10 Ritual

They almost missed lunch, but still managed to have enough food.

Soon after returning to their apartment, Dobby popped in, looking more excited than usual. "Master Harry Potter Sir, Dobby found a very dark something that Master should see."

Harry frowned. "What did you find?"

Dobby could barely control his excitement. "Dobby found a tiara. It has much magic in it, most very ancient and good, but it also has some more recent magic on it. Very dark! Dobby can't cleanse it, but maybe Master and Mistress can."

Both girls stood up, intending to join him, but Harry had different ideas. "I don't want your babies exposed to such dark magic. We can't be sure it won't affect them. I'll go there alone."

The girls grimaced, but couldn't refute his objection. They didn't want to take any avoidable risk to their babies, just like Harry. "Just be careful," Hermione said, kissing his cheek lightly.

Dobby popped Harry to the ROR, where quite a few other house elves were busy checking every item in the vast room. Some items went into conjured bags. Some other items were dealt with on the spot, the elves removing whatever dark magic they could. Most were just moved to the "checked" area, to be later sorted using different criteria.

Dobby led Harry to an area that was surrounded by a solid magical shield and pointed at a tiara that was in the middle of the otherwise empty stretch of floor. Even Harry could sense the darkness in it, although he no longer had the scar.

"I don't think I know how to cleanse it. I'd ask the goblins to do that. They have very competent curse breakers. Can you contact them for me?"

"Dobby can do. Dobby will take master back and then pop to Gringotts."

Harry had no time to reply. Dobby left him in the apartment and popped away immediately.

"What was it?" Hermione asked.

"I think that's Ravenclaw's diadem. It contains a Horcrux, as we suspected. Dobby is contacting the goblins for cleansing it. I doubt any of us can do that."

Both girls nodded. Susan added, "Auntie used to say that the goblins are the best experts in removing curses. It looks like their greed made them find ways to salvage valuables even when tainted with the darkest magic, so she told me."

Dobby returned shortly later. He had some more information. "The goblins found one abomination stored in their vaults and retrieved another from the remains of the Gaunt shack. They know another is in the Black ancestral home in London but can't access it. They asked Master to give them access to retrieve it from there. Master must be present for that.

"They also found that Snake-face's snake is also such. They'll kill it after destroying the other abominations."

Harry smiled at the excited elf. "I think I should handle that as soon as I can. Will tomorrow morning be alright? Can you take me there?"

Dobby looked sorry. "Dobby is a Potter house elf and can't enter the Black home uninvited. Master can call Kreacher for that. Dobby will inform Gringotts to come tomorrow morning. At what time should they come?"

Harry didn't need long to think. "I'd like to eat breakfast first, but I think I can be there by nine."

"Dobby will go tell goblins and then send Kreacher to Master." He popped away at once.

–..–

Kreacher wasn't very cooperative but had to obey a direct order. A few minutes before nine, Harry was already at Grimmauld Place. He wasn't sure which item was the one in question, though. The house was too full of dark artefacts for him to be able to discern a specific one so quickly. He trusted the goblins to find what was needed. He thought that cleansing the house could also be beneficial, especially if he considered ever using it. With two children expected in half a year, and hopefully some more to come later, he wanted the house to be as safe as possible.

The goblins arrived at nine sharp. Harry opened the door for them and led them in. The goblin team leader didn't even talk. He looked around and seemed to sniff the magic. He then walked briskly into the kitchen and opened the door to the space under the sink, where Kreacher had made himself a nest.

Harry felt glad he had sent the unpleasant house elf back to Hogwarts. He was sure the little creature would have tried to stop the search.

It took only a moment for the goblin to find what he was looking for. "We shall take this to Gringotts and remove the darkness with a ritual, along with the darkness in the other items of the same kind."

"Dobby found another at Hogwarts, you know."

The goblin smiled. "He brought it to us after we set the time here. It looks like we now have all the remaining Horcruxes. We shall start the ritual as soon as the ritual room is ready."

"Will it destroy the items?" Harry asked.

"No. It will remove any dark or malicious magic from them, retaining their intrinsic value. Some are too important just to destroy if there's a better alternative. You'll get them all free of all foreign magic and safe for even babies to touch." The goblin sounded very proud.

Harry moved to his other concern. "Can you scan this house and remove all the dark magic in it, all the cursed artefacts and such? I believe I can shoulder the cost."

The goblin seemed eager to have some more business. "Of course, Lord Black. We can start tomorrow if you like, but we can't estimate how long it may take until we scan some more. I'll bring the required contract for you to sign before we start working."

Harry felt content. "Yes, tomorrow should work fine for me. Thank you, master goblin."

The goblin nodded and led his team out.

Left alone, Harry called, "Dobby!"

The house elf appeared, looked around and grimaced. "Kreacher is a bad house elf to let the house reach this condition. Does Master want Dobby and others to clean the house?"

