August 29
This paper does declare that I, __, will find the Horrors (name changed) of one Thomas Marvolo Riddle Junior and bring them to the Order of the Phoenix for review and destruction.
This paper does declare that I, __, will inform and aid the Order of the Angel in finding and retrieving the Hallows, should they successfully complete that which they have sworn to do.
Witness attestation required:
Notes, if any.
To be signed by:
It was half-past ten when Nico, Will, and Lou shadow traveled to the heart of London and strolled right up to No. 12, Grimmauld Place. The pink-haired witch checked them out and let them in. Nico immediately whispered, "Two floors above us, corner room. Smells funky."
So, Lou excused herself and asked for the bathroom. She made a quick detour and found an old office room in semi-darkness. After a couple of minutes, she exited with a heavy gold locket, with tiny emerald stones embedded in the form of the letter 'S'.
This is easy, she thought, making her way downstairs and bumping into a short witch, old enough to be her dad.
"Hello? Who are you?" the witch asked and Lou was staring at her flaxen hair, trying to decide what to say when Dumbledore stepped out from the kitchen and waved her in.
"This is one of the friends I mentioned, Molly," he explained. "She and her companions have agreed to help us."
"Yes!" Lou said hastily, shoving the locket into the pocket of her overly large cargo pants. The old man's clever blue eyes immediately focused on her pocket but his smile didn't waver.
"Ah," the witch mumbled, uneasy. "Well, you're a little late for dinner. How about you wait here and I reheat the dishes."
"We ate!" Lou assured her. "That's not necessary. We aren't staying for long, either. The Headmaster was kind enough to invite us for a quick catch-up on our deal."
Molly nodded, her forehead creased. Lou didn't take it personally. She was ushered into the kitchen where Will was standing by the wall, his face in his hands while Nico was glaring at a short kid.
Lou blinked, utterly startled. "You're Harry Potter!"
The Potter kid turned his piercing eyes at her. They glinted nearly as much as the emeralds on the heavy locket she'd found.
Nico's face was set in hard lines. "You're Harry Potter?"
"What's it to you?" the boy snapped back.
"Nothing!" Will interrupted, trying to defuse… whatever this was. "We've heard so much about you! Nico's a big fan!"
Potter grimaced and Lou couldn't blame him. It didn't help that Nico was half a foot taller than he usually was, pretending to be a 25-year-old.
"No, I'm not," Nico muttered. "I just didn't realize you'd be here."
Molly and Dumbledore watched the exchange in alarm. Another wizard appeared in the doorway and now, Lou felt the hair stand up on her arms. Goosebumps erupted and a cold gust of fear stabbed her all over.
The man was not just a man but overlaid with a tense mystery that probed her senses. She could suddenly imagine him with long fangs and claws ready to rip her apart. It made no sense because all he was doing was standing there, watching the staredown between Nico and Potter.
"Lupin," Dumbledore nodded. "These are the guests I mentioned."
"Yes, hello," Lupin greeted them amicably enough.
"Harry," Molly whispered, "It's time for bed."
Potter frowned at her as though she'd stolen Apollo's chariot and sank the sun. But he turned around and shoved his weight through the entrance, nearly knocking into Lupin's shoulder. Molly and Lupin weren't annoyed by the attitude so Lou figured they were just indulging the boy.
Will nudged Nico's back and Nico muttered, "Sorry about that. Let's get down to business?"
Lupin went back out to call a few more wizards. The pink-haired witch, a tall White man with greyish-red hair, an unkempt man with a rough beard probably White, and a tall Black man with a smart blue suit joined them. They introduced each other and Lou nodded at everyone. Will shot them a sunny smile, of course.
"The deal is mostly acceptable," Nico said, sitting at the head of the table. "My associates and I will agree to it if you swear to tell us everything you know about these Horrors. As it happens, there was one in the house and we've already found it."
Whatever the wizards were expecting him to say, it wasn't that. Dumbledore frowned, "I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about. What do you mean?"
Nico nodded to Lou who brought the locket and dropped it in front of everyone. It clattered loudly on the table.
"Did you not know?" Nico asked. "It was in an unlocked room."
"In an unlocked cabinet," Lou added.
Dumbledore opened his hand and the locket moved toward him, but Nico grabbed onto the chain. "It's the real thing. I will only sign the deal if you do not keep things from us. If we're going to be searching the country or the entire continent for these things, we'll need to know as much as possible."
"Wait, you found that in this house?" Sirius Black burst out who, as it turned out, was thankfully innocent and had, in fact, not murdered a bunch of mortals in broad daylight as the reports had purported. If Nico wasn't alarmed, neither was Lou.
"You didn't know?" Nico frowned.
"Albus, I'd like to know about this as well," Kingsley Shacklebolt murmured.
But Dumbledore simply shook his head. "I'm afraid I did not know that there was one right underneath our noses."
Lou was tempted to agree. Neither she nor Will could tell there was a Horcrux hiding in the house until Nico had pointed it out. None of the wizards would have known too.
"Urgh!" Black muttered. "I'm not surprised. Knowing my parents, they probably offered to hide the thing."
"The only Horror in my possession is a diary that once belonged to Riddle," Dumbledore explained. "But it was destroyed using basilisk venom."
From his robes, he extracted the very object he was talking about. Lou blinked. She'd never seen a book so effed up. It had a punctured hole like acid had been dripped into the middle.
"Whoa," Will said, summing up everyone's reaction. Nico turned the dead book over in his hands. The pages were stained with old ink but had no writing in them.
