That very same afternoon, Elise took Harry to Gringotts. She practically burst through the front doors before hightailing it to Ironmalice's office. Any goblin she passed was quickly flashed the official letter before she hurried past them to continue on her mission. As soon as he saw her, he waved her over.

"Miss Clarke, right this way, I'd like to get Harry looked at as soon as possible please." He pointed down the hall to a cart. "We'll take the tracks to the room we'll be using."

"Alright," Elise got onto the cart with him, clutching Harry to her chest to keep him from moving. "What is it that you've figured out?"

"Not here, Miss Clarke, not here." Ironmalice shook his head.

She nodded as they rode on. The room wasn't terribly far, and the path was pretty basic. Elise feared it would be the normal cart rides with flipping and tossing and turning, she was infinitely glad it wasn't.

"My team has been hard at work looking for the answers you seek." Ironmailce said as they came to a halt. "What we found will be shocking, and if we are right…" He grimaced. "We will be here a long while.."

Elise felt her heart sink. What had they found? Would Harry be alright? Would they have to hurt him first to make him better? She cuddled the happy baby close, she never wanted to see him hurt, just the thought was heartbreaking. Still, she followed Ironmalice inside, knowing whatever they would do would help Harry in the end; whether it was instant or over time, he would be all the better for having this dark magic removed from his body.

Her goblin advisor led her through a locked door into a large room. Seven goblins scurried about the room, comparing texts and making notes.

"Stonejaw, the boy is here. Get ready" Ironmalice barked orders to the team, making them work as fast as possible. "Miss Clarke, please set the boy down in the center of that table there." He pointed to a stone table a few paces away.

Elise still held the sleeping Harry close as she walked into the chaos. Tomes and scrolls were pushed off the table and carved runes were revealed underneath. Elise laid Harry down in the center as instructed.

"Wait, you never told me what you found…" Elise remarked as a goblin hurried in front of her, drawing a strange rune on top of Harry's scar.

"Miss Clarke, have you ever heard of a horcrux?" Ironmalice's tone was dark.

"Horcrux? No, what is that?" She felt her voice quiver, suddenly more afraid than before.

"Something so vile, so incredibly cruel, that it's magic has been lost to time. until now, that is. This magic, though amazing in concept, is truly the most despicable kind of curse." Ironmalice's words were focused, deliberate. He was entirely serious.

"What…" she couldn't begin to form any questions, her mind was racing.

A goblin pulled up a chair for her and she sat down heavily.

"All I will tell you for now is that we need to ensure that our theory is correct, and if it is we must remove this evil from the boy now, lest it consumes him and his magic any further." She could only nod as he spoke, lost in fear and worry for the baby boy in front of them.

"Start the spell." He said, motioning for the last goblin to take his place at the table.

Four of them stood at each corner, monitoring a crystal set delicately in a rune circle. Elise watched with bated breath as the intricate lines seemed to come to life. They shone a bright green and enveloped Harry in the glowing light. He had long since woken up, and the light must have scared him, as he was now crying. She grimaced. She wanted nothing more than to scoop him up and take him away, but still, she let them go on.

As the goblins began chanting in gobbledegook, the light shifted. Ironmalice grunted something, urging them to continue. They did so, and the light burned red. Elise couldn't even see Harry anymore, but she could hear his screams. She could feel his fear and his pain in her magic. Tears pooled in her eyes as she stood, the words to call off the spell caught in her throat.

Ironmalice shook his head at her, pointing at the center of the table. In the midst of the red light, a dark energy smoked from the boy's head. She looked away for a moment, frightened. When she turned back, the energy had taken shape. A nasty looking creature crawled out of his head, clawing and gnashing around. Ironmalice shouted more orders before taking another crystal and jamming it into the creature's head. The most vile scream she had ever heard escaped as the creature seemed to explode.

Dark energy dissipated about the table, leaving only the cries of baby Harry.

"Ironmalice, is it done? Can we let him go now?" She cried, praying that it was, for his sake and hers.

"No miss Clarke, he must stay here until his energy returns. Our assumption was indeed correct, Harry has just dispelled the essence of the dark lord out of his body. It is time for his own magic to return to him." He turned back to the table, speaking to his team once more.

Elise sank back into the chair, distraught. Harry's cries were growing more desperate by the second, but the light was fading back to green. Ironmalice was correct, per usual. She stood once more as the light seemed to grow brighter.

A yelp from one of the goblins made her flinch. The runes only got brighter, fading from green to yellow.

"What's happening-?" Elise started, but the question never reached them.

