Seeing Luna's pained expression, along with the blood that was spreading out of her like a flower, filled Harry with a rage he'd never felt before. Without hesitation he let his magic loose, with no regard from anything other than the two girls in his arms.
On a subconscious level, every wizard kept their magic controlled, it was physically impossible to survive without that control. An Obscurial was a prime example of what happened when the witch or wizard didn't keep their magic controlled.
But powerful wizards could let their magic run uncontrolled for a time without dying, with the only risk being the complete release of all their magic. This was heavily discouraged however, entirely due to social pressure.
As a people, wizards dislike being shown how weak they are, while unleashed magic was a clear expression of power. With everyone controlling their magic, the weak could pretend they were equal to the strong. It was an ideology Harry didn't completely agree with, but Dumbledore insisted he follow.
But now he had no reason to hide, no reason to lie about his power. The lake around them went from near freezing, to lightly steaming. The steam that rose from the water very quickly vanished into the air that had begun to swirl around them, in a loosely held tornado.
With strangled cries, the Selkies tried to escape the hot water, swimming into the depths. Frowning in anger, Harry snapped his hand towards the escaping mermen, forming ropes of air that dove into the water and wrapped around them.
Seeing that they couldn't escape, the mermen went wild, charging towards who they knew was the biggest threat. Their first volley of spears were smacked down by his magic before Harry even thought of it, his magic doing its best to loyally protect him.
Despite that loyalty, Harry could feel the thrum of power under his veins, slowly increasing until he'd burn to death. Meeting the attacking mermen head on, his sword cut through many of them, although a lucky Selkie got its spear through Harry's shoulder.
Harry's pain and anger from the strike carried over into his magic, which tightened the ropes of air in retaliation, killing a half dozen instantly. The problem was, the rest were able to use their magical resistance to shrug free of the restraints.
To his surprise, rather than attack him, the freed Selkies swam down as fast as they could. Fearing they were going to get reinforcements, Harry was just about to reach after them when he felt Luna's magic shift behind him.
As a new heart stopping terror gripped him, he spun around and wadded over to her. Beneath his mage sight, he saw exactly when Luna's heart stopped and her magic began to desert her, taking her soul with it.
Desperately, he pulled his own magic back under control and reached out for Luna's, holding onto it will all his might. Her magic tried to resist him, but he held on regardless, keeping her magic tethered like some demented balloon.
Knowing the Selkies may not be gone for long, he and the blonde girl did their best to swim towards the judges, while keeping a hold of Luna's body. It was during that swim that Harry realised something.
By keeping Luna's soul 'down', his own soul was being pulled 'up'. The moment he realised this, his magic reacted and wrapped around his own soul, further exhausting him. As they swam, Harry thought desperately, knowing the next few moments were going to be crucial.
It was fortunate that the dock wasn't far, since by the time the three of them were picked out of the water, the blonde girl looked awful.
Finding Dumbledore's concerned face, Harry launched himself over to the man and said "Dumbledore, please listen to me. Luna isn't dead, but she is dying. I'm using my power to stop her from dying but I need Madam Pomfrey to heal her. You can't let her pronounce Luna as dead."
Nodding firmly, Dumbledore waved his wand and forced people back, before grabbing Pomfrey and whispering something into her ear. But instead of focusing on that, Harry was searching for Daphne, eventually finding her fearful face in the stands.
"I need you to go into my workshop, find a big ship model called HMS Victory. I need you to bring the entire ship to me. Don't open it and definitely do not touch anything inside. Hurry." He directed to her via telepathy, the brief instructions draining him enough that his soul slipped even further upwards.
However, his message was important. He wasn't going to have another friend die, just because she touched the Gauntlet Ring and triggered its defences.
Moving back to Luna, he was able to follow as Dumbledore carefully carried her into the medical tent, wisely avoiding using magic on her. Percy Weasley tried to stop Harry from entering, but was stopped by Moody pushing the redhead aside and pulling Harry through.
"Potter, explain to me what you said to the Headmaster, that had him so convinced that I must heal Ms. Lovegood's… body. To put it lightly, she's too far gone, there's nothing left to heal." Pomfrey asked the moment she spotted Harry, her tone kindly but stern.
"Because she isn't dead, not completely. She's only mostly dead, but my magic is keeping her from going any further. But she can't return to her body in its current state, and I can't hold this magic for long."
"Necromancy?" She hissed cautiously, eyeing the room.