"Basilisk venom," he repeated. "Do you have more of it?"
Will shot Nico a wide-eyed glance and the others reacted similarly. Shacklebolt asked, "You're saying the venom will destroy the other Horrors as well?"
"Absolutely. As far as I know, the venom can't be healed by mortal magic. It's deadly to these artifacts."
"I'm afraid we don't have access to this kind of venom," Dumbledore relented.
"Then how did this diary die?"
Dumbledore grimaced and shook his head. "I came across it in that condition. It took me several months to realize what it used to be. This is why we need your help. We're not asking you to fight our fight. But even locating these objects will aid us. I have an idea on how to dispatch them, but I'd rather use that method once."
Lou saw the Weasley couple shift eyes. Nobody else reacted much.
"What were you thinking?" Nico asked.
"Fiend Fyre," Dumbledore answered a little reluctantly. Now the other wizards recoiled.
"Albus," Lupin began, but Dumbledore immediately said, "I cannot ask our possible allies to expend energy to destroy these things as well. It could go wrong. Fawkes will, of course, help me. We can manage."
Nico's eye twitched. Lou figured he didn't like the patronizing tone Dumbledore had adopted, but if it was less work for them, that was fine by her.
"What if these objects are too dangerous for us to extract from wherever they're hidden?" Will asked. "We may not be able to transport them safely."
Nico asked Lou. "SI?"
Lou nodded. Stygian Iron would obliterate the Horrors, for sure. And Hazel could also find a way to rip these things apart and send the corrupted soul pieces to the Underworld.
"If you must destroy these things for your own safety, by all means, go ahead," Dumbledore agreed. "Otherwise, you can leave them to us. We just need you to find them."
"And we will," Nico assured them. "Your turn. What do you know about Tom Riddle?"
What followed was a sobering story of a bright, precocious child who had an edge to him. He passed Hogwarts with flying colors, interned at a little store in a place called Nocturnally (Molly Weasley helpful wrote the name down for them), and disappeared only to return as Lord Voldemort.
Lou saw it in their faces. Black and Lupin grew sour, the Weasleys went pale, and Shacklebolt bowed his head. This war was before Tonks's time, but her parents were thoroughly involved seeing as how her mother defied family expectations and ran off with a Muggleborn.
Voldemort and his death-eating sycophants were the worst of the worst. Racist, tyrannical, and power-hungry, Voldemort wanted to break the British Ministry and population before extending out to Europe. If it hadn't been for the Potters, he would have succeeded.
"We're really sorry for your loss," Nico finally said. Lou blinked. Maybe he could feel their weight even more. "Yes, we will help you. Is there anything else about the Horrors? Like the location of some of the others?"
Dumbledore hesitated. Black spoke up, "The necklace you found? I've been thinking about it, it looks like Salazar Slytherin's locket."
Nico and Will were puzzled, but Lou sprang up. "The founder?"
"One of the founders," Black said, his dark eyes glinting. "What if Riddle's found other objects of the founders and turned them into the Horc… Horrors as well?"
"Like Helga Hufflepuff's cup?" Tonks asked startled. "It's been centuries since we've even heard of them."
"It can't be Godric's sword," Molly's husband added. He was looking at Dumbledore, "That's with you, isn't it, Albus?"
"It belongs to the castle," Dumbledore said, impassively. "But I keep it in my office, yes.
Lou was still trying to gather her words. Could it be that simple? Hazel's specialty was ancient and priceless treasures. She alone could find the Horcruxes. But Europe was a large enough continent that would overwhelm even her. Lou saw Nico and Will thinking similarly.
"Give us a list of the objects you suspect," Nico finally said. "You're sure it has to be these kinds of treasures? This diary's pretty boring."
Dumbledore was stroking his beard in thought. "Sirius's idea has merit, though. I suspect Tom truly did write his deepest thoughts in that diary. It was dear to him. As for the founders' objects, he was always fascinated by Hogwarts. Anything connected to its ancient history would have drawn him in."
"His job at Borgin and Burke's," Shacklebolt said, "They've always been covetous of objects of great value. Riddle must have learned something from them."
"If it's about power and prestige, Voldemort would be instantly attracted to it," Dumbledore said. "I can attest that Godric Gryffindor's sword is clear. But the remaining objects, Hufflepuff's cup and Ravenclaw's diadem, will be harder to find. Not to mention the other potential objects that we may not know… but I suggest you head to his family's old town."
Black scoffed. "Voldemort had a family?"
Dumbledore's lips turned down. "His mother and father both lived in a place called Little Hangleton. From what I gather, his father and grandparents were killed by the AK."
The table fell silent. Lou inhaled. Voldemort committed patricide? Oooh, the Furies would love to drag him to hell.
"We'll check that out," Nico sighed. "Any other places?"
"Knocturn Alley, the Ministry, Gringotts, Hogwarts—" Dumbledore was saying but half the table erupted.
"The castle?" Mr. Weasley choked.
"But we're sending the children back there!" Molly cried.
"You mean to say you knew he hid something in the castle all this time!" Black snapped.
"I merely suspect it," Dumbledore said, quietly but firmly. "I have no proof. But he has always admired Hogwarts and I would not put it past him to try that. I have searched everywhere I could and have not found anything resembling it."
Then he sighed. "Of course, I might have missed it if it has impressively powerful enchantments. But the castle is dedicated to protecting its students, so I rather hope that's not the case."
Black snorted. "Dedicated to protecting… right!"
"How big is this castle?" Nico asked. "I found the locket easily enough. We can check it out before the students get there."
