CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Despite being up for most of the night training with Thanatos, Hypnos, Melinoë and Athenaïs, Harry had been one of the first of the girls to wake that morning with a spring in her step. Her training had gone rather well: naturally, her three friends first tested her life force sensing capabilities, Soul Fire extraction – she had managed to get a tennis ball sized fireball instead of a golf ball sized one – and her Death Infusion plus combat skills before moving onto the basics of Animancy and Spirit Weaponry.
As she took a shower, Harry ran the events of last night in her head.
-Flashback-
"You have the capabilities to see and sense the life forms around you, but now we will see if you can control or embed them. Animancy was always a favourite of Cadmus in his time," Melinoë stated.
"Animancy is more than just Life Magic; it is too redundant to call it that. It is also known as Necromantic White Magic or White Necromancy, depending on who you ask," Thanatos explained. "It is linked to Death magic as much as it is to Life. Your fellow witches and wizards when they use their little animation spells unknowingly use the weakest forms of Animancy to charm their objects to come to life but they do not even know the half of it. True potent Animancy could not only simply charm an object to life but literally bring it to life. To create life from the lifeless. If you master this branch of magic, you will be more akin to a Druid of old than a witch. Like all magic, there are limitations. The Phoenix tears in your blood may make it easier for you, but you will never be able to truly resurrect the dead. Do you understand?"
"Yes," Harry nodded seriously.
The God of Death grinned. "Good. Let's see how you fare."
Before the god could do anything, the Room of Requirement had provided Harry with several statues of varying sizes – one was a Bowtruckle, the second a Niffler, another was a Runespoor, a third was a Hippogriff that looked like Buckbeak and the last was a sleeping dragon.
Harry could not help but feel a little intimidated at the array of different statues, which were no doubt of varying difficulty. "Oh boy."
"Let's start with the Bowtruckle," Hypnos instructed. "Pick the focal point of its life force."
Harry had decided to go with the creatures head.
"OK. Now, once you get good, you won't need to do this but with the help of your artic fox's soul, try to see if you can ignite the spark of life."
Harry had closed her eyes and held the soul of the artic fox above the head of the small Bowtruckle statue's head. She visualised the brain functions, the vital organs of the creature and them being started by the silver light of the soul, which eventually began to gather at the creature's head, turning into a tiny pin prick of a soul.
Harry initially thought she had failed when she felt her magic stop with humming. She was only proven wrong when she heard a tiny excited squeal and her eyes had flown open. Before her was a Bowtruckle – not one made of stone, but as vibrant green as the rest of its kind. It was being greeted by a curious Athenaïs.
"Not bad, Harry," Melinoë praised. "The Niffler next!"
-Flashback end-
"Harry! Are you finished yet? May I have my turn please?" Ophelia's calling knocked Harry out of her thoughts and the Mistress of Death quickly stopped the water, and stepped out of the shower.
"Sorry, Ophelia! I'll be out in a minute!" Harry called back, as she quickly dried and dressed herself in a pair of neat black trousers, emerald green waist coat with the Slytherin insignia on her shoulder over her blouse, tie and blazer. It was one of her more unorthodox uniform options and frankly, she couldn't be bothered with dresses or skirts today. Harry decided to deal with her more manageable hair back in the dorms and soon stepped out of the bathroom, smiling apologetically.
"Morning, Harry!" Ygraine, after yawning a little, greeted as she forced herself out of her bed.
"Morning, Ygraine," Harry answered as she caught the brush Walburga had thrown in her direction. "Sleep well?"
"Adequately," Ygraine replied. "You?"
"Surprisingly, like a log," Harry grinned, running the brush through her curls as she sat down at the end of her bed.
"I see Athenaïs has some new jewellery," Druella observed, watching Harry's Gargouille admire her new amulet in Harry's mirror, looking very pleased with herself. "It's very pretty."
"It was a present from Melanie and Uncle Anthony," Harry informed with a grin. "The amulet used to belong to Uncle Anthony's familiar and it has some useful magical properties that he thought Athenaïs could use."
"Like what?" Walburga asked curiously.
"To be honest, I am not entirely sure – then again, I am not really sure about anything with my uncles," Harry stated truthfully, eyes dancing with amusement. "They are really rather eccentric."
"Well, considering that they helped to turn Binns into a puddle of ectoplasm, I'd say that's an understatement!" Druella laughed.
Seraphina, all the while, had padded over to her draconic friend to admire the crystal amulet for herself and seemed a little bit put out that her own wasn't as big or shiny and turned to mew indignantly at her witch, much to Walburga's shock and everyone else's amusement.
"Oh yes, start complaining, you spoilt brat," Ophelia shook her head at the cat.
"Seraphina just has standards. Like I said, complete madam!" Druella laughed.
"We Blacks do not like being out classed, and neither do our familiars," Walburga sniffed indignantly.
"Really? Could you go and give Somnus that message, because I don't think he received it," Harry teased.
Druella and Ygraine laughed even more and Walburga mock scowled at her friends. "OK, fine, every self-respecting Black familiar save for Somnus!" the Black Heiress corrected herself, grumbling.
"Well I think if Harry isn't careful, Athenaïs could be rivalling Seraphina in her snobbery," Ygraine commented as Ophelia came out of the shower and Druella went to take her turn. The young Gargouille looked affronted.
"Well, dragons do like hoarding," Harry conceded.
"Gargouilles do not really hoard though," Ophelia stated, running a brush through her hair. "They prefer to make their habitats on rooftops and go undetected by humans, so a hoard is rather counterproductive to them."