"No, necromancy requires the subject to have died. This is more like… like stasis." Harry explained, desperately.
The truth was, this magic was definitely related to necromancy, since Harry had only known it was possible because he had read it in a necromancy book. However, admitting it was necromancy would get himself thrown in Azkaban and Luna permanently killed.
"I can accept that." Pomfrey said, "Now, what do you need to maintain this magic?"
"Nothing, my friend Daphne is getting one of the things I need, the other is on its way. I just need you to have healed her as quickly as possible."
Nodding, she set off to Luna and began to work, allowing Harry to collapse onto the nearby bed and go into a meditative state. Even with his magic focused on two souls, he had enough sense left to detect Dumbledore's magic standing vigil before him.
When Daphne entered the tent, accompanied by Snape, it was like the first ray of sun. Even with his dampened magesight, the Gauntlet shone brightly, calling out to him. A flick of his wand had the ring shoot out of the ship's hull and onto his left hand, instantly filling him with the burning magic of the Stone.
"Harry, that stone won't help you." Dumbledore told him quietly, making Harry extremely confused. After all, the Stone was already helping him, allowing him to rejuvenate his magic to retain his hold.
"What, of course it'll help?" He replied in the same quiet tone.
"The Elixir will only work for you, remember Nicholas explained it to you. By placing it in the Gauntlet, no other magic can be made into the Elixir."
"I'm not going to use the Elixir, it wouldn't help here anyway." Harry hissed, "The Elixir wouldn't bring her back, it only heals the body, I need something that will work with souls."
"Souls? But what do you have that will work with souls?" Dumbledore asked, right as a large albatross dove straight through the tent's roof, shattering its notice-not as it did so.
Even as Harry tore the golden ball out of the mithril bird's chest, he couldn't help noticing how it was in a bad way. While the bird was extremely warm to the touch, a thin layer of frost stuck to the metal regardless. The mithril was also visibly corroded in some areas, while some of the more delicate feathers had worn away to almost nothing.
Putting the damage aside for the moment, a careful cutting charm was able to slice the gold in half, allowing a ball of ice to roll free.
"Harry, no, listen to me. We don't know how to use this, for all you know it'll do more harm than good!" Dumbledore protested, cottoning onto Harry's plan.
"Professor, you need to trust me. We know dementor's can pull souls around and we know the Soul Gem adopted all the powers of a dementor. Just the cloak of a dementor is enough to have Empathovoric powers, which means it can also interact directly with the soul. If a piece of cloth can get that power after just proximity to a dementor, then the Soul Gem will work."
"Just, be careful, please." Dumbledore begged, correctly assuming he would be unable to talk Harry out of his plan. "But, how will you power the stone? You can't copy what you did last time, and we both know powering it yourself will kill you."
Uncaring that everyone was watching on, Harry flicked his wrist and turned the ring back into the full gauntlet. With its true form revealed, the Philosopher's Stone glowed brightly on the back of his hand.
"I may not be able to make something new to power it, but by my calculations the Philosopher's Stone will make enough to cancel out the Soul Gem's drain. For Luna, I'm willing to try."
Saying that, Harry carefully lowered the Soul Gem onto the Gauntlet. He was aiming for the spot between the larger Philosopher's Stone, and the knuckles of his middle and index fingers.
To his mild surprise, the mithril moved out of the way to offer a sizable indent, which the gemstone sunk into perfectly. The moment it snapped into place, a rush of its cold magic flooded through the Gauntlet, chilling the mithril and emitting a faint vapour.
Within the magic, he could feel the Philosopher's Stone and Soul Gem argue, one wanting to spread its heat, the other wanting to be cold. After a brief power struggle, helped along by Harry's will, the Philosopher's Stone triumphed and subjected the weaker gem to its will.
As the Soul Gem was brought under the Philosopher's Stones rule, Harry's mithrilium perked up and began studying the Gem. While Harry could tell that was what the mithrilium was doing, he could also tell that it wasn't telling him what it was finding.
Cautiously, he tried to ask his mithrilium how to get Luna's soul back into her body, to which it eagerly told him exactly how to achieve it. Gingerly, he reached out his Gauntleted hand towards Luna's soul, passing harmlessly through her magic until he reached her soul.
It was like trying to grasp jelly, it oozed around his fingers, but he was able to touch it. Very gently he cupped his hand around her soul, then slowly brought it down to her body, reeling in his magic as he did so.
