are forgivable for the average student, the champions will be held to a higher standard. Most importantly to you, that means your favoured trench coat will need to be left behind. Now, any questions?"
"Yes sir, am I allowed to take another champion as my partner?"
"Ah, Ms. Delacour, your friend in Beauxbatons, correct? Unfortunately, the rules clearly state the partners cannot be champions themselves, but that doesn't mean you cannot dance with Ms. Delacour after the ball has been opened."
Nodding, Harry made his way out of the classroom, slowly making his way back to his workshop. He was then interrupted when a Hogwarts elf appeared in front of him.
"Master Harry Potter sir, the risen elf wishes to speak to you, but cannot enter the grounds of Hogwarts. The risen elf wonders if you would meet him outside the grounds?" The elf squeaked, startling Harry.
"Who's the risen elf?" Harry asked bewildered.
"You might know him as Dobby, sir."
"Of course I'll meet him, did he specify where outside the grounds?"
"Deekey can take Master Harry Potter sir to the risen elf!" The elf replied, reaching out and grabbing Harry's hand. Before Harry could reply he found himself spun into the elf apparition and deposited into a forest.
While it felt like a magical forest, it lacked both the age and darkness of the forbidden forest. This was further supported by the soft green and gold light falling through the leaves, making the area far brighter than the forbidden forest.
"Harry Potter has come." Dobby announced excitedly, standing up from where he was caring for a house elf. The house elf was lying beside an unnatural pink campfire, which didn't seem to burn the surrounding trees or give off smoke.
Beyond the campfire was a mid-sized tree that looked like it was only a few years old, with a bright golden bark and bright green leaves. He could feel a type of magical energy emanating from the tree, providing a sense of warmth and shelter. Harry had no doubt it was that tree which made the entire clearing feel like it was the middle of summer.
As for Dobby, the elf hadn't changed much since they had last met, he was even wearing the exact same green long coat. The only big difference was the elf's curly orange horns, which now formed an open ring around his ears. They were much thicker around their base on his forehead, tapering off once they emerged from behind his ears.
"What is this place, Dobby?" He asked in amazement.
"This is Dobby's valley! Dobby has been working on it for nearly a year now!" Dobby replied excitedly, before leaning in and whispering. "Most of that was spent growing and tending to Xalvadora's tree."
"Xalvadora, is that the name of your dryad?" Harry cautiously asked.
Eyes going wide, Dobby nodded enthusiastically, causing his bat-like ears to bounce around. "Harry Potter is wise indeed! It is sir, she helped Dobby learn how to use his magic, so Dobby helped her grow a new tree! But she is still weak, so Harry Potter cannot see her now."
If the amount of magic being given off by the tree was done while weak, Harry wondered just how strong the dryad would be when at full power. Already a large dome-like protection was discernible, greatly resembling wizard wards.
"That's a shame, but I was told you wanted to speak to me?"
"Indeed I do, Harry Potter! It is Winky, sir. She is dying and Dobby cannot save her, he has tried everything he knows, but nothing worked! So now he has come to Harry Potter to request he save her like he saved Dobby!"
"How exactly is she dying?"
"She was freed, Harry Potter sir. Dobby has found he can give her some assistance, by giving her some of his own magic, but it is not enough. Dobby's dryad says she would be able to help Winky, but she is both weakened and unsure of how."
Sighing, Harry went over to Winky the House-elf and crouched down next to her. Looking at her magic, he could make out the faint link where she had previously been owned. Unlike when Dobby lost his family magic, Winky's link was neatly cut, while Dobby's had been torn apart.
"I'm really sorry, Dobby, but I can't help her like I helped you. The Goblet of Fire stops me from forming mithril, so I have nothing to feed her magic." Harry said apologetically.
Even as he spoke, Harry summoned a rock to him, before carving several runes into it.
"What I can do is make a runestone so that she can absorb the magic around her, but it would be tuned to this clearing's magic. Until I can fully help her, she will be stuck here, but she will be alive."
It was fortunate they had covered how to tap into atmospheric magic within his runes class. All the rune scheme would do is draw from atmospheric magic and pass it into whoever held the stone.
When compared to his mithril the amount of magic it would transfer was simply pathetic, being limited to the physical size of the stone. But, it would hopefully provide enough for Winky to live.