"Oh OK, that makes sense. Good to know. But, I will not spoil Athenaïs needlessly," Harry reassured Ygraine as she packed her bag. "A present or two now and again is acceptable."
"Yes – one or two now and again. You have the self-restraint; Blacks do not!" Ygraine laughed.
"Correction, Walburga doesn't have self-restraint!" Ophelia pointed out.
Walburga harrumphed as her friends laughed at her expense. Harry slowly began to tune out her friends a little as her mind wondered back onto her training last night. It had taken her two times to awaken the Niffler, she only managed to make the Runespoor move but still as stone and barely made the hippogriff and dragon twitch, which Harry wasn't too surprised about. Her Soul Magic was still relatively weak. Combat training had been fun – she had taken quite quickly to dagger throwing, had another duel with Hypnos and had infused a few vases with Death magic to humour Thanatos.
Spirit Weaponry had been Harry's favourite part of the evening though
-Flashback-
"The power of the soul depends entirely on its previous life, as we have established," Melinoë stated. "Some of them, if they are old enough, can help to strengthen the power of your weapons and attacks while others have the ability to mould their particle structure into a weapon on their own, but those are few and far between. You and your little artic fox have been getting along quite well and the soul of the creature seems to have enough power for this particular exercise so we will start with using that one. So, pick a weapon."
Harry decided to choose one of her daggers.
"Good. Let's see if you need an incantation to entice your little soul friend to help by holding the weapon towards it. Point the blade sideways though; you don't want to accidentally insult it."
Harry obeyed. The artic fox spirit had flown around the dagger a couple of times, studying it curiously before making an ethereal sound and sinking onto the blade like a viscous substance on to a solid subject until it seemed to mould with the dagger. Melinoë and Thanatos had sent several spectral attacks at Harry, Melinoë using ghostly hounds and Thanatos sending dark winged butterflies.
Almost on instinct Harry had made a curved slashing movement in the air in front of her. From that slash, a spectral artic fox – the fox at the core of the soul – leapt out to meet them in battle, somehow using Soul Fire on its own to try and hit the hounds and butterflies. As Harry watched them, she could not help but notice just how similar to Patronuses the animals looked.
-Flashback end -
"Harry!" Druella clicked her singers sharply in front of Harry's face knocking her back to earth. "Quit spacing out; it's breakfast time."
Fortunately, the trip to the Great Hall had no unexpected and unpleasant surprises. Altair and Orion had met them in the common room, looking quite keen to get away from Slytherin House – and Riddle's Knights – as fast as possible. Dolohov had not tried anything yet, apparently sticking to trying to kill both Orion and Altair with death glares, but Harry knew a hothead like Dolohov would only follow orders for a certain amount of time before he decided to take action on his own.
The topic of the Gryffindor table was once more Quidditch – with a few of the Muggleborn and Muggle raised children throwing in the topic of Muggle sports now and again – but Harry found she could only pay attention to half of the conversation as she was rather looking forward to History. She had brought Flamel's manuscripts with her just in case and was rather interested in Binns' reaction to them
Harry secretly hoped he would melt into another puddle of ectoplasm. Of course, the most famous wizarding duels in history was going to be an epic topic because there was so much to go on – Merlin's various duels against Nimueh the High Priestess, Cornelius Sigan, not to mention Morgana; the duels of the Four Founders against the Shadow Ones, Christian witch hunters and the duel between Godric and Salazar; the Black Death Duels, and those were just from the Dark Ages to the 1300s! But Harry really hoped there would be a recap of Alchemy in the Middle Ages just to see her professor's face.
And given that Loreley Malfoy was looking very excited and chipper that morning, Harry guessed the lesson could get very interesting indeed! Harry was also secretly relieved that she didn't receive mail that morning, preferring to listen in on Orion laughing at the letter of complaint Lucretia had sent him about their parents' decision to find a Prewett alliances, Artemis enthusiastically informing her that Charlus and Dorea wanted to make her acquaintance (to Harry's shock), Loreley laughing at a letter from her mother, asking her to ask Abraxas to stop drinking the pesky blue potions and Altair burning the letter from his father, demanding he come home for Samhain.
"I'd rather host a banquet with the Giant Squid," Altair had seethed. Harry had patted his hand gently, giving him a small, comforting smile.
Altair's mood lightened only a little on the way to History with the prospect of maybe seeing another duel between Harry and Binns, which was ironic considering the subject they would be covering in class. Loreley wasn't saying anything; she didn't need to, because her eyes were doing the talking for her.
"I am going to be lucky if I get an A for this stupid alchemy essay," Altair shook his head as he leaned against the wall next to the classroom door. "I just couldn't get any of the facts to stick in my head and my arguments are all over the place."
"Sounds like another study session is in order," Harry stated with a grin.
Altair snorted. "Please! No amount of studying is going to make me remember the-"
"Ready for another verbal bout with Binns, Evans?"
Harry, Altair and Loreley looked around in surprise to see an awkwardly smiling Rosier turned away from his friends and looking their way.
"I am rather hoping it doesn't come to that," Harry answered coolly. "I don't really like shouting at my teachers all too much, debating yes but not arguing."
"Got any good weapons to throw at him if he does?" Rosier asked curiously.
Harry raised an eyebrow. "A fair few."
Fortunately she was saved from this weird conversation when the door opened at exactly nine o'clock sharp and Harry dashed in, followed by Loreley and Altair. Druella and Walburga decided to join them on this occasion on the Ravenclaw side.