Harry shook his head. "Not yet, Dobby. I want the house cleansed of any dangers first. Once that is done, I'll be glad to let you clean it. Don't I need to enter you into the wards or something?"

Dobby gave it some thought. "Dobby thinks not. Once you called Dobby here, Dobby was recognized as serving master and can call others who serve master, if needed."

"That's good to know. Now, can you take me back to school, please?"

"Dobby is happy to serve!"

A short while later, Harry was back in his apartment.

–..–

The goblins were true to their words. Destroying Horcruxes was something required by their beliefs and they wouldn't even charge Harry for that. By midday, the ritual room was ready. A large team was assembled for the ritual and all the inanimate Horcruxes were brought into that room and put under a powerful shield. Most of the participants didn't know, but the ritual was more powerful than they thought. The elders chose it not only to destroy the inanimate Horcruxes (well, they used a different word but it meant the same) but also any other soul shard of the same soul. It would, if successful, destroy that soul completely and remove it forever from this plane of existence.

When Harry's scar was initially treated, Harry also told the goblins about the prophecy which stated that "either must die at the hand of the other." They were not impressed.

"Anything initiated by you, even just telling us of the existence of Voldemort's Horcruxes, could satisfy the prophecy. Dumbledore's interpretation is too strict and is not in tune with how prophecies are phrased. They are never explicit, and can usually be understood only after the fact. Trying to force his own interpretation is a great mistake."

Indeed, when the ritual reached its peak, close to midnight, the four objects under the shield emitted dark smoke that vanished quickly and also some flashes and sparks that indicated the removal of all foreign magic from them. At the same time, Nagini was hunting. She wasn't aware of anything out of order, watching a small rodent wandering the nearby field. She was only waiting for the right moment to strike. Instead, her head felt suddenly heavy. A moment later, it seemed to explode, as a black smoke left it and vanished quickly in the light breeze, emitting a shrill cry before disappearing. Her prey hid immediately, of course. Then, her head exploded for real, as the magic put on it to protect the soul shard was forcefully stripped away. A moment later, only a snake's carcass was still visible, its head scattered in multiple small fragments all around the place.

At the same time, Voldemort was already in his bed. He had no activity planned for that night and felt slightly under the weather. He was sure some sleep could do him good. As usual, Bella was guarding him at the door and Wormtail was somewhere nearby.

He barely got into bed when he felt as if his life was being sucked away. It wasn't just a feeling, he realised immediately. Well, he had designed the Dark Mark to help him even in such extreme cases. He didn't even need his wand for that. He concentrated on the image of the Dark Mark in his head and willed his magic to start sucking the life force from his followers. He had many, so sucking a bit from each wouldn't be significant, he was sure.

Then, as much as he sucked didn't seem enough. It felt like whatever he could bring in was promptly taken out by some external force. It felt like an eternity for him, sucking more and more out of his followers and losing it just as fast. Then, some failed to respond and others soon joined them. He tried to suck harder from the ones he still could. It didn't help him much. After a while, there was nobody he could still suck from. He felt his life and his magic leaving his body. Well, he'd made enough Horcruxes. He'd come back whenever the conditions were right. With that somewhat comforting thought, his life left the body that, without magic, disintegrated in a matter of seconds.

–..–

Wormtail was sleeping restlessly. He hadn't been subjected to any punishment that day, but he was still suffering the after-effects of his previous one. A tremor would pass through his body every few minutes, but it was not enough to wake him.

Then, a sharp pain in his Dark Mark awakened him. He didn't know what it meant but was quite sure it was nothing good, at least not for him. The Dark Lord was probably very angry, and that was bad news for whoever happened to be near him.

Yet he couldn't think about that, The pain grew worse and he felt like his life was sucked away from him. For a second he wondered if that was a punishment met by the Dark Lord or by some much higher power. Then, he thought no more. His carcass, empty of any life and magic, still lay there, finally suffering no pain.

–..–

Lucius Malfoy was hosting some of his friends. It was rare for the Dark Lord to let them have a free night and they all enjoyed their temporary freedom. Of course, none would say anything to even remotely complain about serving that magical construct. It could become extremely unsafe to even think of that, in some cases.

They were just toasting for the last time before leaving when they all felt severe pain in their Dark Marks. For some, it was too much to control even their arms. They let their goblets fall and collapsed on the floor in foetal positions, trying to overcome the pain. Lucius looked at them with disdain while putting his goblet back on the table and sitting down, barely able not to fall on his chair.

It didn't change much. Although Crabbe and Goyle seemed to lose conscience first (Or were they dead? Lucius wouldn't mind even under normal circumstances, but the pain was too much to try to think of anything.) The others also seemed to stop moving and groaning within seconds, as did Lucius. A short while later, Lucius and his guests were just fresh cadavers with no sign of life or magic in them.