"Hold steady!" Ironmalice's yell interrupted her. "Do not break the spell!"

She turned back to Harry, who was completely encased in the light. The light that now shone a brilliant gold color. Elise almost thought it was beautiful. The cries of Harry kept her grounded though, and she clasped her arms around herself to keep from shaking.

Then, just as quickly as it started, it was over. The light disappeared in a flash, and all that was left was a crying baby. Ironmalice gave her a swift nod, and she practically snatched him off the table, hugging him close.

"Harry…Harry…it's okay, I've got you. I'm here." She whispered, rocking him gently as he held onto her tightly, his tiny fist gripping the fabric of her shirt with all his might. "It's okay…" she repeated, no longer sure if it was for him or herself.

"Miss Clarke, excellent news." Ironmalice spoke up. "Young Harry is free from the horcrux. You have a very powerful wizard there, his magic almost overtook four of my men." He flashed a toothy grin.

"That golden light…was it supposed to happen like that?" She asked, her voice still shaky.

"No, not at all. That spell is used to unbind someone's magic core, whether from evil or from someone literally binding their magic to keep them from their full potential." Ironmalice explained. "His magic was bound three times over. Once by the evil trapped in his scar, and twice by spells cast upon him previously. Someone bound his magic, from birth, it would seem."

Elise balked. Harry's magic was bound three times. He should have been rendered nearly powerless, but here he was doing accidental magic at the age of one. She let out a breath.

"Thank you. All of you." She bowed as best she could while cradling a baby, acknowledging each goblin individually. "There's nothing to say to express my gratitude, how much do you need for payment?"

"Nonsense, you will not pay us for this. You provided interesting and groundbreaking research to further our studies. You are paying us in knowledge. Thank you for trusting us to serve you." Ironmalice motioned for her to follow him out of the room. "Besides, the Potters have been keeping Gringotts in business for centuries, it would be almost insulting to not provide this favor."

"I…thank you." She shook her head, still in disbelief.

Harry had promptly fallen asleep, no doubt exhausted from the ritual, not to mention unlocking his full power. His body was surely taxed beyond measure. She felt another tear roll down her face as she looked at the sleeping boy. At least he was safe now.

As she bid Ironmalice farewell and apparated back home, she couldn't shake her uneasiness. She set Harry down to rest in his bed and stepped out onto her porch.

A heavy breath left her as she stood there, frozen. Almost literally, seeing as it was very cold. She's forgotten to put her jacket back on. The cold of winter was bitter and unforgiving. She shivered, but was too tired to care. She noticed her mailbox had mail, and took slow steps toward it, her mind growing foggy. As she reached it, she fell to her knees, wincing as pain shot through her. She collapsed onto the ground completely after that, unable to move.

She heard a distant shout. Followed by hurried footsteps. The next thing she knew someone was checking her pulse and breath, then, she was promptly lifted into the air before blacking out completely.

—

Her body ached. That was her only thought as she groggily sat up on her couch. She noticed her clothes had been changed into warmer ones, and a blanket she'd never seen before was draped over her. Just as she began to question her circumstances, a tiny hand tapped her leg.

"Ma!" Harry propped himself up against the couch and tapped her lightly, a wide grin on his face.

"Harry!" She exclaimed, wondering how he'd gotten out of his crib.

"Ma!" He reached for her.

She stopped then, scooping him up. "What did you say?" A huge smile on her face.

"Ma!" He giggled.

"Oh my gosh, are you saying mama?" She felt her heart swell. "Who's Ma?"

He tapped her nose. "Ma-ma!"

She couldn't help it, she cried at the copied gesture of hers. Tapping his nose was one of her favorite things to do when she talked to him. Though a part of her felt guilty, like she was replacing his actual mother, she couldn't help but be full of pride.

"That's right, mama." She tapped her own nose through sniffles. "Mama, and Ha-rry" she sounded out his name slowly, tapping his nose for both syllables.

He giggled and tapped his nose "ree!"

She laughed, "Close enough."

He wriggled out of her grip then, crawling back onto the floor. He crawled over into the hall and toward the kitchen, giggling the whole way.

Elise sat up completely now, still utterly confused. She stretched and stood up to follow Harry when she heard something unfamiliar.

"Hey there kiddo, one second…" The deep baritone of a man's voice sounded out from the kitchen.

She froze, shocked, before the maternal instinct took over and rushed into the possible danger to retrieve Harry.

"Who are you..?" She breathed from the doorway, scooping Harry up and reaching for her wand discreetly.

It wasn't there.

