Chapter 29 - Destines Intertwined
"Curse or no curse, I swear to you either way I would still ask you this question. I love you, Harry. Will you marry me?"
Daphne and Harry's faces were just about level now she'd knelt by his side at his chair, her piercing blue eyes not showing any desperation, but a strength he'd seen grow more and more over the months he'd known her. It was the person, who she was that he'd grown to love. It was a given that he'd be attracted to her beauty, her picturesque face and her womanly curves, but it was her strength of heart, the spark behind her eyes that drove her fierce aspirations to grow, care for and protect herself and everyone around her that he loved so dearly.
All those months ago at the side of the Black Lake when Neville had come to his side, he'd vowed to himself that he would never feel weak and powerless like he had at the graveyard again. He'd meant it with every fibre of his being, but simultaneously there'd always been a part of him that felt it would be a lost cause, that Voldemort was too powerful and that there would be no way he could win. Now though, he had no choice. Yes, he loved his friends, Ron, Hermione, the Weasleys and Sirius, but it wasn't the same kind of love. In Daphne, he'd found his counterpart, the person whom he never wanted to be without. He knew she felt the same way about him as he did about her, so now even though the odds were still stacked against them, he wasn't just fighting to avenge his parents and save his friends, he was fighting for her and the life that they could have once Tom Riddle had finally fallen.
He took both of her hands and never dropping his gaze, said, "Yes. And I'm with you. Even without the curse, I'd marry you."
Everyone apart from Harry and Daphne cheered as he got to his feet and lifted her off the floor, holding her in a tight embrace before lowering her and kissing her deeply. When the kiss broke, there wasn't a dry eye in sight.
"Eeee! I'm so excited!" said Astoria.
"Congratulations the both of you," said Madam Pomfrey.
"Welcome to the family, Harry, son," said Cyrus.
Ellanore swept him up into a hug next, and as she did, whispered, "I knew it was only a matter of time since we first met. Congratulations."
"Thanks, everyone," said Harry, his face feeling hot from all the blushing.
"Guess the firewhiskey doesn't need to be here just to calm nerves now, does it?" said Cyrus jovially. Even Astoria got a glass of the burning amber liquor as they toasted the occasion.
" I don't want to put a dampener on the mood, all of you," said Dumbledore, "And I would be more than happy to cast the spell at your wedding, however, we need to consider the timing. The curse depends on it."
"What do you mean?" asked Daphne.
"Lily wrote about the Lux Nervo potentially reforming after the breakage of the familiar bond with close contact and this is very likely true. Souls and soul magic curses always try to return to the family magic. The moment you cast the adoption ritual, the clock will be set. The curse would usually attack seventy-seven days before the solstice, is that right?"
"Yes," drew out Ellanore warily.
"Good," said Dumbledore with a smile, we have some time then, "The curse would usually be due to attack in three days, and the Adoption spell will remove the curse from Astoria entirely. However, unless I'm mistaken, it will move on to the next female in the line who is a carrier of the curse. The curse will reactivate, the cycle beginning anew after the solstice and these kinds of curses, unfortunately, are like viruses. They learn, and the adoption ritual may not work a second time on Daphne. If the curse isn't allowed to reactivate, if the Entwining Marriage Ritual is cast before the next solstice, then -"
"Then the curse wouldn't get a chance to reform in Daphne," finished Harry.
"Indeed," nodded Dumbledore.
"Looks like we've got a wedding to plan then, don't we?" said Ellanore, "We've got until the twenty-first of December, two months."
"Does it have to be that long?" asked Daphne, "How long does it take to plan a wedding, I'm not bothered about having all of the guests and all of the bells and whistles. We only need someone to cast the spell."
"It will need to be small anyway," said Cyrus, "We still have targets on our backs."
"What about the thirty-first of October?" asked Daphne.
"October?" said Ellanore, taken aback, "Are you serious? That's less than a month!"
"Like I said, I'm not bothered about the bells and whistles, but it's the anniversary of Lily and James' passing." Daphne said, looking sadly at Harry, "Maybe we could turn the day into not just a sad one, but a happy one as well."
Harry beamed at her, and said "I'd like that very much."