Molly looked hopeful. "Would you? The train ride is in a few days. Would that be enough time for you?"
Nico met Will's gaze and then Lou's. She nodded, trying to hide a smile. A chance to explore Hogwarts? This was better than her dreams! Annabeth would die!
"That should work," Nico nodded. "It might take some time. Magical places have a habit of hiding the things in their walls."
Dumbledore's eyes twinkled. "That they do. If you need more time, we can come up with a contingency plan. Any more questions?"
"What are the other objects that could be Horrors?"
"Well, seven in total. The diary, the three founders' objects… perhaps something connected to his family," Dumbledore answered. "I wonder if there's an object he keeps close to himself, but that was an errant thought with no solid basis."
Lou didn't like that idea. She'd rather not come face-to-face with Voldemort or any of his cronies. She was fairly confident the man tossed killing curses out like Oprah gave people gifts.
"We shouldn't rule that out," Shacklebolt considered. "If you think Riddle has one of the Horrors on his person, it's perhaps best to not engage. We'll figure something out as a group. As for the others—"
"We'll take care of them," Nico said with a dangerous glint in his eye. "Nothing else to look out for?"
"No," Dumbledore said firmly.
August 29
This paper does declare that I, Nico di Angelo, will find—or annihilate—the Horrors (name changed) of one Thomas Marvolo Riddle Junior and bring them to the Order of the Phoenix for review and destruction.
This paper does declare that I, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, will inform and aid the Order of the Angel in finding and retrieving the Hallows, should they successfully complete* that which they have sworn to do.
Witness attestation:
Kingsley Shacklebolt
Will A. Solace
Lou E. Blackstone
*Note: In the event one or both parties are unable to fulfill their word, the breaking of this deal will NOT incur punishment akin to torture or death.
Signed by,
N di A.
Albus P.W.B.D.
"How many times did he lie?" Nico asked Will.
"Once," Will sighed. "Right at the end. He's hiding something."
"What?!" the others exclaimed.
The Order of the Angel (as the seven of them were designated) were camped out at the edge of Little Hangleton. Annabeth had found it from the first map she'd snagged and they were partaking finger food for their breakfast. Mrs. O'Leary snoozed in the morning light.
As the sun rose above the valley flanked by green hills, the light touched the church and the graveyard before entering the town. From their vantage point, they could see the tiny silhouettes of people wandering about, opening stores, and heading off to work.
The most visible building was a large manor fallen to disrepair and dereliction after years of abandonment. Hazel had taken one look at the place from miles away and declared it the Boogeyman's haunting, tantamount to the graveyard and a little shack on the road leading toward greater Hangleton.
When asked about the graveyard, she'd said it had all the makings of a ritual ground of blood, flesh, and bone sacrifices.
Sounded like the perfect place for Voldemort's origins.
Lou had been summarizing yesterday's exploits with the Order of the Phoenix. Percy had made a face at the heavy locket before handing it off to Nico. Annabeth was examining the ruined diary. Everything was going well until Nico decided to break the bad news.
"It's Harry," he explained. "He's a Horcrux."
Hazel gasped, dropping her paper plate. "A person! A living thing… but—but—"
"How bad is it?" Annabeth demanded. "Is he being possessed? Can you extract it?"
"It's a festering situation," Nico sighed. "Lou, how exactly did the Potters beat Voldy the first time 'round?"
Lou made a face. "There's no detail about it. The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts in the 20th Century says Harry Potter beat him with some strange unheard-of magic. But he was just a year old when Voldemort attacked them. Al… Al thinks his parents must have cast a sacrificial protection around him. Blood, love, loyalty, that kind of thing. It makes sense for something like that to work on Voldemort because he killed his own family. So for the Potters to defeat him using theirs—"
"Their defenses were basically an antithesis of everything he stood for," Hazel said, impressed. "That's so sad. I don't think his parents even knew if it would work, but they still went for it."
Nico swallowed. When he first met the Potter kid, he'd been practically blown away by the amount of intensity stemming from the collision of the two souls. He had automatically tried to zero in on the invading leech, but Potter took it as an attack on himself and glared right back, refusing to back down.
But considering everything that happened, Nico couldn't be mad at Harry. If James and Lily Potter had been dealing with a wizard who had not split his soul, their deaths would have stopped him for good. And Harry Potter would have lived on without a cursed scar and a fractured soul clinging to his.
"I'm not sure how much influence Riddle's soul has on Harry's," Nico began. "There was definitely a defense mechanism in there. I could see it in his eyes. The moment I recognized the soul attachment, it's like Riddle's fragment sensed I was a threat."
Percy and Lou grimaced. Annabeth nodded. "Even if he's too weak to take over completely, it's been fourteen years since the event. There should be some kind of lasting effect. Potter might not even realize it, but he's in serious trouble if Riddle starts… like, I don't know. Whispering into his head or something."
Lou shuddered. Will was deeply troubled. He said, "Could that be what Dumbledore was lying about? That he knew the kid was a Horcrux but refused to admit it to us or anyone else? That Sirius Black character is Potter's godfather. He doesn't seem like the kind of dude to take that lying down. And that Molly woman and her husband are also pretty easy to read. Their kids are his friends."
Nico patted his arm. "One of us should keep an eye on Potter. It can't be me, he'll want to stay away from me."
"Uhuh," Percy said. "Didn't Dumbels invite you to the castle? What if… you take your time with the search? If he's not willing to tell you everything, then we can have our own agenda."
Lou sat up straight, "You mean? Like, if we stayed at the castle for weeks? Just trying to figure out how to save Potter, but also searching the place?"