As Harry got her books, parchment, quill, ink and alchemy essay out, she turned to look at Altair with disbelief plastered all over her face. "Is it just me, or is Arcturus Rosier possessed? No offence, Dru."
Druella snorted. "I ask myself that precise question almost daily, don't worry!"
Altair had a semi-serious look on his face. "I think it was my doing mostly."
Harry frowned. "What do you mean?"
Altair smiled smally.
-Flashback-
Altair had gotten up bright and early for his doing, hoping that Orion Black would also be awake. Just so Altair did not have to put up the I Don't Like You Anymore face to Dolohov, Malfoy and Arc – until he got his head out of his arse – alone. He had been most relieved when he saw Orion Black come out of the bathroom, dressed and brushing his teeth.
Orion, when he saw Altair awake, gave him a wave. "Mor'ring, Nott!" he greeted with his toothbrush still in his mouth.
"Morning, Black! Sleep well?"
"Gook, thanks." Black went back into the bathroom momentarily to spit out his tooth paste.
As he did so, Arcturus had approached Altair. "Altair, are you going to sit with Peverell, Black, Malfoy and the others again today?"
Altair had raised an eyebrow. "Yes," he answered crisply as he began to try to awaken Somnus the owl with the prospect of some owl treats.
"Why?"
"Because I want to, that's why." Altair had turned around to face Arcturus.
Rosier had looked rather crestfallen at that. "But you're angry at her-"
Altair had shook his head. "Correction, I
was angry at her. I should in hindsight have simply allowed her to explain. For Merlin's sake, it was obvious why she would hide. She's been doing it her whole life! There were tutors who tried to kill her, or have you forgotten that? Harry has been open about everything else, as much as she's able to be. Riddle can't claim to be that, nor any of the Averys. Oizys Avery spied on them, Arc! It was none of her business, and it isn't ours. So, I suggest you think long and hard about which side of the story is most supportable."
Arc had looked at him aghast. Altair had turned around to see Somnus blinking down at him and hooting quietly. The owl had flown down for breakfast as Black once more returned. Black's face lit up. "Ah, you managed to get him to eat again! Thanks, Nott!"
"No problem," Altair had beamed. "You ready?"
"Yes, let me just pack the last of my books and we will see if we can catch the girls in the common room!"
-Flashback end-
Harry had turned quite pale and almost didn't notice when Binns started collecting all of their essays. Altair was close to throwing away the closest thing he had to a brother – one he actually did consider family. She wasn't exactly happy about this; true, Harry did not like Rosier and the bad influence the Knights on him but neither did she want to see that lifelong friendship implode entirely.
"Famous duels!" Binns began the lesson. "For as long as there has been magic, there have been duels between magical peoples of all shapes and sizes. What is the oldest but most famous magical duel known to wizard kind specifically?"
Damn it, he's learning, Harry grumbled to herself, sulking a little that she couldn't catch him out on that question.
"7th century BCE," Harry spoke up easily. "The duel between three Vestal Virgins named Flavia, Lucia and Clelia and three werewolves to protect the sacred fire from them as they had sworn revenge against Rome and the gods."
"Correct! Do you also know how the Vestal Virgins defeated the werewolves?"
Harry nodded. "Yes, sir. According to both Livia Sulpicia and Julius Cassius, Flavia had first levitated her opponent, used a Stunning Spell on him, used telekinesis to bash his face into the ground of the temple and then tied him with a fire rope before flinging him out of the temple grounds. Lucia had physically engaged the werewolf, and had thrown a silver dagger into her werewolf's side which eventually killed him and Clelia had used fire pillars to chase hers from the temple. However, one Greek historian says that none of the girls physically engaged their opponent in battle, preferring to maintain control of their foes' movements using fire pillars and catching them in traps, which considering the Temple of Vesta was circular in shape, was actually quite easy for them to do, in theory."
"Excellent!"
Binns carried on with the lesson, trying to get quickly onto the subject of duels during the Dark Ages, where he and Harry engaged in heated debates about the duels between the wizards, Muggles and Fairy folk, taking wildly different stances on the tactics and strategy used in each to win. Harry once again took the sides of the Fairy folk now and again, as many had expected. Harry's controversy didn't dim concerning the late Medieval and early Renaissance duels, shocking many who idolised the duels when she called uncreative, too conservative, or dishonourable and were even more shocked when she dissected the tactics and spells used from both sides in relation to the customs of the time.
Unfortunately Harry and Binns' debates had taken so long that they hadn't been able to cover everything, let alone review alchemy in the Middle Ages, which Harry had slightly kicked herself for. She couldn't beat up herself for too long because, considering it was 10.05 already, Harry and Loreley had to quickly run from Classroom 4F on the first floor to the Headmaster's Tower at the other end of Gargoyle Corridor on the third floor. The girls dodged students as best as they could and got shouted at by the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff Prefects as Harry and Loreley almost flattened the pair of them. Poor Caroline Harrow, who had seen the whole thing, didn't even get the chance to reprimand them as Head Girl because both girls were out of shouting distance in seconds flat. Orion Black, who was coming from Classroom 6A on the sixth floor, was also speeding through the corridors at such a breakneck pace one would have thought a magical creature had broken into the castle and decided Orion would make a suitable lunch. Fortunately the staircases seemed to sense his haste because they stayed put a little while longer before moving again, much to the chagrin of other students.