"Samhain as well," said Dumbledore, "The week of the equinox. The curse will be at its weakest."
"It's decided then," said Cyrus, while his wife was still gaping like a fish at all the emergency planning she was going to end up doing, "Now that she's betrothed Dumbledore, I want her to have the rights of lady betrothed to a Lord of Harry's station at the school for her safety. She sleeps in his quarters and they will have the same classes apart from electives. Move her to the Gryffindor's classes, a fair few of them will remain with her house anyway,"
"All your classes with Gryffindors!?" exclaimed Astoria, "Blegh!"
Harry cheekily stuck his tongue out at her, and they both grinned when she did it in return.
"Are you alright with this, Harry?" asked Dumbledore, ignoring the childish exchange.
"Yeah," said Harry, straightening up, "I don't want her left on her own again, not after last time."
"Very well," said Dumbledore with a tight nod. "I'll have the elves fetch her belongings"
"He can't protect her all the time, Cyrus," warned Ellanore, who seemed to have found her voice.
"I know," Cyrus replied with a sigh, "But it's something."
"I'll train her," said Harry seriously. "She'll be part of the family magic soon enough. We've already started but will push harder."
"I wouldn't be here if we hadn't started already," Daphne pointed out.
Many of the group looked at her sadly.
"Well, I must take my leave," said Dumbledore after a moment. "Congratulations again and well done Harry, my boy."
Poppy also made her farewell and the two Hogwarts faculty members left the Three Broomsticks. Ellanore instantly went into stress mode.
"Right you two, small guestlists, please. Have a think about who you may want to invite. I'm sorry though Harry, there's rather a lot of Weasleys, it's a big risk. Astoria, you may bring Draco, we're going to have to make things public anyway. "
"Ellanore dear, can't they at least have one day off!?" said Cyrus, amused.
"They have less than a month until they get married," said Ellanore, exasperated, "And Daphne doesn't have a ring yet."
"That's easily solved," said Harry brightly, "A trip to Diagon Alley will do. I might even look in my vaults."
"Oooh a Slytherin heirloom!" said Astoria to her sister with envy, "You're so lucky."
"We can go now if you want," Cyrus said to Harry, "I've got to nip to the other shop to grab the ledger and do a few bits"
"Sure," Harry agreed with a nod.
"Daphne, will you help your mother in the shop while we're away? It'll be manic," asked her father.
Daphne knew that helping her mother in the shop would mainly include a non-stop wedding planning conversation until Harry got back, but even she had to admit for all her mum's frantic panicking, she was happy at the thought of it.
"No problem," she replied brightly, "We'll see you two in an hour or so."
Five minutes later, Harry and Cyrus arrived in Diagon Alley with a little pop. Being forced through the insanely tight magical tube that was apparition was definitely something Harry wasn't fond of and he felt like he might throw up, but he agreed that he would meet Cyrus back at the Diagon Alley branch of Greengrass Apothecary in an hour or so. The fresh air on the walk down the busy street helped, but as he tried to ignore the ever-present stares that accompanied his public appearances, he realised what had happened the last time he'd stepped into magical London, the attempt on his life by the Baggotts. His senses hyper-aware, he marched faster through the street and luckily made it into Gringotts without anything happening.
On this occasion, the goblins were much friendlier than they had been with him on his last foray into the bank, friendlier for goblins that is. Once he'd queued patiently for the carts, he was led to one of them by an old-looking goblin named Marnok, whose nose was the longest Harry thought he'd ever seen. Marnuk had great tufts of thick white hair protruding from his ears, each strand double the thickness of a cat's whisker that fluttered in the window as the cart took them deep into the earth below London.
"Vault Seventeen," Marnok said, his sharp voice echoing across the cave system after they'd taken a very long journey down to their first destination, the Potter family vault. Wary of the large chained dragon that the goblin had subdued with the use of a clanging musical device, Harry held his breath in anticipation as Marnok ran a long yellow fingernail down the seam of the doorway. There was a great whirring of mechanisms before the heavy door swung open.