Percy shrugged. "As far as I know, we need to destroy the container to kill the soul piece. But how do we save the kid while removing the soul? Pretty sure, running him through with your sword would suck, Neeks."
Good point. Nico tossed Sytherin's locket to Hazel for inspection. It would be easy enough to eliminate but Harry was a whole other minefield.
"We save him for last," Nico decided. "When we find the other objects, we should get a better idea of how they tick. Hazel, any chance you can extract the soul and leave the locket intact?"
She made a face. "I'll try. Basilisk venom is a good trick, Fiend Fyre can work too, but I've never tried that before and we should definitely be in a remote location before setting anything on fire. Stygian Iron would be the best for us, so that'll be the first-case scenario."
"The venom!" Will cried, slapping a palm to his forehead. "Dumbledore was weird about that too!"
Lou sat up. "The Weasleys were looking shifty when he mentioned it."
Nico's jaw dropped. "You sayin' Dumbledore knows how the diary was destroyed? Why wouldn't he tell us?!"
"I'm really hating this dude," Percy grumbled. "He wants our help, but he's giving half-assed info. It'd be easier to pull teeth."
Annabeth had an ugly look. "I'm with you Nico. We need to keep an eye on Potter if Dumbledore is hiding things from everyone. Lou, how's your wandwork?"
"Um… I can wing it. I'm better without it though."
"Good enough. Will can be a Healer," Annabeth said.
Will stared. "I am one."
"I mean a mediwizard. At the school. Nico can spend the days searching the castle. Lou and Will can try to get close to Harry to figure out how he's faring with the soul. I'm sure he'll get headaches thanks to Nico's presence. He might need to go to the infirmary more than once. Get him to trust you."
She said it like it was easy.
Will gawked. "For real? Like a real trained healer or something?"
"You are a real trained healer," Nico reminded him. "Don't you remember the graduation ceremony Apollo threw?"
"I try not to."
"He hugged you and said, Damn, son, you a healer."
"Shortest ceremony ever," Percy nodded, solemnly.
"I vote yes!" Lou chirped thrusting her arm into the air. Annabeth and Nico voted yes as well. Percy followed Annabeth's lead and Hazel, grinning at Will's look of commiseration, said, "You can get some good experience in a professional setting."
"I guess so," Will sighed.
"Great!" Percy laughed. "There's six of us, so we can handle splitting up. We can all check out that creepy shack down in Hanging Man—"
"Hangleton, babe."
"Neeks, Willy, and Louie will head off to Hogwarts to get the horror crucifixes in the castle."
Lou sniggered. "We should call them that and see the looks on their faces."
"And Hazy, Annababy, and me will globetrot around the UK," Percy said. "Sound good?"
Nico nodded. "How's the compass coming along, Hazel?"
She grinned. "They're ready."
They all peered in to watch two new Horcrux-tracking compasses with spinning silver needles. Both came to a halt, pointing straight at the locket in Nico's hand. But as they watched, the needles quivered and spun again, pointing away, down the valley.
"The shack," Hazel reminded them.
"We'll get the second MacGuffin and then destroy this one," Annabeth advised.
And they did exactly that.
That strange pale-faced, dark-haired man had sent a raging headache coursing through Harry's brainstem. But his throbbing scar was nothing compared to this miserable discovery in his trunk.
Nate took my broom! Harry fumed. And my cat!
Harry was bereft of his professional, high-tier broomstick gifted by his godfather, and June the cat, gifted by an angel. He didn't know what was worse.
"Do you remember the cat, Hedwig?" Harry demanded. His owl blinked her large eyes at him, preening her feathers on her perch. Ron's owl, Pig, fluttered around her, absolutely fascinated by the snowy owl about five times his size.
Hedwig hooted solemnly.
Okay, sure maybe Harry had that cat for a day (or it could have been a month, seeing as how he didn't remember most of July!) but he couldn't fathom some supernatural angel exchanging Harry's invisibility cloak for a cat. By all accounts, June seemed like a normal black kitten. But maybe it was a magical cat?
Harry packed his trunk for the final time and rolled it out of the room. September 1st had come around with alarming speed.
He dropped his trunk in the living room where it joined a few others. Hermione was in the kitchen with Tonks and Moony for tea, Ron was still packing his stuff, and Fred and George had been plotting something up in their room, their stuff zooming around and packing themselves.
"Harry," Sirius called from the first floor.
He growled. He didn't want to hear any more placations or lies or—
"I have something for you," Sirius called.
Harry kicked the couch, grumbling. He stomped back up the stairs. Sirius was in one of the large office rooms that the Order didn't really use. Harry shoved the door wider and slouched in, dragging his feet.
Sirius had a wrapped package in his hands but his attention was on the long wall with names and faces painted in gold and black. Each name-face combination was encircled and interconnected by tree branches.
A family tree, Harry figured. He recognized Sirius's mother, Walburga. But she was much more… humane on the wall than her wailing painting.
"I was hoping to get a chance to talk before you left," Sirius said with a wince.
"But you were busy doing important adult stuff and I'm a young, stupid dunderhead."
"Will you please stop calling yourself that?" Sirius warned.
Harry scowled. "You're the ones thinking it."
"Nobody is thinking that!"
"I know what everyone is thinking behind my back!" Harry hissed. "I know you think the dementors did something to my head and made me slow or unreliable—"
"Harry," Sirius interrupted. "We're not telling you everything because I don't want you to feel pressured to have to do anything for us. That's it! There's some dodgy stuff we have to do and it's not good for anyone to have to personally deal with it."