To finish the runestone, Harry very carefully picked up Winky's surprisingly cold hand and gave it a little shake.
"Winky, can you hear me? I'm here to help you, but I need you to give up a little blood."
Groggily, the elf weakly lifted her finger as a small cut tore the flesh open, letting blood ebb from the wound. Carefully catching the blood on the runestone, making the runes briefly glow with Winky's saffron yellow signature.
Gently resting the stone in her hand, the effect was almost immediate. As a golden green magic enveloped Winky's previously exposed saffron magic, the elf's skin grew warm to the touch. Meanwhile her eyes went from glassy and dull to bright and alert, while her ears jumped from a dropped position to sticking straight upwards.
As Dobby rushed to tend to Winky, Harry said "If you ever need to heal more elves like this, you can call for me, but if you are capable of replicating that stone then you shouldn't need me. Just be careful, those particular type of runes are extremely dangerous, as in destroying the entire forest levels of dangerous."
"Dobby understands, Dobby's dryad Xalvadora was very firm when teaching Dobby how to make his own charms. Dobby knows not to destroy the forest." The elf agreed solemnly.
"Good. Well, now that's out of the way, why did they call you 'the risen elf' Dobby?"
Whatever Harry had expected, it wasn't for Dobby to start looking shyly at the ground while digging his toe into the ground.
"Dobby has been contacting other elves who are also considering freedom, but as Dobby's body changed the manors stopped recognising Dobby as a house-elf. Makes it harder to keep contact, as it is much harder for a house-elf to leave their home to talk instead of Dobby sneaking in to talk.
"But upon learning of why Dobby couldn't enter, house-elves started considering Dobby as not a house-elf. But Dobby couldn't not be a house-elf, since Dobby has only ever been called a house-elf. So Wiggly says to Dobby 'Dobby has clearly risen from the likes of us house-elves.' Then Pokey says 'Dobby is risen indeed, Dobby is a Risen elf!' and so Dobby was named!"
"Sounds similar to how I got my title as the boy-who-lived." Harry mused, although he thought that judging from Dobby's reaction, the elf didn't mind his own title. "Listen, Dobby, I'd love to catch up, but I've got to get back to school before they miss me…"
"Of course, Harry Potter! Dobby will call for a house-elf to return himself immediately!" Dobby replied, frowning slightly. Immediately, a new Hogwarts house-elf appeared, despite Harry sensing no magical summoning. Before Harry could comment on just how Dobby had called the elf, Harry found himself back in Hogwarts.
With the announcement of the Yule Ball, half the school went completely mad; specifically the female half. It seemed like everything the girls were talking about was the ball; what they were going to wear, who was going with who, even laughing as boys passed them.
Already both a 2nd year Gryffindor girl and a fifth year Slytherin had individually approached him to go to the ball. Despite his initial panic, he had tried to turn them down gently. From the way the Gryffindor had run away crying, he suspected he was not entirely successful.
"Hey Luna, would you mind going to this ball with me? As friends, of course." Harry eventually asked when they were safely within his workshop.
"I would love to, Harry, but you are meant to be going with someone else." Luna replied softly. "I suspect Vincent will be asking me to go with him in two weeks time, not as friends, which I will certainly not be saying no to. However, if by then you still do not have a date then I will go with you."
"Who am I meant to be going with then?" Harry asked in confusion.
"Come now Harry, how many girls do you spend time with?" Luna replied with some amusement.
"Well I'm not allowed to take Fleur, and I'm certainly not taking my teacher! Other than those two, there's just you and… oh, Daphne. But would she want to go with me?"
"Find out." Luna replied, grinning as she went back to her secret painting.
With a yell, Daphne fired several ice spears towards him, which Harry swept up with a gust of air summoned with a simple gesture. Retaliating with a fork of lightning, Daphne was forced to stomp and summon a wall of sandstone. Upon contact with the lightning the wall exploded, but the electricity was stopped.
Behind the resulting dust, Daphne summoned a large wall of ice, which absorbed Harry's spells. After so many months of dueling, she had begun to predict his moves. Before he could respond, she called to her magic within the ice and forced it to melt.
Even as the water formed, she kept it as a wall, using her limited water control to bend it to her will. Her ice control would always be stronger, but Harry had made a good point about needing more than just ice magic.