"You're awake!" The man turned to face her, surprised.

That's when she noticed her wand on the kitchen counter, she stared at him incredulously. He raised his hands innocently.

"I'm sorry, I just got off the phone with your mother, I believe, she's on her way." He explained hurriedly. "I watched you collapse outside earlier and your front door was still unlocked…I took you back in because of the cold…"

She nodded, walking over to her wand slowly.

"I don't mean any harm, here." He reached for something in his pocket.

She glanced at him through her peripheral vision. He held out a wand, seemingly his own. She turned to face him completely now.

"You're a wizard?" She asked.

"Yes, see? We're both magic, there's nothing to hide here." He breathed, motioning for her to take his wand from him.

"No, no…it's fine." She sighed, still holding Harry close.

"How did I…well, what happened after you saw me fall?" She asked, looking at him suspiciously.

"I carried you in and set you in the living room. You collapsed from shock and probably the cold so I changed your clothes." His eyes grew wide for a moment as he waved his hands around nervously. "With magic! With magic, I changed them and then your son woke up and was crying and I thought it would wake you and it didn't so I brought him down here and called your mom and now we're here!" He spoke fast, he was almost unintelligible.

Elise couldn't help but laugh. His nervous attempt at an explanation was almost cute. She made a face. Cute? What was she, thirteen? She looked him up and down, taking in his features now that she had deemed him not threatening.

He was taller than her by at least half a foot. Elise wasn't that tall as it was, but she still thought him exceedingly high up with his added height. Her eyes fell on the rolled up sleeves of his button up. The white shirt was damp and splotched with makeup, no doubt from when he'd carried her inside. She thought him lean rather than muscular, but couldn't tell much from his outfit. He had dirty blonde hair and deep brown eyes, which were currently staring hard at the floor.

"What's your name?" She asked, setting a squirming Harry down to play once more.

"Nicholas. Nicholas Woods." He said, not looking up. "My mother lives next door."

"Ah, I'm Elise Clarke." She smiled and walked closer. "Thank you for helping me, have you had lunch?" She asked, hoping to repay him.

"Well…it's five o'clock." He gave her an uneasy smile. "You've been out for quite a while."

She whipped to the clock on the oven. Sure enough, it was a little past five. She sighed.

"Dinner, then?"

"I could eat." He replied, looking up at her then.

They held each other's gaze. Elise felt her heart rate quicken. The man before her seemed kind and genuine, something she'd been lacking from her previous few relationships with men. The absence of many friends in her life was a result of the same. Finding good people was hard to do these days it seemed.

Nicholas thought she was gorgeous. He was worried for her when she fell, and helped her without a second thought, but now that she was up and actually speaking to him…he felt like a shy school kid. He wanted desperately to ask her out then and there, but knew the circumstances were strange. Not to mention, he didn't know anything about her, she was probably married. He settled on aiming to see her again.

Elise turned to rummage through the pantry then, trying to distract herself. She saw pasta on the top shelf. Spaghetti sounded good, and they had everything to make it. She reached for it, jumping up slightly. The box tumbled from the shelf, causing her to lose her balance and stumble backward. Nicholas was there in an instant, clutching her arms to stabilize her fall.

Just as she was going to thank him, the front door burst open.

"Elise! Are you alright-?" The worried shriek of her mother came from the door, startling them both.

Nicholas stumbled backwards but didn't let go of Elise, causing them both to topple over. Elise's yelp sent her mother racing toward the kitchen, just in time to see her daughter sprawled on top of a man she didn't recognize.

Nicholas let out an "oof!" but caught her nonetheless, making sure she didn't hit the tile floor.

She scrambled off of him, apologizing profusely. Harry sat in the doorway laughing. Elise's face was bright red by the time her mother had rushed to her side, bombarding her. She answered her absentmindedly, lost in the way Nicholas picked up the pasta and answered her mother's questions without hesitation.

That settled it. She was screwed. Her mother announced that she would be cooking dinner and she left her to it, wandering back to the living room with the oncoming dread building up in her mind. Harry had followed her, bringing Nicholas with him. She watched as he entertained him easily, making toys and blocks play out scenarios and voicing out characters for Harry's amusement. She felt the urge to laugh at her foolishness, how could she develop the adult equivalent of a school-girl crush on this man she met literally minutes ago. She rubbed her temples, grimacing.

A coffee cup filled with hot chocolate and marshmallows appeared before her eyes, floating carefully above her hands. She glanced at Nicholas who had his wand facing toward her. He flashed a smile.

Oh, she was beyond screwed.