"So, you're fine with me knowing bugger all?" Harry fumed. "Even though I'm in the center of it!"
"That's your fight-or-flight senses talking, not your brain," Sirius said.
"My gut says I should know more!"
"The last time I went with my gut without using my brains, I left you with Hagrid and went after Wormtail myself."
Harry shut his mouth.
Sirius's shoulders dropped. He thumbed the badly wrapped package in his hands. "Sorry, that was harsh. But I am not going to change my mind about this because I care about you. You have only a short time to enjoy Hogwarts. Voldemort is taking his time to build his army. We think he's not going to show himself to the public until the Ministry is all but sure he's a hoax. So we have some time to rally people underground."
Harry turned away. Enjoy Hogwarts? Any other year, that might have been possible. But now, he didn't want to pretend to be jolly just because Voldemort wasn't openly declaring war.
"We'll talk more later," Sirius sighed. He held out the package to Harry. "You can use this to chat—"
"Not interested," Harry spoke to the wall.
"Well, not right away if you don't want to," Sirius said, a little hurt and annoyed. "But I don't want to trust using owls all the time and you can't rely on the floo there."
"Is that why you didn't tell me anything when I was in Privet Drive?" Harry asked sharply.
"One of the reasons, sure. But—"
"Mrs. Figg knows about me. About us! Her house has a fireplace. Isn't it connected to the floo?"
"Yes, Harry—"
"So someone from the Order could have been in touch with me without owls."
"Yes."
"Why didn't you?" Harry asked. "Why didn't Moony or anyone, like Bill or Tonks?"
"We had people watching you, but getting in touch with you is a whole other deal."
Harry recoiled. "You were watching me?!"
Sirius stared. "Of course, we had an eye on you."
Of course? Of course! Harry glared at him. "Why didn't any of you tell me?!"
"We were going to tell you the day you came here but you didn't want to listen," Sirius reprimanded. "Your mother's protection was working well. We didn't want to compromise anything by using magic around it. We just had to make sure Voldemort wouldn't know where to look."
"Oh, sure," Harry muttered. "Nate Portman found me but Voldemort couldn't."
"What?" Sirius asked.
Harry ignored him. Obviously, they would have seen him talking to Nate. But he wasn't about to tell Sirius that Nate was a netherworld angel. He rubbed his forearm, "Goodbye, Sirius. See you next year."
"You're coming back for Christmas!" Sirius protested.
Harry raised his eyebrows. "Am I?"
"Yes, you are!"
Harry shook his head. "I'll think about it."
Sirius exhaled, unflattered but all Harry could focus on was the fact Remus was standing way too close to his trunk. Had the man checked it? Had he searched through it? One of them had been in his trunk and he knew it!
Harry shuddered, making fists of his hands. His palms ached and when he uncurled them, four little half-moons tinged with blood stared up at him from each palm.
The pain took him off guard. Harry was instantly grounded, thrown back to reality from the simmering tension of everyone keeping everything from him.
He blinked, a little dazed.
"Harry, dear?" Mrs. Weasley called, wringing her hands. "You're a bit peaky. A spot of breakfast will do you some good."
She looked worried. No, she looked scared. Harry stared at her before the realization dawned that she was afraid of him.
He… should feel bad, right?
Harry sat down and pulled a plate toward him. He didn't say anything. The pain in his palms stopped the heaviness clouding his brain.
It was nice.
"Can I touch them?"
Nate smiled. He was still engrossed in Harry's Charms book. "Go ahead."
Harry grinned and scooted close to Nate's curled wings. They loomed over him, shielding him from the sunlight. Harry brushed his fingers along the tips of the extended fingers. They glimmered black, blue, and purple, reminding Harry of holograms with vibrant colors. Harry held his breath.
So did Nate.
"That feels nice," Nate admitted. They watched the wings ripple and flutter in response. Harry felt like he was playing a harp.
"They're beautiful," Harry said, unable to take his eyes away from the towering wings. He caught Nate watching him carefully.
"What?"
"I'm not usually greeted by awe," Nate said, placing the book down. "Humans are mostly fearful."
Harry frowned. "I thought you were visiting family here? Were they afraid too?"
Nate grimaced. Harry felt like he was missing a crucial ingredient here. Something that should have been obvious.
"You know I'm a god."
"Yes."
"It matters very much what I'm the god of," Nate added.
"Tell me," Harry said.
Nate turned away. Harry shuffled closer, their shoulders gracing each other. June snuffled in her sleep. Her paws twitched in the cloak's soft fabric. Nate reached out and laid a hand over her fur, stroking her gently.
"I don't want you to be afraid of me," Nate said carefully.
"I won't be. I've met different creatures, lots of them. You know I'm a wizard!"
"Yes," he chuckled, wings fluttering around Harry's entire body. "The wand was a dead giveaway."
"I thought you were an angel at first," Harry muttered and then blushed furiously because why? Why did he have to say that?!
Nate's voice was quiet like a nightly breeze. "I was thinking the same thing."
Harry woke up, from dreams of cats and angels to the reality of Malfoy's incorrigible mug.
"Urgh," Harry mumbled, leaning back against his train seat. His palms still throbbed from the small cuts inflicted by his nails.
"Manners, Potter, or I'll have to give you a detention," drawled Malfoy. "You see, I, unlike you, have been made a prefect, which means that I, unlike you, have the power to hand out punishments."
"Yeah," said Harry, "But you, unlike me, are a git. So get out and leave us alone."
The others laughed. Malfoy's lip curled.