Then with a final push he was able to press her soul against her mouth, at which point her magic leaped back into her body, bringing warmth back.
With her own magic helping pull it down, her soul stopped fighting him and began to sink of its own accord. As her soul descended into her body, her magic leaped out and covered it, sealing it back in its rightful place.
Gasping, Luna began breathing deeply, although she did not wake as Harry had expected. Giving her own gasp, Madam Pomfrey began scanning her again, eventually turning to Dumbledore and gave her analysis.
"She's alive. Physically she's in perfect health, but then there was nothing to fight the healing. But, even with my best work I couldn't… awaken her. Before Mr. Potter used his magic, her mind was empty, there was nothing to reawaken. Now? Now her mind is active again, but asleep.
"I would recommend keeping her asleep for the time being, until she awakens naturally. While she has physically recovered from this ordeal, there is no way to say how she will be emotionally."
"But she is alive, that is to say: At this moment, there is nothing to say she has never not been alive?" Dumbledore pressed.
"If a Healer were to scan her now, then they'd only be able to detect a healed mortal wound and a sleeping mind."
While Harry would've loved to contribute to the conversation further, but the Soul Gem chose that moment to strike him with a considerable amount of magical backlash. Collapsing backwards, he also became aware of how much pain he was in, particularly from his side.
Reaching down dizzily, his hand came away from his side bright red, Daphne's alarmed cry being the last thing he heard as his vision faded to black.
Even as his body fell, he felt his spirit being pulled away. After possessing his mithril so often, he was quite familiar with the feeling, except for the fact he currently had no control over his movements.
As had happened only once before, he found himself being pulled into the mithril fortress of Azkaban. Where before he had been able to stop and look around, this time he was pulled straight into the depths, falling into the same pitch black room.
Finding himself standing before the giant's throne again, although Harry felt like the throne was fractionally smaller than it had been on his last visit.
Looking up in annoyance, he was instantly struck dumb by the figure's bearing. On his first visit the Being's bearing had been that of cool dispassion, which made it's current attitude concerning.
The Being was made entirely of pitch black magic, making him hard to identify or read. However, the pure rage emanating from the giant was impossible to ignore, especially with it focused entirely on Harry. The anger alone was causing Harry a headache, his defences working overtime to protect his mind.
"Did I not warn you, child? Did I not say you were reaching for magic beyond you, magic you are unworthy of! I told you to yield, yet now you steal a soul from my grasp?!" The Being raged, each wording ringing in both his mind and within the room.
"She was not dead, I saved her before that happened!" Harry replied bravely, doing his best to look into the Being's face.
At his words, the figure irritably shifted forms, becoming first a shadowy image of Harry, then breaking into six large crows. As one, the crows cried, although the sound they made was that of an owl hooting.
But then the cries stopped, the crows coming together and taking the shape of a giant grim, eyes burning with fire. Not content, the figure then shifted a final time, the grim's head turning into a jackal, while the body returned to humanoid form.
"And who are you, to tell me who is and isn't dead." The figure asked, its jackal mouth untroubled with speech.
Breathing deeply, Harry stood tall and announced "I am Harry James Potter, owner of the true Cloak of Invisibility, master of the Philosopher's Stone, seeker of the true Resurrection Stone, slayer of Dementors and Basilisks.
"I am the boy who lived, the survivor of the Killing Curse. And I name you Death, reaper of souls and slave to the Hallows!" At his words, a great power rippled through the room, briefly revealing it to be empty aside from regular pillars, which repeated infinitely into the distance.
The power was also able to banish whatever fears remained in Harry, raising him up until he was level with the Being's knees. However, as the power faded and the room returned to pitch black, Harry felt like there should've been more.
"Foolish child, I am not Death, I am its servant! I am the entity who stands between the living and the dead. I am the one who stops the dead from conquering the living, and the one who draws the dying into my Master's grip." The figure replied, chuckling mockingly.
"But, you are true, you are the current owner of my Plouton Apokrýpto, or the 'Invisibility Cloak' as you so inelegantly put it. But it will not hide you forever. It will not hide Luna Lovegood." The Being threatened.
"What if we make a deal? I kill Lord Voldemort, the man once known as Tom Marvolo Riddle, in exchange for Luna being forgiven and any perceived crimes against you being forgiven."