Unfortunately for him, he was the second person to mow down the two Prefects, and this time the Hufflepuff Head Girl was at the ready. "Orion Black, you as well?! Five points from Slytherin-"
"Hi, Caroline! Bye, Caroline!" was Orion's chipper answer as he breezed past the Head Girl.
Orion only skidded to a halt just in front of the giant, intimidating statue that guarded the entrance of the Headmaster's Tower. Harry and Loreley were already there, giving him a grin. Orion smirked back and did a quick Tempus: 10.20. Ten minutes early.
"Everyone ready?" Orion grinned.
"As I'll ever be," Harry sighed. "Out of curiosity, what did you two tell your parents?"
"Nothing, Mother knew already," Loreley stated dreamily with a grin.
"I may have chickened out. So … anyone know Dippet's password?" Orion asked awkwardly.
Harry frowned. Had Dippet already changed it, or was it still the same as the last password she used. "Kraken scales," she said to the statue experimentally.
The gargoyle sprung to life and moved to make room for the visitors; Harry, Loreley and Orion darted into Headmaster Dippet's office. The Headmaster, who had been in a conversation with some of the portraits of the previous Headmasters, turned around to see who had come to visit him and lit up when he saw the two seventh year Slytherins and their Ravenclaw friend.
"Ah, Miss Evans, Miss Malfoy and Mr Black, as punctual as ever," he stated jovially going over to his fireplace and with an almost lazy swish of his hand, summoned the green flames of the Floo Network. "I wish all three of you the best of luck."
"Thank you, sir," Harry answered with a small smile as she went to the grey pot next to the fireplace and picked up a handful of Floo powder and stepped into the fireplace, ducking her head as she did so and turned around. "Gringotts Wizard Bank!" she stated, enunciating as clearly as she could to ensure that she wouldn't accidentally end up coming through the fireplace of Madam Malkins' or Tosti's bookstore.
The green flames leapt up, swallowing her whole, and the next thing she knew Harry was spat out onto the beautifully polished floor of Gringotts' atrium, receiving some very judgemental looks from the surrounding golden statues decorating the pillars and ceilings at the fact she got soot all over the floor. Harry coughed and spluttered for a bit. Yes, she had not missed the Floo Network at all!
A chuckle made her rise to her feet. There, looking very amused, was Mr. Rowle, accompanied by an equally grinning Griphook and another young man Harry didn't recognise. "I see you made it, Miss Evans," Mr. Rowle chuckled. "Let's get rid of all that soot first though."
With one wandless non-verbal cleaning spell, Harry was once more soot free.
"Thank you," she grinned sheepishly as Orion practically skipped out of the fireplace, closely followed by Loreley, both of whom didn't come covered head to toe in soot.
Mr. Rowle's face lit up as soon as he spotted them. "Heir Black and Heiress Malfoy! Lovely, we are complete. How are the two of you doing?"
"Hello, Rollo!" Orion beamed. "We are well, and I am glad to see that it is the same in your case. Last we heard from Ophelia you were travelling Albania with some corps of your Cursebreakers in pursuit of a rather dangerous artefact. How did that go?"
Mr. Rowle turned rather serious at this point. "It didn't quite go as any of us expected. We lost quite a few good people on that expedition. We got the artefact, but at a very steep price."
Harry, for some odd reason, looked to Loreley at this point, whose normally silvery, dancing eyes were full of knowing but now those orbs concealed a similar expression with something quite ominous and heavy embedded within. Harry could not stop the shiver that went down her spine.
"Let us move onto the business at hand," Griphook stated, leading the way through the sea of front counters towards the back offices. "Now, I do not want any of you young wand-wielders to worry too much. You are not in trouble, but since this case has been rather untoward and more concerning than some of the others, our King and some of our best Cursebreakers simply want to get the facts straight."
Harry, Orion and Loreley exchanged a look that translated to the same thing: do we tell them literally everything?
Harry knew goblins hated liars, especially where there was money concerned. She, Ron and Hermione had somehow managed to deceive their way into Gringotts, using Polyjuice Potion and an Imperius Curse – not exactly something the goblins of her time would thank her for if she ever showed her face there again. Time was money to the goblins; these artefacts and cases were money to the goblins. She had read the laws of the goblins and the rules of Gringotts. There was a chance – even though there was a possible traitor in the midst of Gringotts – Harry would need to divulge exactly which branch of magic she used.
Griphook led them into a grand office, where another goblin, who wore a crown and no certain amount of armour was seated amongst Cursebreakers of all shapes and sizes. There were young ones, middle aged ones, slightly older ones – black, white, and she was rather surprised to see one of Japanese descent, given that the Japanese were the enemies of England in the Second World War. Then again, goblins usually did not get involved in the affairs of humans unless there was a benefit for them in it.
Mr. Rowle was making the introduction rounds. "Miss Evans, Heir Black, Heiress Malfoy, this is His Grace, King Ragnok, who has been following your exploits closely," the goblin king bowed his head, "and my Cursebreakers are Miles Jiri, Oscar de Vere, Hirano Satoshi – Hirano is his family name by the way; the Japanese emphasise the family name instead of the personal one – and Katerina Vasilyeva."
"Pleasure to make your acquaintance," the seventh year Hogwarts students greeted formally, bowing their heads, much to the Cursebreakers' amusement.
"I assure you it is our honour to make your acquaintance," Miles Jiri, a suavely dressed man of colour, reassured with a small smile as the young students took their seats. "I must say that I am rather surprised to see for myself that rumours of a seventeen-year-old Cursebreaker were not exaggerated. The kind of work we do is not for the faint of heart and, I do not mean to sound patronising, Miss Evans, but I am surprised at the feats you have accomplished so far. You have a lot of talent, that's clear."