"Tell me, how does it feel being second-best to Weasley?" he asked.
Before Hermione could retort, Harry snapped, "Why don't you tell me? You're the one who keeps following us around. If you're so sick of Crabbe and Goyle, just shove them off the train."
Ron and Ginny snorted. Neville and Hermione stared in amazement while Luna nodded as though in agreement.
"You better watch yourself, Potter," Malfoy snarled. "Because I'll be dogging your footsteps in case you step out of line."
Harry faltered, trying to focus on the ache in his palms to avoid providing Malfoy with a shiner. Pettigrew had wasted no time spilling all the details. Dumbledore had been right about hiding Sirius in the house.
Harry didn't know if he was madder about Malfoy successfully taunting him or Dumbledore being right.
Hermione stood up and slammed the door in Malfoy's face.
"Good riddance," Ginny said. "Does he really follow you around?"
"He has no life," Ron explained. "Even bossing Crabbe and Goyle around must have lost its luster."
Harry faced the window, trying to spot the castle in the distance. If anything, the sight of Hogwarts should soothe him.
It didn't.
As the Hogwarts Express pulled into the station, Harry couldn't see Hagrid at all. In fact, there was a woman about Tonks's age levitating a lantern above the crowds of students calling out, "First years! First years over here!"
Ron frowned, "Hey, where's Hagrid?"
"I don't know," Hermione said, worriedly. "He's always been there."
He can't have left, Harry told himself as he shuffled slowly through a narrow doorway onto the road outside with the rest of the crowd. He's just got a cold or something…
"She was at the house," Harry blurted. He recognized the lady with the hovering lantern now. She had short brown hair with green tips. Her summer tan complimented the bright pink robes she wore.
"At the…" Ron said, mystified, "At the place we came from?"
They literally could not say the name of Grimmauld Place out loud, but Harry nodded. Neville, looking on curiously, was lured away by Trevor who threatened to escape while Luna was engrossed in Hedwig's cage.
"She was with two other American blokes," Harry recalled. He'd been so focused on the black-haired man that evening that he'd nearly forgotten the blonde and brunette beside him.
"So she's with the Order." Hermione perked up. "That's good! Here, let's get a coach."
Harry stopped in his tracks as he stared at the horseless coaches. They weren't horseless anymore.
Each coach was pulled by reptilian-like equines which had dark brown-black rubbery skin with immense bat-like wings. They were completely fleshless, their black coats clinging to their skeletons, with their bones visible. Their heads were dragonish, and their pupilless eyes white and staring. Standing still and quiet in the gathering gloom, the creatures looked eerie and sinister.
But Harry didn't feel afraid. They seemed out of this world but the cold air around them reminded him of…
The closest horse-creature turned its head toward him. Harry paused. Its white eyes were unnerving to stare at, but the creature lowered its head.
It bowed at Harry.
He stared wide-eyed.
"I've never seen them do that," Luna mused from behind, nearly giving him a heart attack.
"Wha—it…" Harry spluttered.
"You're okay," Luna comforted him. Her large, probing eyes didn't really reassure Harry though.
"What are you talking about?" Hermione asked, already holding out the coach's door.
Luna didn't answer and Ron shrugged. Harry said nothing, feeling the eyes of all the creatures follow him.
Three new faces sat at the teacher's table and one familiar face was missing. Well, two if you counted Mad-Eye, but they didn't.
"Was Hagrid replaced?" Hermione whispered.
Ron shrugged, busy with his drumsticks. "The ghosts are also missing. But I don't think Dumbledore could have sacked anyone."
"He couldn't have," Harry said firmly, shuffling his food around the plate. "Hagrid's probably not back yet. You know—from his mission—the thing he was doing over the summer for Dumbledore."
She nodded, still concerned. "But is that the man you remember from the safehouse?"
They eyed the blue-eyed, dull blonde bloke sitting beside Madam Pomfrey. He was tall, gorgeous, and tanned. Harry didn't really bother. He preferred tall, dark, and handsome. With wings and cats.
"You know him?" Lavender asked eagerly. "Padma said he's Pomfrey's assistant for a bit. We have a lot more first-years now and he's training at the Hospital Wing to get a certification. Apparently, he's American!"
She and Parvati grinned in the wink-wink fashion.
The other newcomers were women. One was the lady who'd gathered the First-years. She was chubby and smiling, dressed in soft sunset rosy robes.
But Harry's eyes kept going back to the other lady. Unlike the former, this one was older, squat, curly mouse-brown hair in which she had placed a horrible pink Alice band that matched the fluffy pink cardigan she wore over her robes. Then she turned her face slightly to take a sip from her goblet and he saw, with a shock of recognition, a pallid, toad-like face and a pair of prominent, pouchy eyes.
"She was at my trial," Harry mumbled. "Umbridge."
Hermione looked up from her plate, alarmed. "What?"
Her cause for concern was made clear when everyone finished their dinner and waited for the Headmaster to make introductions.
"We have had a few changes in staffing this year," the wizened Headmaster announced. "We are very pleased to welcome Professor Blackstone to Hogwarts. She will be taking Care of Magical Creatures lessons. As you can see the slight boom in population, we thankfully welcome Mediwizard-in-training, Mr. Solace, who will be working with Madam Pomfrey for a while."
For a while, Harry wondered. Not the whole year?
"We also have a Mister di Angelo in our ranks," Dumbledore continued. "who was unfortunately detained with an emergency tonight, but you will see him working with the creatures on the grounds with Professor Blackstone. And of course, we are delighted to introduce Professor Umbridge, our new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher."