If he'd thought the pile of gold in his personal vault had been large, the mountains of galleons, sickles and knuts in one half of his family vault made them look like molehills in comparison. On the other side stood a variety of other items. Five large bookshelves held a variety of tomes. There were boxes of what looked like clothes, shelves with a variety of magical and non-magical items, several mysterious-looking chests and even a box of what looked like shrunken antique furniture. Atop a long table were several more books, rolls of parchment and a few regal and very secure-looking chests, embossed with the Potter seal.
Harry perused the shelves for a short while, grabbing a few spellbooks of interest and stuffing them into a large black leather messenger-style bag he'd found. Taking a seat at the large table, he grabbed the regal chests and dragged them toward him before pulling out his wand. The seal on the smallest opened with a click and he lifted the lid to reveal two wands. He couldn't confirm they were his mum and dad's, but the swirling design on the light grey one was clearly feminine in contrast the the reddish-brown, sleek one. Even picking them up with either hand he could feel the difference between, magically. They both felt compatible with him in a way, the woman's more than the man's and he felt a sense of comfort with each of them.
'I hope you're watching,' he thought to his mum and dad, a bittersweet melancholy filling him, 'I'm going to get married. I miss you.'
He placed the wands back in the chest and resealed it, before turning and opening the larger of the two. He hadn't seen any jewellery on any of the other boxes' labels or any of the shelves and he hoped this one's added security might be a hint that it might contain something like what he was looking for.
Within the second chest were several boxes of different shapes and sizes and smiled as he realised when opening a long thin box and seeing it contained a delicate bracelet, that the chest was likely to be filled with jewellery. After a bit of digging, he found what he was looking for, the engagement ring he'd seen on his mum's hand in the wedding memory. It was perfect, a platinum band with a large, oval cut diamond with three tiny emeralds socketed in tiny clasps on either side, shaped like tiny leaves. He closed the red velvet box it came in with a snap and pocketed it. Deciding he'd have more time to look around the Potter vault later he grabbed a bit of gold and exited the vault to where Marnok was sitting patiently outside.
Their next destination wasn't too far from the Potter Vault and was protected by its own rather vicious and unfortunately rather beaten-looking Dragon. Perhaps he'd talk to Sirius about their cruel treatment some other time and liaise with the Goblins about an alternative, but that was a challenge for another day.
The Slytherin Vault was, upon entrance, less of a vault, and more like a cavern in itself. There was so much gold that its reflection in the bathed everything in its light. The countless magical artefacts, jewels, furniture and more seemed to go on forever. Knowing that he'd need a week to even get close to figuring out what he had in there, Harry walked over to a grand dark wood cabinet with glass panes along the far wall. He'd felt a similar magic to the wards around the Chamber of Secrets inner sanctum coming from it and knew immediately that it must carry secured objects of great importance. There was no lock on the great silver handle, but he felt his Slytherin jewels burn at his neck, his magic bypassing any security measures.
For such a large cabinet, there were only two objects inside. First, in a small open box and upon a resplendent, purple cushion sat a beautiful silver bracelet, two snakes intertwined, one thicker than the other, both with emeralds for eyes. Harry knew instantly from its similarity to what he wore around his neck that this was the house jewellery intended to be worn by the Lady of Slytherin. Closing the box carefully, he placed it into the bag on his hip that he'd retrieved from the Potter Vault and turned his attention to the second object.
It was a small silver box, clearly goblin-wrought that stood on a tarnished iron pedestal. An ornate wavy pattern crisscrossed around its surface and in the centre, facing Harry was a small latch.
'Strange,' Harry thought, 'It looks like it should open, but there's no seam.'
Reaching forward to pick up the box he felt another immediate burning around his neck as his house necklace streamed a deluge of information into his mind. His eyes widened and he quickly carried the box to the table.
He stared at the box, now already knowing its contents. He'd read about it once before, Slytherin's Runestone, a joint project between Rowena Ravenclaw and Salazar Slytherin that was used to power the wards of Hogwarts until grounded stones could be placed permanently into the earth. Just like the one he'd given Daphne, it absorbed the ambient magic of those around it. He'd read about it once, briefly in 'Hogwarts, A History' in his second year while cooped up in his room at Privet Drive before Vernon had taken his belongings away and put bars on his window. Hermione's relentless cooing about the book had finally been good for something.