Harry flushed a little in embarrassment.
"Harry is not good at taking compliments," Orion grinned a little.
"Well, I find that most surprising," Katerina Vasilyeva, a doe-eyed woman with curly brown hair in her early thirties, smiled brightly at Harry. "From what I have heard, she is deserving of them, after all."
"Ah, our last attendant is here!" Mr. Rowle stated jovially as, to Harry's delight, Thanatos, disguised as Tom Burke, ran into the room, looking a little sheepish. "I'd say we are now truly complete. Since we have an ally and guardian of the young Lady Regnant, who will serve as the witness for these three children, here with us we can begin."
What are you doing here? Harry couldn't resist asking.
Thanatos smiled wryly. We were not going to simply let you walk into a battlefield alone. Especially one that has two goblins involved.
"Sorry, I am late. I had a tricky customer," Thanatos stated out loud, sighing deeply.
The door of the office was closed and to Harry's surprise, no certain amount of Silencing, Muffling and Secrecy charms were put on the door immediately. So that meant one of two things: one, Gringotts were upping their secrecy to ensure the traitor wouldn't be able to spy on important meetings and two, if anything found its way into the papers or into Grindelwald's lap, that meant the traitor was one of the people sitting in the room with her. Harry felt her fight-or-flight response elevate slightly, heightening her awareness of the people around her.
"So, as we all know, at approximately ten o'clock in the evening two nights ago on Tuesday 17th October, we received a Hogwarts owl carrying the decursed portrait we sent to the Lady Regnant weeks ago along with a letter from Headmaster Armando Dippet, explaining the situation that had occurred," Griphook began the meeting, taking out what Harry assumed was Dippet's letter from his bag. "Your Headmaster wrote, 'in the late hours of the evening, my staff and I were informed by Miss Hera Evans and her two friends, Mr. Orion Black and Miss. Loreley Malfoy, that the portrait which they had been working on had been successfully decursed, but with some unforeseen outcomes'." Griphook raised his eyes from the letter and gave them a scrutinising look. "Is this a fair assessment from your Headmaster?"
"Yes, sir," Harry nodded formally.
"Would you kindly run us through what the three of you did that evening, and what those 'unforeseen outcomes' were?" King Ragnok asked eagerly. "We read the papers of course, but things tend to get lost in translation or exaggerated."
"Erm," Harry cleared her throat and took a deep sigh. "Things haven't exactly been … stable at Hogwarts," Orion snorted at that but quickly composed himself, "and that particular evening I just felt like, 'I need to solve this portrait and I need to do it now'. I asked Orion and Loreley at dinner if they wanted to come with me, since they had been the ones to help me since the portrait was assigned to me. We left to dump our school stuff, took the portrait to a secluded place we could work as we had done before but decided that our previous approaches must have been lacking something."
"What do you mean, things have not been 'stable' at Hogwarts?" Katerina asked curiously.
"Impromptu Dementor attacks, my condition rearing its head and a small spat with fellow Housemates," Harry informed candidly.
"What approaches did you take in solving the portrait?" Miles Jiri continued.
"Anything we could throw at it – sigil magic, Ancient Runic magic, Ancient Egyptian anti-curses, Summoning spells, Unlocking spells," Harry listed on her fingers. "You see, Orion likes Muggle books and he pointed it out early on that the situation with the portrait reminded him of the Portrait of Dorian Grey," Orion flushed in embarrassment when people turned to look at him,"and Loreley, who likes art, told everyone who said it was ugly that it wasn't what was on the outside that counted, but on the inside. It kind of clicked then and I had a heavy suspicion that there was something inside the portrait. So from there, we treated the portrait as though it were an elaborate prison."
"Fascinating that that was the process you used!" Mr. Rowle's eyes shone. "What happened next?"
"Weeks of frustration," Harry replied bluntly. "We had used everything we could find in family grimoires, library books, books Mr. Burke was kindly lending us from his shop – nothing worked. Then on that particular evening, we decided we must have been missing a step, which in hindsight was likely, and I cast the History Revelation spell I used to solve the statue's mysterious curse. That was when it was revealed to us that Gellert Grindelwald was highly likely the one who had been responsible for creating the artefact in the first place."
A cold tension had entered the room at this point.
"Would you be averse to allowing us to see that particular memory?" Oscar de Vere asked cautiously. "It is not that we do not believe you – as we have suspected this ourselves – but we would like to see how you came to that conclusion."
Harry nodded. "Sure."
Promptly, a Pensieve appeared and Harry pointed her wand at her temple and focused on the memory she wanted people to see. Harry dropped the silver sliver into the glowing waters of the Pensieve and watched in awe as the waters leapt into the air and began to form itself into something akin to a watery screen. Harry watched with everyone else as the memory began to play.
Harry felt she couldn't watch it again for herself though; she never liked seeing herself back on film. Orion and Loreley had to duck their heads slightly in embarrassment throughout, not used to seeing themselves in someone else's head. Once the memory was finished and Harry had fished it out and put it back into her head, there were a multitude of disbelieving and fearful looks around the room.
"Yes, that was Grindelwald all right," Hirano Satoshi commented. He looked to the three solemn children. "Once you knew what had happened, what kind of magic did you resort to next?"