Harry, Ron, and Hermione exchanged slightly panicked looks; Dumbledore had not said for how long Blackstone would be teaching.
Dumbledore continued, "Tryouts for the house Quidditch teams will take place on the—"
"Ahem, hem."
He stopped. Everyone stared.
Even the newcomers were gawking at Umbridge who was smiling like a cherub.
She stood up and Dumbledore sat down.
By the end of her speech, Harry and Ron faced Hermione who translated the final proof that the Ministry did not believe Harry at all and was foolhardily paving the road for Voldemort to tread on.
"She didn't want me to come back to Hogwarts."
Seamus turned away from his poster and pulled his own pajamas out of his trunk, still not looking at Harry.
"But—why?" said Harry, astonished.
"Well," he said in a measured voice, "I suppose… because of you."
"What d'you mean?" said Harry quickly. His heart was beating rather fast. He wished Ron wasn't still shoving the first-years into their dorms because he needed a buffer.
"Well," said Seamus again, still avoiding Harry's eye, "She… er… well, it's not just you, it's Dumbledore too."
"She believes the Daily Prophet?" said Harry. "She thinks I'm a liar and Dumbledore's an old fool?"
Seamus looked up at him. "Yeah, something like that."
Harry said nothing. He was sick of it; sick of being the person who is stared at and talked about all the time. If any of them knew, if any of them had the faintest idea what it felt like to be the one all these things had happened to… Mrs. Finnigan had no idea, none. The stupid woman, he thought savagely.
He got into bed just as Seamus asked, "Look, what did happen that night when… you know, when… with Cedric Diggory and all?"
"I dunno," Harry said, twisting his covers in a shaking fist. "Why don't you ask your Mummy since she seems to know what happened with Cedric better than I do?"
Seamus went red. "Watch it, Potter."
"I'm watching you defending your fool of a mother alright."
"Don't you have a go at my mother," Seamus warned.
"She must have had a really good disguise because Ced and I didn't see there. Maybe she was hiding behind the Death Eaters," said Harry.
Seamus launched himself across the room and was barely stopped by Dean and Neville diving to stop him from attacking Harry.
"You just couldn't help yourself, could you?!" Seamus roared, fighting against Dean's grip.
"Help what?" Harry asked coldly.
"Just admit it!" Seamus snapped, finally stepping back and breathing hard. "You and Cedric went for the cup, there was an accident and Cedric ended up dead. Or maybe you did kill him and you're trying to cover it up—"
Dean and Neville could not stop Harry from flying off the bed and tackling Seamus to the floor.
The sounds of the scuffle and shouting brought several other boys from various years. After a lot of swearing, screaming, misplaced punches, and even one bite mark that had Fred retiring from the scene altogether, the horde managed to separate Harry and Seamus.
"WHAT ON EARTH IS GOING ON?!" McGonagall yelled at them, marching into the fifth-year dorm room to stare at everyone cramped inside, sweating and panting.
Seamus stabbed a finger at Harry. "I'm not staying with him! Not for another minute!"
"Good choice!" Harry spat. "That way your Mummy can stop worrying that I'll murder you accidentally!"
Seamus swore at the top of his lungs and McGonagall raised her wand. Suddenly, both he and Harry felt their tongues glued to the roofs of their mouths.
"That is a very dangerous accusation," she snapped. "Finnegan, if you wish to be moved, you can head off to the sixth-year dorms for a while, they have a vacant spot. Potter, nobody thinks you're going to do anything—"
He gave her a flabbergasted look.
"And if both of you," McGonagall threatened, "ever raise your hands or wands against each other, I will shift you into a single room—together!"
Several boys went, "Ooooooh!"
"Back to bed, the lot of you!"
She swiftly dismissed the others as Seamus went about shoving things into his trunk and dragging it out of the room. Dean watched him go, conflicted. Neville whispered, "My gran says it's the Daily Prophet that's going downhill, not Dumbledore. She's canceled our subscription. We believe you."
Harry tried and failed to swallow the lump in his throat. He didn't need anyone to patronize him. He'd just like it if they didn't think he was bonkers.
Nico hadn't realized how many ghosts lived in the castle. Like a hundred at least. He'd been in Hogwarts for three days scouring the place with the compass. The silver needle spun like its life depended on it.
"There's definitely one here," Nico had told Will and the others at the beginning of the search. "Hidden really well."
And so they accepted Dumbledore's offer to work at the castle. Nico would be Lou's assistant as she took up Care of Magical Creatures while Will, true to Annabeth's statement, took a post at the Hospital Wing.
But even with a few days and a friggin' Horcrux tracker, Nico could not zero in on the damn thing. Hogwarts was a maze built on centuries of magic with layers upon layers of enchantment for cloaking, protection, and structure.
"If you can navigate the Labyrinth, this castle shouldn't stand a chance," Nico told himself.
So he summoned a ghost. And was nearly mowed down when a hundred pearly-white, floaty, spirits descended upon him.
"Welcome," one of them with bloody chains said imperiously, "to Hogwarts, Milord."
Nico coughed, trying to survey them all. "Thanks. I'm not here for you. This is your abode. You may roam as you wish. But I need help."
None of them refuted him. A gang of raucous, headless ghosts on horses swore to keep an eye out for dangerous artifacts and when Nico brought up basilisks, everyone looked at a nervous, little ghost lingering at the edge of the crowd.
"What's your name?" Nico asked her.
She sniffled. "Myrtle. And it's just that… well, I recently found out I was killed by one."
"By a basilisk?"