"A promise I know you will not keep. You have formed a bond with the first of his souls, the one that now calls itself 'Henry Gauntus'. And we both know it is not in your nature to kill those you have bonded with… but that is not to say I am not adverse to a deal.
"The first soul has taken on human form, and is thus a victim to time. His soul will be mine eventually. Ensure all of Tom Riddle's other souls are delivered to me before the first, and I shall forgive Luna Lovegood. Fail, and I will punish her on your behalf!"
Harry awoke from his sleep slowly, gradually becoming aware of a conversation happening over him.
"Now, UL's law dictates that nothing can ever truly cease to be. Instead, UL suggests, any magic that makes an object vanish, instead breaks it into infinitesimal pieces and spreads it across the world. His thesis was then confirmed by a Garath Ollivander, who in 1960… 2 I believe, made the first Vanishing Cabinet." An old man lectured.
"But how does that relate to vanishing charms? I thought the vanishing cabinets were only called that because they made stuff disappear?" A girl asked.
"Vanishing cabinets actually use standard vanishing charms, albeit given enough power to affect living beings. However, using unknown charms, the cabinet captures the infinitesimal pieces, then passes them onto the twinned cabinet.
"I believe you are now familiar with how to link two objects? Those stones Harry was using in the second task were very impressive. Well the linked cabinet receives those vanished pieces and manages to reassemble them. Thus we come across the problem with vanishing charms, the pieces remember what they once were, allowing them to be reformed."
"That's why it's better to hide stuff by transfiguring it into wood and burning it." Harry slurred as he forced himself to awaken.
"Harry!" Daphne cried, throwing herself over him.
"Oh, hello Daphne, Professor."
"Harry, glad to see you aren't dead." Dumbledore replied gravely, his voice missing any of the levity Harry was used to hearing.
"Professor?"
"Do you have any idea what Nicholas found when he looked over the Gauntlet, Harry? He found that his Stone was spending all its energy on controlling the dementor's gemstone. Which would've happily used up all of the near infinite amount of magic in your Gauntlet to turn Hogwarts into the ground zero of an ice age we might never recover from!" Dumbledore told him angrily.
"You almost died because you were trying to use the Gauntlet as your focus, but without the Philosopher's Stone, you had to use your magic wandlessly. The amount of magic that passed through you was enough for every one of the blood vessels in your hand to rupture, from which you would've died if Madam Pomphrey hadn't been on hand to help!"
"Well what was I supposed to do, let Luna die? If I hadn't used the Soul Gem, I'd have died anyway! Because guess what, holding onto somebody's soul with your magic not only uses up a lot of magic, it also pulls your own soul out… And if you think I wouldn't sacrifice myself for any of my friends, you are dead wrong." Harry raged back, doing his best to sit up despite the blonde still clinging to him.
"We could've planned something else! I could've used the Soul Gem, you could've used something other than your Gauntlet. Anything that would've worked better, if you didn't rush into situations like you always do!" Dumbledore retorted.
"You would've died long before you reached Luna's soul, we both know your magic doesn't regenerate fast enough to match the Soul Gem, even if you had the raw will to control it. As for using something else, I only had my sabre close to hand, which would've given the Soul Gem infinite power without any of the control. Yeah, that's so much better.
"And for your information, I didn't rush into things. You may need several weeks to decide what to do, but my mind works a lot faster than yours. I had the entire swim back to the dock to plan, where I went through everything I could.
"Okay, I didn't expect the Soul Gem to put up as much of a fight, but I wasn't wrong! If I hadn't needed to strip off all my mithril for these stupid tasks, I'd have had enough magic to stay awake long enough to remove the Soul Gem anyway!"
"I think you two should stop shouting so much? You'd both be better off discussing this calmly before you go too far." Daphne timidly suggested, having suddenly realised she'd placed herself between the two most powerful wizards in the country, who seemed gearing up for a fight.
"Ms. Greengrass, you shouldn't be here. We are discussing confidential information, so you'll need to swear not to reveal anything." Dumbledore insitied, having just remembered her presence.
"Do not threaten my friends, headmaster!" Harry snapped, summoning his wand to him and searching for his Gauntlet.
"If you are looking for your Gauntlet, don't bother. Nicholas took it with him back to his workshop in France, trying to mitigate how much stress his Stone is under. If you are lucky, he won't have to destroy it all. So I'd thank you for not trying to tell me what I can and cannot do, even if it relates to your friends!"