"My family magic," Orion piped up for the first time during the meeting. "You can say that my family, the Blacks, have some rather unorthodox magic and some experience with Dark magic but nothing like the kind Grindelwald used so we had to improvise. We ended up trying Great-Great-Great Aunt Andromeda's Spell of Dark Magnetism."
"Naturally for us to ask the particulars of family magic would breech some very important laws," Griphook said, "but may we know what the Spell of Dark Magnetism is supposed to do?"
"Cast properly, it was supposed to lure the person in question to the caster's location. It worked like a Siren song because the person had no choice but to obey," Orion answered. "I heard rumours Aunt Andromeda created a layered spell in order to lure her lover away from his wife but I never thought it was real until I used the grimoire for the first time."
"You don't use your family magic often?" Katerina asked curiously to which Orion shook his head.
"No, I don't really like it," he admitted. "I prefer Ancient Runes. Dark magic has something heavy about it; I don't like how cold it feels."
"So it was the first time you used a spell like that?" Oscar de Vere inquired, looking a little surprised.
"A powerful Black spell, yes," Orion nodded. "Normally I stick to the relatively tamer spells that are still quite Dark. My father would paddle me black and blue if I ever refused to touch our family magic."
"So, did you cast the spell alone, Heir Black, or did Heiress Malfoy and the Lady Regnant assist you?" King Ragnok asked, getting the train of the meeting back on its rails.
"We cast it together – more power behind the spell the better," Orion replied.
"And did it succeed?" Mr. Rowle asked eagerly.
"No, it didn't," Loreley answered whimsically. "It almost did, but the two spells were fighting each other tooth and nail. Grindelwald's magic just … wouldn't let go. The spell wasn't powerful enough and petered out."
"So, what happened next?" Miles Jiri frowned.
It was at this point Harry, Orion and Loreley exchanged a look. Harry felt Thanatos put a comforting hand on her arm and looked to see him giving her a comforting smile. Harry took a deep breath. "I used my own family magic on the painting. We were already frustrated but now we were all just fed up of the portrait and of Grindelwald – I guess I must have snapped. I used some … powerful family magic that I am just learning on the portrait. The next thing I know, I am in an armchair, feeling utterly exhausted and then there are two unconscious men on the floor and the painting was gone."
The eyes of the Cursebreakers were bugged out. The goblin king and Griphook were exchanging a look Harry could only describe as 'knowing'. Mr. Burke gave her a reassuring squeeze.
"What spell was it?" Hirano Satoshi asked eagerly.
"It wasn't a spell," Harry whispered. "It is a magic that runs in the family; you could say the only way to get it is to inherit it. You see, my family has been hiding for centuries, because people have wanted what we have for centuries, all because of a fairy story."
The coin seemed to drop in an instant in the minds of the Cursebreakers at this point.
"Merlin," Katerina whispered. "You're one of them – a Peverell!"
Harry smiled wryly and gave a short nod.
Thanatos butted in for the first time when he saw them about to send a barrage of questions. "Who her family is, is not the point of this meeting. The Lady Regnant has been gracious enough to admit something that could put her in more danger than she already is. Kindly concentrate on the matter at hand before I invoke my legal powers as an ally of House Peverell."
"Indeed," Griphook agreed. "I can assure you, anything that has been said in here will stay secret – we have taken some very necessary precautions, given whom the Lady Hera is. Now, what happened after the events you described, my Lady?"
"We knew we had to inform the teachers," Harry continued. "We couldn't try to hide two strangers in critical condition even if we tried to. Loreley and I went to find someone while Orion stayed with the men to keep an eye on them. We eventually went to our Charms and Defence teachers, who helped us bring them to the hospital wing. Our matron, Madam Abernathy, concluded they needed to go to St. Mungo's. Those were the 'unforeseen outcomes' the Headmaster mentioned."
"Quite," the King agreed. "Unforeseen is almost an understatement. Prior to the meeting I got into contact with St. Mungo's and apparently both men are stable but they have not yet woken up. They refused to tell us anything more because of physician-patient confidentiality."
Harry, Orion and Loreley sighed with relief to know that the two men were, for now, still alive.
"Well, I think it is safe to say that the three of you have had quite an adventure," Miles sighed, shaking his head in disbelief. "I still cannot believe this … why were we not informed the Cursebreaker is a bloody Peverell?!"
"For good reason, Mr. Jiri," Griphook growled. "We have a leak at Gringotts; we are tightening the noose around the traitor but we need to eliminate suspects. Anyone who knows the Lady Regnant's true identity only does so because they have our confidence."
Miles nodded solemnly. "I will not say a word."
The sentiment was shared by his fellow Cursebreakers.
"Well, I think that concludes the business for today," the King stated. "To the three of you, I thank you for your candour and that you were willing to take time out of your studies and school to do this. I know your exams are fast approaching – they begin next year April or May, correct?"
"Yes, sir," the kids chorused.
The King nodded. "From what I have seen, the three of you will do just fine but all the same, I wish you luck with all your exams and that this will not be the end of our acquaintance."
"Thank you, Your Grace." The three young wand-wielders bowed to him and followed Mr. Burke and Griphook out of the office while some of the Cursebreakers were still quietly trying to get their heads around the fact they had been in the presence of a Peverell. Mr. Rowle, for some reason, remained conspicuously quiet and stoic.
"I would like to express my own personal thanks to all three of you," Griphook stated as he escorted them to the entrance of Gringotts. "As for the spy in our ranks, I want to assure you I am taking the matter seriously and have come up with some little traps to root him out."
"Or her," Harry pointed out. The goblin looked surprised. "No one ever suspects the woman."
