Harry Potter: The Rise

by Kradion

Harry explores the Chamber of Secrets at the end of his second-year and finds a portrait of Salazar Slytherin. Secrets are revealed earlier than in canon as Harry attempts to find himself while experiencing complex emotions, new magics, and character defining moments. AU, though many canon events are observed.

8. Regulus Black's Ploy

Chapter 8: Regulus Black's Ploy

I do not own Harry Potter

Author's Notes:

1) Yes, another chapter which is kind of just a history review. It is also a shorter one, since I did not want the pace and setting of the Gringotts visit to spill over into a new scene. The story will speed up in the next chapter, and the year will be wrapped up.

2) Harry is a horcrux, for the ones who wanted clarification.

3) I am sorry about the occasions of incorrect grammar, I will fix them as I find them.

4) Occlumency does not REQUIRE a person legillimizing you, as seen in other fanfics. It is certainly a workable way to learn the art, but not the only one. It was taught to Harry this way in canon because of a lack of time. I doubt practitioners of the art, like Snape had their minds essentially raped over and over again to grasp the technique. In my opinion, learning naturally is slower, but advised.

Enjoy!

10:30| Gringotts Bank| Diagon Alley| 21st June 1993

Contrary to popular belief, the rings were not just mere symbols. Very few people knew that they gave certain powers to their wearer. One of them was a certain level of protection against 'mind-arts'. This meant that low and somewhat medium level compulsion charms would be resisted automatically. They also provided the wearer with 'Occlumency', or the art of shielding your mind from being penetrated by another, by a practice called 'Legillimency'. However, it was still recommended that the person learn the art of shielding their mind for themselves, something Harry had also started to do. There had been attempts to replicate such rings, however none ever came to be even remotely as successful. Legend had it that Merlin himself crafted these rings, and presented them to the families at some point. Harry put on the rings and was escorted by a human clerk to a private chamber where he could open Regulus' package.

As he sat down, another human clerk, came in and placed a file envelope on the table. "Good day, sir."

"Thank you, and good day."

Harry tore it open and took out the contents – there was a letter and a notepad in it. Harry decided to read the letter first.

To whom it may concern,

If you are reading this letter, then I am dead. I know you will have found out by now that despite knowing I do not the Black Lordship, I did not reveal this piece of news to the Dark Lord. I also know it is my brother, Sirius who holds the lordship. Sirius, if you are the one reading this, I would like to only say that you truly deserve to hold the title, and that I am very sorry for everything that happened between the two of us. I hope we can be brothers again when we reunite in the afterlife. And if this is the unborn Potter, who I am certain is my brother's heir, I would like to express my congratulations. You stand to become the head of two ancient families, a most envious position. I want to say only one thing to you - with great power comes great responsibility.

I know this sounds most unusual for a man branded with the Dark Mark. The truth is, I made a grave mistake by joining the Death Eaters. I have seen it for some time now. I took the mark at the age of just 16, when I was an impressionable schoolboy misled into joining a movement I did not fully understand. I believed I was fighting for the preservation of our heritage; of wizarding traditions that have been named 'Pureblood Customs' for political reasons. Take for instance, Samhain – October 31st. It is a day of honoring those who are no longer with us, and remembering their sacrifices and contributions. It has now been reduced to a nothing but a holiday party and dressing up in absurd costumes. It is now a disgrace, not a day of honoring the dead. It is only a small part of the systematic dismantling of wizarding society and turning in into a replica of the muggle world – an absurd and misguided path. I am also a person who fully supports modernization and innovation, what I do not support is that coming at the cost of our heritage.

The reality people cannot see or refuse to see is that the wizarding world is not the muggle world. I will be the first to admit, our society is not flawless. But neither is the muggle one – to this day there exists widespread prejudice and discrimination against someone simply because they are dark skinned, or because they are a woman who wishes to work and not simply be a housewife. These are issues our society moved past long ago – the 'outdated' wizarding world is actually centuries ahead of the 'new' and 'reformed' muggle world at such a crucial matter.

We have also have a different set of problems than our counterparts. There hasn't been a war between two wizarding nations since the 19th century. Meanwhile, as I pen this letter, the muggle world has emerged from one intercontinental and devastating war named 'World War 2' and immediately entered into another one, this one called 'Cold War'. Our priority is interspecies war – such as with the goblins. I will not dive too far into detail in my beliefs here – you may read through my notepad for further insights into my ideology.

