Disclaimer: I am not J.K Rowlings so cut me some slack.
It had been a week since Harry arrived at Emrys Academy and he was already neck deep in assignments and uncompleted projects. Harry had taken advantage of the extensive Emrys library to aid him in his learning. While the Library at Emrys was not as large as the Hogwart's library, it contained the original copies of a lot of ancient tomes. Most of these tomes were written in ancient languages like Sanskrit, Arabic, Latin, Egyptian, Farsi, Hebrew, and students were not allowed to take these tomes out of the library for fear of damaging them. Some of these tomes were the only copy left in the world and were very valuable. While Harry could not read any of those tomes yet, he had signed up for the Languages class to aid in his reading of these old tomes and also further his understanding of spells. The most powerful spells and magic were usually created and cast in the ancient langugaes.
Harry had signed up for the six classes he believed would be most usefult to him: Battle Magic, Blood Magic & Rituals, Runes, Transfiguration, Charms and Study of Magical Creatures. He had decided to forgo classes like Divination, Enchanting, Arithmancy and Alchemy, and he was not allowed to take classes like Soul Magic and Conjurations yet. They were too advanced for his current understanding of magic. He would only get to join the Conjuration class after he had successfully passes through Transfigurations.
Of all the classes he took, one of the most exciting was Rituals. In Britain rituals were considered dark magic and practicing it was a guaranteed ticket to Azkaban. Harry's knowledge of rituals prior to enrolling at Emrys academy was the experience he had with Voldermort in the graveyard at the end of the Tri-Wizard tournament. In his first few classes he had began understanding the true nature of rituals and the possibilities of what could be achieved with them. The rituals Professor, Professor Morgan was a very intriguing woman. Professor Morgan was a dark skinned short woman, about 5 foot 3 inches tall. She had long, white as snow hair that was always tied in a bun. She had taken a particular interest in him and had set an appointment with him for that evening.
Flashback
"As with all powerful forms of magic, rituals come with a cost." Professor Morgan said to the students in the Beginners Rituals class.. The classes at Emrys were split between three levels : Beginners, Intermediate and Master. Once you complete the Beginners class, you could advance to Intermediate level. But students were allowed to only pursue Mastery in a maximum of three classes. Most students stuck to one or two and only the most ambitious and dedicated students pursued three masteries.
"The cost can range from a single drop of your blood to human life. The results from rituals usually vary and are very unpredictable depending on many factors. A small mistake in a ritual can lead to loss of body parts or sometimes death. This is why none of you are allowed to attempt any form of rituals without my supervision." Professor Morgan continued as the students paid rapt attention to her words.
"We will be having an interactive discussion on the negative consequences and potential benefits of rituals in the next class. Dismissed." Professor Morgan dismissed the students who started packing their bags for their next lecture. Only the beginners and intermediate classes had lectures and assignments. The Mastery classes was mostly self-learning and individual projects with guidance from the Professors.
"Mr Potter, stay behind. I would like a moment of your time." As the last student left the classroom, Professor Morgan waved her hands causing the door to slam shut.
"Come closer" She said. Harry walked towards her and stood a few 4 feet away from her, he was unsure why she had asked him to stay behind. He had tried to stay under the radar during his first few days and classes at Emrys and it seemed to have worked till now, no one really paid him much attention.
Professor Morgan closed the distance between them and brush away the bangs covering the scar on his forehead. She ran her fingers across the lightning bolt scar and hummed to herself.
"The Headmaster spoke to me about your scar, it is a very unique scar." She covered the scar back with his hair as she stepped back from him.
"He said the scar has caused you a lot of problems in the past, visions and nightmares."
"Yes." Harry responded. The scar had been a cause of major problems for Harry in the past, although I had been a while since he felt anything from it. He had not felt anything from the scar since he arrived at Emrys, perhaps the distance between Harry and Voldermort had cause the effect of the scar to lessen.
"That is unusual and strange for a fourteen year old scar, even one caused by dark magic."
"Do you know what it is." Harry asked eagerly. The scar had cost him his godfather, the only family he had and he wanted to be rid by any means possible.