Growling, Harry reached out with his magic and was relieved to detect his Invisibility Cloak, which he swiftly called to him. Rising from the chair next to him, the Cloak slithered onto the bed and wrapped around Harry and Daphne, rising defensively behind them.
"You forget I am more than just my Gauntlet." Harry announced coldly, staring daggers at Dumbledore. "And while we are on the topic of you hurting my friends, perhaps you'd answer a question I had the entire task. Who chose Luna as my hostage?
"Cedric and Krum had their Yule Ball dates picked, but Fleur had her sister, which only her Headmistress would've known about. Who knew how much I cared for Luna? I doubt it was Maxime or Karkaroff, who barely know me.
"It certainly wasn't Percy Weasley, and I know Ludo Bagman wouldn't want to piss me off. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but that leaves just one judge left, no? Because I swear, if it was you, I will never forgive you."
At his question, Dumbledore visibly deflated, suddenly appearing weary and distressed.
"The hostages were meant to be protected by the mermen, along with the stasis and protective spells I personally put on them. For as long as they were under water, few could ever have hoped to harm them… I just never expected harm to come to them once they surfaced."
"Get out." Harry hissed, eyes blazing, the Cloak ruffling aggressively around him. "Get out and don't try to talk to me again!"
Nodding defeatedly, Dumbledore complied, Harry's voice carrying after him "And I will leave it to you to explain to Xenophilius why his one remaining family member was killed because of your incompetence!"
The hospital wing was dead silent when Dumbledore slammed the doors closed behind him.
It was only once the Headmaster left that Harry let his emotions loose, helplessly pulling Daphne closer to him as he sobbed uncontrollably.
This week's story suggestion is "Whispers of a Raven" by TheBlack'sResurgence. Has a strong Harry with a relation to Death, which is fitting given what happened this chapter.
That ending was not supposed to be as aggressive as it ended up, however my personal mood pushed their confrontation in that direction. I'll talk about it more in its own section later, but depending on people's reaction, I might go over it with a cooler head and make it less aggressive.
Things I think need explaining:
- Harry's unleashed magic: The magic is essentially autonomous, acting independently of Harry. As seen in this chapter, it is great for dealing with multiple targets, but does leave the user incredibly weak and it'll eventually literally burn the user up.
It's underused mainly because only the powerful can safely use it, but by then those powerful enough will know enough magic where they don't need to risk it.
- Empathovoric: The renamed word for "Empathkinesis". Name suggested by DSaint. Kinesis would mean Harry had control over other's emotions, while "Voric" would mean that he gains power from their emotions.
- The shadowy Being (Origins): First off, congratulations Burst Kyu for being the first to correctly guess its identity. It only took a year for me to pay it off. For those who don't remember, this Being was met in chapter 51, "The Grim". Funnily enough, chapter 51 was when I had to start a new Google doc for this story, so for a year I've had to reread that chapter everytime I wanted to write…
- Shadowy Being (Identity): For now, all I'm going to say is that (In this story) Death isn't really a being, in that it isn't something with a form and it's not something mortal can communicate with. As such, the Being Harry met is 'employed' by Death to intervene with the mortals.
So the Being can be considered to be like the Grim Reaper, who harvests souls and delivers them to the realm of Death. He is also related to the creation of the Hallows, so it could be him that is mentioned in the Tale of Three Brothers.
- Plouton Apokrýpto: I'll leave the translation a secret for now, but that is the name given to the Invisibility Cloak. In my mind, most ancient artefacts were made with names, such as Arthur's Excalibur or Zeus' Aegis.
- Henry Gauntus: I wish I could remember how I got this name, but I can't. But it is the alias Tom Riddle goes by while working at the Daily Prophet. It is not a name used before within the story, but the Being knows all. Plus, it would've been a bit confusing to have Voldemort called Tom Riddle, and also have the Diary Tom Riddle be around.
- Harry and Dumbledore's fight: While it does sort of come out of nowhere, emotionally Dumbledore is dealing with the fact he cares for Harry a lot and was scared Harry was going to die, meaning he enters the conversation with very strong emotions. Then Harry enters with it having just met an entity far beyond his comprehension, how he then had to threaten and make a deal with.
And that was after he went through the 2nd task and watched Luna be attacked. As far as Harry is concerned, the events of this chapter and the last all happen one after enough, with no room to rest in-between. So he's entering the argument with Dumbledore in his attack mode, since he hasn't had a chance to cool off at all.