The goblin grinned. "Indeed, Lady Peverell. Would you like me to open the Floo Network back to Hogwarts now, or a little later?"
"I'd thought I'd treat them to some tea and cake back at my home," Thanatos said jovially. "I am sure they can catch up to their next lesson easily enough."
"It is practical Charms preparation, so definitely!" Orion reassured, his eyes dancing at the prospect of cake.
"Then I will inform the Headmaster the meeting has lasted longer than expected and that you will be back for your third period classes," Griphook stated, his eyes shining mischievously. "Until next time. My Lady, a pleasure as always."
"May your gold continue to flow," Harry grinned.
Griphook grinned back. "And may your enemies fall at your feet."
"I never did like the goblins. They still scare me a little," Orion admitted as soon as they were out of Gringotts, out of earshot of any goblins, and walking down Diagon Alley.
"I think that is precisely their goal," Loreley pointed out.
"True, but that is why they are worthy allies and dangerous foes," Thanatos added, grinning at the two purebloods. "So, I finally get to make your official acquaintance. Thomas Burke, at your service. Harry speaks very highly of the both of you."
Orion flushed red but look pleased while Loreley gave him a sunny smile. "She speaks highly of you too, sir, and the rest of your family. We are happy to know she does have some guardian angels with her."
Orion nodded in agreement and Thanatos looked at her in absolute shock. Harry giggled at his reaction. Her amusement only continued when they came to Thanatos' bookstore, which Harry was of the opinion of it should be renamed Tosti's Books but knew the god of death would never allow that, Orion had darted in and began shooting from one section of books to another at lightning speed.
"Merlin, he has literally everything here! Is that the new book by Irma Shade? No way, no way, no way – Prangle's Guide to Pictish Lore and Symbols! I have been looking for this everywhere? How did you get it, sir? Is it really for sale? Harryharryharryharryharry, look, look, look: A to Z of Dragon Kind!Do you think it has some information on Gargouilles?"
Thanatos looked more and more exhausted but amused as he watched the spitfire that was the Heir of the Most Ancient and Most Noble House of Black run around, excitedly gathering books and looking like Yule had come early. Harry and Loreley were giggling madly, completely used to the endless energy and enthusiasm of their friend. Melinoë, who had watched from the upper floor of the bookstore with a look of amused disbelief, lured Orion up to the apartment with promise of chocolate cake. Though Orion did stay put in his chair, he took great pleasure in looking around the home of the enigmatic bookstore owner and the ally to his friend's House.
There were some strange objects dotted around the place, but they were cool, nonetheless. There were tasteful and beautiful artworks, some of which were sculptures, of ravens, butterflies, fields of poppies and people. Some of them were winged. Orion's favourite was of a woman who had hair as dark as night, eyes as bright as the stars and dressed in gowns made of such a colour it looked like it had been woven from the night sky.
Hypnos, disguised as Henry, had followed Orion's eyes to the painting. "My brother dabbles in art now and again. He's good, right?"
Orion nodded enthusiastically. "Very! Is she … his wife?"
Thanatos and Hypnos laughed while Melinoë giggled. Orion looked confused.
"No, absolutely not. That's my and Henry's mother!" Thanatos answered once he recovered. Orion looked a little embarrassed at this.
"Really?" Harry's eyes shone as she looked at the portrait of the goddess of night herself. "She's really pretty!"
"She will be glad to hear that," Melinoë chuckled. "Auntie Nyx always has been rather self-conscious."
Harry then grinned teasingly at Thanatos and Hypnos. "You got your looks from your dad, didn't you?"
"HEY!"
Orion blanched too. "Harry, that is mean! They are perfectly fine looking gentlemen."
Harry cackled evilly as she sipped her tea.
Melinoë shook her head at Harry's antics and looked at Orion. "I am glad you are able to handle us so well so quickly. Our family is an acquired taste, even our friends, as you can probably tell with Harry."
"So is mine, Miss Rollins," Orion reassured with a grin. "Every family event always has an interesting start and an interesting end. Harry is nothing in comparison with what I am used to."
"Yes, a Gothic Horror play," Harry agreed as she took a slice of chocolate cake.
"My family always has been different too," Loreley agreed. "Knights, diplomats, suspected murderers – we have had it all in the Malfoys! Hopefully our future will live up to that, but I have a slight fear they will not."
Melinoë studied Loreley closely for a moment. "Are you perhaps acquainted with three weavers?" she asked.
Loreley grinned. "You could say that."
Harry chuckled. Hypnos quickly distracted a confused Orion with some of the other paintings and art works on Thanatos' wall, some of which were more of their divine family. Harry and Thanatos quietly talked about the Three Peverell Brothers and how they were managing to run the Evren Estates from within their frames while she was gone. Tosti had also given her the address, sheepish he had forgotten to give it to her in the first place.
"The elves are rather excited to meet you. Now Antioch, Cadmus and Ignotus have me deal with most of the signing as official ally of your House. Antioch and Cadmus have also been arguing about whether you need an official Regent, but Ignotus pointed out that you only have a few months until you are out of Hogwarts and that it isn't certain you even want to enter the Wizengamot," Thanatos continued.
"Indeed," Harry agreed. "I admit I have not entirely ruled it out, but I really can't deal with backstabbing and idiotic adults at present."
"Understandable," he nodded.