"Yes," she heaved a great sigh, looking up into the middle distance. "The last thing I saw before I died was large, yellow eyes with black pupils. They were about as big as bludgers. I don't even recall the snake, just its eyes."
Nico clenched his jaw. As bad as a drakon then. He'd been hoping they were like the tiny basilisks that he and Percy fought during the Battle of Camp Jupiter. Apparently, these basilisks could kill with a single glance.
"You died recently?" Nico asked, unable to believe Dumbledore had left out this minuscule detail.
"About fifty years ago," Myrtle said. "It was a true tragedy. I didn't know what got me back then. Oh, don't worry. The basilisk is dead. Harry Potter killed it."
Harry… frig! Frick! Fruck! Fuchsia!
Nico simmered. That old man knew! He'd have known!
The ghosts grew nervous and Nico calmed himself. "Okay, okay! What happened to it? Did someone take it away?"
Myrtle made a face. "If they did, I wasn't told. But I stay in my toilet most of the time and I haven't seen anyone wander down there."
"Down… where?"
"The Chamber of Secrets, of course!"
"And that's how I got these," Nico explained, showing everyone the three yellowing basilisk fangs still coated in glistening saliva. The air in Lou's little office stunk of venom.
Hazel, Percy, and Annabeth grimaced but got closer to the IM window beside the table.
"Yuck!" Will shuddered. "I can smell it! It's horrifying!"
"Harry was twelve when he killed it with a sword that he'd never used before," Nico droned.
Lou's jaw dropped. "I'm sorry, but WHAT!"
"And it was the size of a full-grown drakon."
Percy choked on his breath and Annabeth's voice was high as she said, "I think he tops you, Seaweed Brain."
"He tops Clarisse! Like dude, wizards don't even train with swords!"
"A sword?" Will asked, his voice shaking. "Like… that sword the Order mentioned?"
"Godric Gryffindor's sword," Hazel said in surprise. "The one in Dumbels' office!"
"Is it 'Dumbels' or 'Dumbbells'?"
"Obviously, Dumbels."
"We shouldn't have signed that deal," Nico said slowly. "They aren't telling us much of anything. If we have to fight our way into figuring out the answers, what's the point of working together?"
Will grabbed his hand. "Hey, hey. We've been through worse."
"Way worse," Percy agreed. "It sucks that we're working off of partial information, but we've faced worse odds. Come on, Nico. The main goal isn't actually the Horcruxes or even the Hallows, remember?"
Nico blinked. "What?"
"The gray dementor," Percy reminded him. "That dream of yours led us all here. You're all at a magical castle. Haze, Annabeth, and I are in this Knockturn Alley place. We're pretty sure it's about the Potter kid, right?"
"It's looking more and more like it," Annabeth agreed.
"Forget Dumbels," Percy said. "Focus on Potter first. Then the Horrors. Then the Hallows. If we do it right, we can maybe even stop the gray dementor before it becomes a reality."
His voice reminded Nico of the Manhattan Battle and the Gigantomachy. Percy Jackson was the leader they all looked up to yet he was here, helping Nico trudge through this quest that wasn't even about fighting monsters.
Nico swallowed. "Okay, Captain America."
Will nodded. "He's right though. Let's go over the tasks."
They packed away the basilisk fangs as Annabeth said, "Hazel's tracked a Horror underground in London. But we can't seem to find a spot to dig through Knockturn Alley or Diagon Alley."
"But there's a lot of diamonds and treasures deep underground and the Horror is mixed up with them," Hazel added. "I think it's the bank."
Lou laughed. "Okay, so Gringotts!"
"That's it," Hazel said. "The goblins know about us so we're hoping to play the god card to get them to surrender it. I can't imagine goblins wanting anything to do with an artifact that goes against Pluto's laws."
"They love their gold as much as they worship the god of riches," Lou said. "You're getting that one this week?"
"Three days max," Annabeth confirmed. "Once we have the Horror, Nico can shadow-travel over here to deliver the basilisk fangs. That way we don't have to create any uncontrollable fire to destroy these things. This week, Will and Nico scour the castle with the ghosts searching for the thing. Lou can use her teacher's status to check out books from the library's restricted section."
"I'm hoping we can find more about the gray dementor," Lou explained. "It's one of the best-stocked places in the continent, there's gotta be something."
Nico sighed in relief, once again, thankful to be working in a group.
"We also need to keep an eye out for the Umbridge woman," Will muttered.
"Who?"
He and Lou explained what happened during the feast. Nico had missed that on account of trudging through the school's sewer system to find a dead basilisk with a melodramatic ghost.
"Basically it was all super propogandy and agendaey," Percy inferred. "She's probably going to concentrate on Dumbledore and the rest. You guys can stay under her radar for a few weeks at least."
"We're hoping," Will answered hesitatingly. "She rubs me the wrong way."
"Toad," Lou mumbled.
Nico frowned. That woman could pose a threat. They'd have to tread lightly.
"Where are the rest?" Annabeth asked.
Will upturned his bag supply and out fell the ruined diary along with the broken Slytherin locket and the destroyed Gaunt ring. Nico caught a few scratches on the tiny stone still embedded firmly in the ring's holder but otherwise, it was the only thing intact in the collection of dead Horcruxes.
"Why'd you offload them?" Lou groaned.
Will shrugged. "I like seeing them like this. It's like ticking off a list. We got three out of seven."
"Technically, we didn't destroy the diary," Annabeth grinned.
"Three out of seven," Will said firmly.
Nico finally laughed. "How much d'you wanna bet that Harry killed the diary too?"