"I have a few theories, come back tommorrow at 8pm so I can take a closer look at it." She said
End of Flashback
As Harry made his way to Professor Morgans office, he reflected on his first week at Emrys Academy. He had not made any friends yet, the other students seemed nice enough but he was unsure how to make friends. At the Dursleys, Dudley had made sure he never had any friends and at Hogwarts his only friends were Ron and Hermione. He was woefully inexperienced on how to make friends with new people so his first week had mostly been quiet and lonely. He had spent the majority of his time trying to keep up with his load of work.
Knock knock, Harry knocked on the door as he waited for Professor Morgan to invite him in.
"Come in" Professor Morgan said. Harry walked in and closed the door behind him. Professor Morgan was not alone in her office, Professor Elias Wagner was also in her office. Professor Wagner was the Professor for Soul Magic, harry only knew him by reputation since he didn't take the Soul Magic class. Professor Wagner was widely known as a man of few words. He spoke very rarely and mostly kept to himself. Soul Magic was one of the classes that was considered too advanced for his level. Harry wasn't particularly interested in Soul Magic, it sounded interestingly obscure but it wasn't something that would likely help him in his fight against Voldermort.
"Welcome Harry, this is Professor Wagner. I have asked him here because I believe we would need his expertise." Professor Wagner nodded his head at Harry in greeting.
"Good evening." Harry greeted in response. He was unsure of why the presence of the soul magic professor was needed by he wasn't in a position to complain, he would take all the help he could get to rid himself of the scar.
"I have spoken to Professor Wagner about the peculiarities of your scar. While most dark curses tend to leave permanent scars, yours is peculiar in the sense that it serves as a sort of connection between you and the wizard who cursed you." Professor Morgan said.
"Has anything like this ever happened before." Harry asked.
"Nothing like your case has been documented before. I have never seen or heard of a scar that allows the victim to see the mind of, or get visions and memories from the attacker, or vice-versa. Which makes me believe that it might not be just a curse scar, at least not a physical one."
"What then could it be?" Harry asked.
"I have a few ideas, but I need Professor Wagner to confirm them for me."
"What do you know about the Killing curse?" Professor Wagner said in a soft voice. This was the first time he had spoken since Harry had entered the room.
"It's an unforgivable curse. It causes instant death without leaving any scars." Harry said. He had learnt about the unforgiveable curses in his fourth year at Hogwarts. The impostor who taught them had taken great joy in seeing the panic in their faces as he demonstrated the effects of the curses to them. It was a lesson he would never forget.
"You are mostly right, but the unforgiveable curses are mostly a british thing. Although they are illegal in other countries in the ICW, no one else calls them the unforgiveables. As you will soon learn, there are much more darker curses that can cause unimaginable pain and suffering." Professor Wagner said.
"The killing curse kills its victim on impact and leaves no scars behind. If indeed it was the killing curse you survived, why then did it leave a scar on you. Also why did the scar take the shape of a lightning bolt, a very curious shape for a scar." Professor Wagner continued. The wheels were turning in Harry's mind, could his recollection of the night he got his scars be wrong. He could remember Voldermort casting the killing curse as the green flash of light that followed it.
"What then could have caused the scar, I remember Voldermort casting the killing curse at me."
"The mind is a tricky thing. Do you remember anything before or immediately after he cast the killing curse?" Professor Morgan asked.
"No, I don't. I can only recall the event itself, nothing before or after it." Harry replied.
"We have a few ideas on what this could be but we would need to confirm it. Come with us, we will be making use of the ritual pit." Professor Morgan said.
"The ritual pit? What are we using it for." Harry asked. His expectation coming into this meeting was that they would perhaps cast a few spells on him to diagnose the problem before giving their verdict on his scar, he didn't expect they would be needing the ritual pit.
The seven ritual pits at Emery's academy were located outside The Pentagon. They were closed from all students and access was only granted to Mastery students under the supervision of a professor.
"We need to do a diagnostic ritual to examine all foreign magics in your body. A simple spell will not identify what I believe we are looking for." Professor Morgan said as she led the way to the ritual pits with Professor Wagner and Harry behind her.
"And what exactly are we looking for?" Harry asked
"You will find out soon enough, I don't want to alarm you unnecessarily." Harry became even more nervous at her response.