Coming back to my joining of the death eaters, I thought I was doing it for the aforementioned reason, and for protecting my family's history. There is a faction within the Progressives that wants the ancient families to give up their permanent seats and open up our family libraries and artefacts to the rest of the world. I find this most unagreeable – throughout history it has been the ancient families that have stepped forward for the betterment of the State, and for its protection. We enjoy this privilege because we are the ones who perform the duty of protecting the State, and its interests. It is no coincidence that Britain's biggest heroes in the Global Wizarding War were my grandfather Arcturus Black, and Charlus Potter – both heirs of ancient families. There is also the question of family magic – it is not something that can be replicated, it is found only in specific bloodlines, such as Parseltongue being the Slytherin family magic. Once again, the wizarding world is not the muggle world – your blood does make a difference. As for our family libraries and artefacts – they are private property, a concept I am certain exists in the 'better' world as well. Besides, families have dangerous knowledge and items at their disposal, opening them up to the rest of the world means inviting the next Dark Lord to wreak havoc on our society. Also, do things like Copyrights or family secrets not exist in the muggle world? Their sheer hypocrisy never ceases to amaze me. I accept that it is unfortunate that someone capable outside of the families is unable to access our tomes, however, it is necessary. Besides, we do not hide away fields of magic, we merely preserve some books on certain subjects. In fact, 'family libraries' is a misleading term. We do not have entire bookshelves of extremely rare tomes, there are only a few in number. The rest of the books can be found in the world with varying degrees of ease.

So, when I joined the Death Eaters, I believed I was fighting for my identity. I found out within weeks that people like me were only being used by YKW (I am not using the name out of fear of being tracked – the name is jinxed and I could give away my location by using it) for him to establish a dictatorship with himself at its center. People forget the man himself killed Purebloods and tortured many on countless occasions. He does not believe in the mindless blood-purity and supremacy like many, and neither do I for that matter. He simply portrays it that way since these people are influential and capable of financing his war. He will kill them the second he thinks he does not need them.

The DEs themselves are nothing more than savages. I saw the remorseless killing and realized I am not part of a political movement with a militaristic identity, but a purely militaristic one. The horrific way in which I saw my cousin Bellatrix kill an innocent muggleborn family for simply no other reason than 'because they are mudbloods!' will haunt me for the rest of my days.

I am not a monster, merely a foolish child drowning in his pool of poor choices. I wish YKWs savagery was more on display back then – I would have surely not joined if that were the case. I wish I had said no to Dennis Travers during that winter in 1977. I wish I had not driven away my brother Sirius, who was only trying to protect me. I wish I am not too far in... I wish I can turn back from this path I have chosen...

Enough, I have rambled on for too long; I will move on to what will be of use to you. A few weeks ago, I discovered YKW's greatest secret. In his arrogance, the man let slip how he had 'walked further than anyone on the path to immortality'. I pieced together that the man had made a horcrux. This is just another proof of why I believe I joined the wrong side. If you are unaware, a horcrux is essentially an object in which one places a part of their own soul. It is even more disgusting than it sounds. As long as one has a horcrux, they cannot truly die. If they do, they can 'resurrect' themselves, however that is not entirely correct. Once again, I advise you turn over to my notepad for a more detailed description of them.

I also know of the location of his horcrux. It is by inside a remote seaside cave located at Manningtree, Essex. IT IS ENTIRELY POSSIBLE HE HAS MADE MORE. This is however, only conjecture on my part, from his line of having 'gone further than anyone'.

One day YKW asked to borrow my house-elf and most loyal friend – Kreacher. I reluctantly agreed. He took him to this cave and had my elf work his way to a large rock located at the other end of the cave. There, he forced Kreacher to drink empty an entire basin of poison. Once the basin was empty, a locket became accessible. YKW then refilled the basin, and left a weakened Kreacher behind.

He made a mistake, though. I am sure he meant for Kreacher to die there, which did not happen. I believe he thought the poison had completely debilitated Kreacher, and was killing him. However, he was still strong enough to be able to apparate out and relay the events of the day to me.

I am sure that the locket was a horcrux, and will be stealing it and replacing it with a replica. I mentioned at the start of the letter that if you are seeing this, then I am dead. If I succeed in stealing and destroying the horcrux, I will have left a follow up letter. If that is not the case, then I have failed for one reason or another. Go to the seat of the Black family – 12, Grimmauld Place and seek Kreacher - call him out, he will have to answer to your command. If he is dead as well, then I fear you must go back to the cave I mentioned.

You have a tedious task in front of you, I wish you the best of luck and hope my letter had provided you with some sort of help in the fight against He Who Must Not Be Named.

Regulus Arcturus Black