But what should he do with it? The box wasn't particularly heavy and would fit in his bag, just about. It would be useful if he also had a runestone to use in an emergency. Of course, now Astoria would be cured, and Daphne wouldn't need hers, but he wasn't about to ask for her gift back just for a bit of magical security. It might be a bit big to carry on his person and through his family magic, he knew he absolutely should not open the box within Gringotts.
'I won't open it, but I don't see why I shouldn't,' he thought, "It can't be that powerful or it wouldn't be here, and even if it is, surely it would be more dangerous not having a powerful tool if Voldemort turned up tomorrow.'
So, the silver box went into the bag as well. Looking back around him at the grand Slytherin Vault he longed to have a more detailed look around, to peruse the trove of ancient objects and trinkets within, but alas, he was pressed for time. Cyrus would be closing the shop soon, so with a sigh he made his way back to Marnok and was nauseatingly whisked back towards the surface.
Harry heard shouting from within even before he'd opened the leaf-green door to the Apothecary.
"You've got to have some!" A bald-headed man shouted at Cyrus across the large Oak cashier's desk, "Give it to me now!"
Harry's entrance to the shop was heralded by a small tinkering of bells, but his musical arrival was ignored by those in the shop. He could only see the back of the short, bald man's head, but he could tell by his frayed and stained robes that he certainly wasn't well off.
"I've told you, sir," Cyrus replied, "We don't have any in stock and I'm afraid I'll struggle to order it for you. Even if I could it wouldn't be here for many weeks, I'm a-"
"That's not good enough!" the man shouted, slamming his hands onto the desk, "I need it for a potion, my daughter…she was attacked by Death Eaters, it's the only way I can cure the curse! You must have some! You're the Lord of a House! Give it to me!"
"Sir," Cyrus again said, raising his hands to the man, but his eyes flicking to Harry in recognition, "That's not the case, and I assure you that the herb you're looking for only grows in Korea and it's incredibly rare. I'm sorry."
"My mate says you keep all the good stuff for yourselves!" the man snarled, drawing his wand and pointing it between Cyrus' eyes.
"Expelliarmus," Harry called, disarming the man and snatching his wand out of the air before aiming his wand back at Cyrus' attacker.
The man whirled on the spot, his eyes filled with anger, but his complexion went white with when he saw Harry's face.
"You're Harry…" the middle-aged man started.
"Relax, I'm not going to hurt you. I'll give you your wand back and then you are going to leave the shop unless you want Lord Greengrass to contact the Aurors."
"What are they going to do?" the man stumbled nervously, "Take me to the Azkaban that ain't there no more?" It was clear he was trying to remain stern and in some sort of control of the situation but as it rapidly dwindled, he started to tremble and tears started to form at the corners of his grey eyes.
"There are recently erected holding cells, didn't you know? It was in the Prophet" Harry said, stepping around to the side of them "I understand you're desperate sir, but Lord Greengrass is a man of honour, he isn't lying to you. Trust me when I say he understands what it's like to have an unwell daughter."
"Yes…"the man said hesitantly, looking briefly toward Cyrus and back to Harry. "Daphne, the attack. Lord Slytherin-Potter, I heard about your fight with Rookwood in the papers. He got what was coming to him."
He turned back to Cyrus, tears streaming down his face, "I'm…I'm so sorry, Lord Greengrass, I'm just…my Ellie, she's getting worse and I just -"
"What was she hit with?" asked Cyrus.
"The entrail-rotting curse," the man replied, his utterance of the words breaking the dam of emotions and he cried into his hands.
"I'm sorry," Cyrus replied after a wince, "But I know the potion you want to make and it's incredibly difficult even with all the ingredients. One wrong stir would make her contagious. I'm afraid that now I wouldn't sell it to you even if I had it, but bear with me a moment."
Cyrus went into a back room and came back a few moments, with a book in hand, chewing the corner of his moustache as he leafed through it. After he'd found the page he was looking for, he waved his wand to copy it and then pottered around his shop for a few minutes while he collected ingredients, accompanied by a small set of scales that floated along behind him for use as he went. Finally, he carried the bag back behind his desk and turned and slid the copied page over towards the man.