Harry looked around as they got to the entrance of the ritual pit. He had not explored this part of the Emry's ground since he arrived. For someone who had explored the most secret and unknown parts of Hogwarts, he had not really done much to get to know his new school. Harry resolved to spend more time in the coming weeks exploring the grounds and getting to meet new people at Emry's.
The entrance to the ritual pits was framed by two large stone pillars. Professor Morgan waved her wand in a complicated pattern and the pillars lit up showing different runes and carvings on them.
"Follow me." She said as she looked back at Harry and walked between the two pillars. Harry followed her in and looked around in awe. The moon was full in the sky, the seven pits were right next to each other. The pits were about four feet deep and had small steps leading into them.
"I have all the materials we need for the ritual with me." Professor Wagner said as they approached the pits.
"What do I need to do?" Harry asked. He was quite overwhelmed with the direction his meeting with Professor Morgan had taken.
"All you need to do is get into the first ritual pit and stand in the center of the pentagram. I will be performing the ritual on you." Professor Morgan said as she took the bag containing the ritual materials from Professor Wagner.
"It is a basic diagnostic ritual so there should be no complications, just stand in the center and we can begin." Harry looked at his Professors then proceeded towards the first pit.
"You need to take off all your clothes except your underwear, we can't risk any outside interference with the ritual." Professor Morgan said.
Harry looked at his Professors in surprise. If he knew he would be standing half-naked in front of his Professors, he would have made a different choice in underwear. Harry walked down the steps into the ritual pit wearing only his boxers with snitches on them. Harry was self-sconscious of his body, though he was fit from years of playing quidditch, he was still quite lean from years of malnutrition at the Dursleys. He also had lots of scars from injuries at the Dursleys and his many adventures in Hogwarts. Harry walked to the center of the Pentagram and stood there awkwardly.
"Now let's begin." Professor Morgan said walking towards him in the pentagram. She held a small vial of blood in her hands. She dipped a finger into the vial and rubbed the blood over the scar on his forehead.
'Unicorn blood, freely given." She said to him as she stepped back away from the pentagram. The unicorn blood was dripping down Harry's forehead to his nose as she started chanting in a language he didn't understand. As she continued chanting the Harry felt a change in the atmosphere in the pit. Harry began feeling light headed, the hairs on his skin rose as the atmosphere became charged. She poured the rest of the blood from the vial on the line of the pentagram and it flowed quickly along the pentagram.
Suddenly fire erupted from the lines of the pentagram, brightening up the surroundings. Harry could see the reflection of the fire in the eyes of Professor Morgan. She has stopped chanting and was looking to Harry as if she was epecting a reaction from him.
"Nooo!" Harry screamed in a voice that didn't sound like his as he fell to his knees clutching his forefead. His scar started bleeding profusely as he clutched his head screaming loudly. A dark cloud rose from his forehead and took the shape of a deformed baby. Harry raised his head up to look at it, he was stunned.
"You shall not get rid of me, I know your secrets." The cloud spoke in a eery voice that reminded Harry of Voldermort.
"Unbelievable, I have never seen anything like this. An horcrux in a human" Professor Wagner said from his position were he was observing the ritual. Professor Wagner had come across the subject of Horcruxes in his studies and research as an expert on soul magic. It was rare to find one these days as only the darkest and most evil of Wizards were willing to attempt the ritual to create an Horcrux. The knowledge of how to create one could only be found in a handful of libraries around the world. Even the oldest pureblood family libraries did not have the needed information on how to create one. Although there had never been a recorded case of an horcrux cohabiting with a living human being, they were in uncharted waters.
"I believe we have seen enough." Professor Morgan said as she raised her wand and chanted some spells ending the ritual. Harry fell to the ground and fainted in shock as the deformed baby cloud receded back into his still bleeding scar.
"I am taking him to the Infirmary, he has a long road ahead of him." Professor Morgan said as she levitated Harry gently out of the ritual pit. There was a long road of healing and recovery ahead of Harry. The diagnostic ritual had revealed all the information needed to understand the problem Harry faced. but they would still have to create a ritual to separate the unwanted soul piece from him without killing him. This was something that has never been done in recorded history. Professor Wagner left the ritual pits as he started drawing up different ideas and plans for the needed ritual in his head.
A.N : Chapter is shorter than usual and took longer, but we are getting deeper into Harry's world at Emry's. Feel free to drop a review sharing your opinions or ideas.