"I am in a similar boat," Orion commented, hearing Harry's last statement. "I want to work with my Runes a little while longer, maybe help Harry with her Cursebreaking, which I know most would consider stupid from the Heir of Arcturus Black. My father is still in good health and unless he dies, I will never be Lord Black. Hence, I have no political obligations or desires until I am given no other choice."
"It is not an entirely stupid idea," Loreley stated with a smile. "You should go into business together, once all this nonsense with Grindelwald and Hogwarts exams are over and done with. A Cursebreaking and Warding business … yes … it would be good … for all of us."
"Going into business? Together?" Orion's eyes widened. "As partners?!"
"Why not? I rather like that idea," Harry grinned. "Naturally Loreley should be included as well, given her many talents and her Arithmancy skills. We'll call ourselves Evans, Black and Malfoy: For all your Cursebreaking and Warding needs."
"I think you may need a different name," Thanatos teased. "A bit of a mouthful."
"I am rather good with the numerical and legal side of things," Loreley's eyes danced. "I could also look for clients."
Orion looked like he was about to hyperventilate. "I don't know what scares me more: the fact that I like the sound of that or the fact that I will never hear the end of it from my father."
"We are at the crossroads," Loreley stated wistfully.
"You need not make a decision now," Melinoë pointed out, giving Loreley a strange look. "You can think it over. After all, I think money isn't the issue, or reputation – if you three keep this up. And Orion, if I may, you have a life to live. Live it while you can."
Orion looked shocked at that but nodded as he found himself able to. On the way back to Gringotts, when it was time to get back to Hogwarts before Dippet came looking, the Black Heir still could barely say anything, but once he did, he simply turned to Harry and chuckled. "Your family friends are certainly unique."
"Indeed," Harry agreed, laughing.
"We are setting a path to a new adventure," Loreley stated in a sing song voice, looping her arms with Harry and Orion's. "One to remember for the future."
For once, Harry wasn't scared by this premonition. In fact, she was rather looking forward to seeing what Loreley meant. Orion too decided that this was one of the wisest things he ever heard Loreley Malfoy say.
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Tom Riddle had spent most of his time after dinner on his own in the Room of Requirement, once more attempting his hand at the Patronus Charm. It was not helping to slow down the thoughts in his head, ones that had been stuck there since he had secretly visited Harry in the Hospital Wing and the sly campaign of vengeance she was no doubt waging against him and his Knights. Tom still had not figured out how she did it, but he knew Harry had been behind his Glamoured books.
He had been furious, but a part of him couldn't help marvel at how spectacularly cunning the scheme was. Tom had been furious at the utter complete stupidity of Dolohov – attacking Orion Black was positively suicidal – and Lament had not helped matters. The urge to Crucio both of them had been great, but something had stopped him. Tom couldn't explain why, but it had been the venom in Harry's eyes and tone when she told him to control his friends and keep to a code of conduct during their feud that had halted any notion of hurting Dolohov or Lament.
Then, Altair Nott switched sides, seemingly out of nowhere. Tom knew the cretin and Harry had conversed – when, he had no idea. There were a couple of lunches when both Nott and Harry were not present in the Hall but that was about it. Malfoy subtly had informed Tom before dinner that Rosier was considering speaking to Harry himself.
Surprisingly, Tom wasn't upset at that. At all. He knew he had made a huge error in judgement going after Harry Evans the way he did. The girl had made friends and allies quicker than he had ever seen, and they had not turned their back on her like he thought they would.
Not to mention that Harry now had friends in both Gryffindor and Ravenclaw and had managed to teach her fellow seventh years an Auror level spell in two lessons. Tom had been resolved to not be one of the only ones only able to cast a shield. Yule was two months away but that would arrive as quickly as Samhain was looming on the horizon. He simply needed to get it done.
But how? He had no happy memories!
Or did he?
Tom frowned as he closed his eyes and went through his memories. His first toy – taken away by one of the children. His first friend, a grass snake; killed by Mrs. Cole. His first controlled bout of magic at Billy … nope, only satisfaction. No happiness. Even at Hogwarts with his friends – nothing. Not even while mingling with the upper echelons of magical British society. Just a determination to make a good impression to use their connections for himself. Meeting Frey … he had used that one before and it hadn't even made a shield.
Then against his better judgement, Tom reviewed his memories of Harry. Meeting her – he had felt intrigued. Watching her flare up in an instant; surprised. Watching her magic almost explode her compartment; scared, awed and yet, like he needed to make sure nothing happened to her by accident.
That would have taken the fun away, right?
Tom was surprised when his inner Slytherin made no answer.
Harry sorted into Slytherin – excited that he could dissect the mystery up close. Harry blasting Dumbledore accidentally; satisfying beyond belief, not to mention funny. But still, no happiness. But also, because of Harry Evans-Peverell and her madness, Tom wasn't entirely miserable or focusing entirely on winning over the wizarding world. Even his Horcruxes didn't matter … not anymore. Maybe regaining Harry's alliance would allow him to find a happy memory?
For the first time in possibly his life, Tom actually allowed himself to laugh out loud. Then he realised in order to cast a Patronus, he needed to apologise to Harry – and grovel for forgiveness.
Oh boy.
###############
It seems Tom's pride is going to get him to do something he has never done – try to apologise to someone he has wronged. And will the spy within Gringotts find out what happened in that meeting or will Gellert wait a little longer for the identity of his new fascination? Then there is still the matter of Flamel and Samhain approaching.
Orion: Do you think the readers would want me to go into business with Harry?
Orion, stop overthinking things!
Orion: You make me over think things, evil hag!
True. See you guys in the next chapter!
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