With a great heave, she pushed the water towards Harry, clearing away the dust in the same move. Shocked at the appearance of such an unexpected body of water, Harry threw up a physical shield, holding back the water.
Instantly he realised his mistake, knowing he should've vanished the water instead, as the weight pushed down upon him. The weight stopped being an issue when his shield unexpectedly broke around another ice spear. It was fortunate the tip of the spear had shattered the tip, as it smashed into his chest and flung him out of the duelling ring.
Wheezing, he rubbed his chest, feeling a bruise form. Bemused, he watched as several spells splashed against the ring's barrier.
"What are you doing out there?" Daphne demanded the moment it became clear he wasn't in the ring.
"Your spear knocked me out of the ring." Harry explained
"Right, what's wrong with you? You've been acting weird all day, now a simple ice spear is enough to defeat you?" She asked in concern
"Is it too much to believe you simply won?"
"Against you? Definitely. I know I've grown stronger, but you've held back dragon fire, some water and my ice shouldn't be a problem for you. Also, that doesn't explain why you've been so weird before you lost, even Professor Babbling looked worried for you. So tell me, what's up with you?"
"I… was wondering if you would go to the ball with me?" Harry asked awkwardly as he stood up.
"Oh, wow. All that time thinking about it only to just blurt it out." She teased gently, "You know, if you are going to ask me to go to the ball with you, at least bring flowers."
Grinning sheepishly, Harry used his gauntlet ring to conjure a bunch of flowers, which he then transmuted to never decay. Revealing them in his hand, he properly asked "Daphne, would you go to the yule ball with me?"
"I'd be delighted." She replied happily, taking the flowers and eyeing them speculatively. "Not that my dad would've let me turn you down anyway." She murmured to herself.
"What do you mean your dad wouldn't let you? Why would he care?"
"What? Oh, well you've said you're going to help my sister, so my dad would want to keep you as happy as possible." She explained.
"But we don't even know if I can save her." He protested, even though he believed he could, he felt he needed to protest for the principle of the matter.
"Harry, even if you can't, you were still a massive help. You've given my father the exact magic for how my family's been cursed for so long. Even Merlin said he couldn't say how my family is cursed. That alone is more than a thousand years of research has given us."
Stunned, Harry didn't know what to say as Daphne returned to her flowers. "Daphne's, really? If I had been named Ruby would you have given me rubies instead?"
Unfortunately, while it was cool how close the last chapter got to the actual date (The chapter leading up to Christmas Eve being released on Christmas Eve.) There is no way I can keep up with time itself.
Also, having now breached 130,000 words in my 2nd google doc for this story, I've now had to start a 3rd google doc! The main reason is because loading and searching times become fairly slow.
Story suggestions for this chapter are 'The Arcanist: Unspeakable Mysteries' by 573. Basically Harry and Dumbledore go exploring through the different Norse mythical realms, sort of a take on having a 'real' DnD adventure. 2nd story is 'The Defensive Space Force Ship Requirement' by tkepner, set during 5th year, Room of requirement turns into a Go'auld space ship. Both are WIP, but are really enjoyable.
Things I think need explaining:
- Background stuff: Because I realised I had mostly forgotten a few things over the last chapters, I thought I'd do a recap for both myself and anyone else who forgot. Snape's tutoring is still going on once a week, mostly teaching Harry potion skills and mind magic. Once every two weeks Daphne joins them just for the Dementor ash.
Bathsheda has sort of stopped being a focused on character with the expansion of Harry's friends, which I will address in a later chapter, but for now she's stopped meeting with him to work on his mithril, because he can't fully use his mithril and she is also incapable of helping him with the tasks.
- The Greengrass curse: While I had roughly planned what I wanted to do with the curse, the decision to add it in the last chapter was literally last minute. It has since spiralled into this chapter.
- Dobby: I'm mostly having Dobby act like how he sees Harry. So, while Harry is extremely confused about how Dobby can do stuff, Dobby does his best not to mention it, which is exactly the same thing Harry does to those around him.
- Winky: Without magic she was dying, even though Dobby was helping. All Dobby was able to do was slow how quickly she was dying. She was also not working for Hogwarts because it was Dobby that came up with the idea in canon, something which wouldn't work because a. He's found something to do instead of working and b. He is no longer biologically a house-elf, so the wards wouldn't let him in to ask to work there anyway.