"This is a recipe for a Gastrointestinal Shielding draught. It's a copy of course and will disappear by tomorrow so you should copy it out straight away and please make sure you do it carefully. It will pause the effects of the curse, but repeated ingestion of this draught is toxic. I will try to source Xianthan Leaves for you, but I can't promise anything. If I can, I can't afford to pay for them for you, they are far too expensive but I'll talk to some of my potioneer contacts at St Mungo's. It's the kind of brew their apprentices do to finish their Masteries, so they may agree to subsidise the ingredients and do the brew for free, but I don't know what they'll say. There's a lot of ifs. Here are the ingredients for a month's worth of the draught."
He picked up the page, placed it in the bag and then handed it to the now bewildered-looking gentleman.
"Th-thank you Lord Greengrass," the man stammered and bowed, "I'm…I'm so sorry for how I acted, I'm just so scared, see. My little girl…" He trailed off briefly and began to tear up, but steeled himself and reached into his pocket.
"How much do I owe you?" he asked.
"No need," Cyrus replied with a sad smile, "Like Lord Slytherin-Potter says, I know what it's like to have an unwell daughter."
"Thank you," the man replied with a relieved sigh, clearly thankful he wouldn't have to dip into his meagre finances, "If there's any way I can help you in the future, either of you. I'm Brevis, Brevis Cole, of Budleigh Babberton. I work at the Hopping Pot, if either of you want a meal, free of charge, I'm sure I can swing it with the boss, he's sweet on Ellie, you see."
"We appreciate your offer, ," Cyrus replied with a kind smile, ' Lord Slytherin Potter I have to go, so we can't stay and chat."
"No worries," Brevis said with an awkward smile, realising he'd gotten a bit chatty, "I'll be off then."
Cyrus asked one of his staff members to deal with any remaining customers and to close up the shop before throwing on his cloak and offering his arm to Harry with a tight smile.
"Did you manage to find what you were looking for?" he asked.
"I did," Harry replied. 'And more that I wasn't,' he thought to himself.
"Very good," replied Cyrus, "Let's go see your fiancee."
Harry's mind reeled at the words.
'Fiancée. Daphne's my fiancée!'
Yet the smile on his face disappeared as he and Cyrus disapparated. Another extremely uncomfortable squeeze later and they appeared in front of the Hogsmeade branch.
Just like at the Diagon Alley, the green-painted wooden door jingled as Harry and Cyrus entered the near-empty shop.
Harry winced, a pungent smell somewhere between bad eggs and mint stung his nostrils.
"Merlin, that stuff stinks," Astoria said as she took a tray of glass jars containing what looked like tiny yellowish-grey pebbles from her mother and walked with it to stack a shelf, "How are you not done yet?"
"I nearly am," Daphne called from a back room to the right of an identical oak counter as the one in the Diagon store, "I feel like I'm gonna be sick."
"Well you better not, Harry's not gonna wanna kiss you if you've got vom all down your robes."
"I could make an exception," Harry loudly interjected with a wide smile.
"Be there in a minute!" Daphne called.
"No worries," called Harry back.
Ellanore and Cyrus chuckled as Lord Greengrass hung up his cloak.
"I remember when we were like that," said Ellanore fondly, "All passion."
"What do you mean when?" replied her husband, who proceeded to wrap his arms around Ellanore's waist and kiss her deeply.
"Ergh!" cried Astoria, "Now you're gonna make me vom!"
Harry grinned. "Okay for me to go into the back room, Cyrus?"
"Course. Don't be daft," Cyrus replied after breaking the kiss from his blushing wife, "We're gonna be family."
Harry nodded gratefully and stepped around the counter and into the back room. It was much bigger than the shop front magically expanded and contained large desks with chairs over which were strewn various documents. Aside from a large bookcase filled with various texts, boxes and barrels of all shapes and sizes littered the smooth porous stone floor containing a variety of ingredients and bits of magical equipment. On the walls were various notices about safety measures, sales targets and market fluctuations and there was a large blackboard providing a rota for the various staff members. Immediately to the right of him stood Daphne, with her hair tied back in a messy bun and a stained white apron covering her clothes. Harry watched her pull a small translucent-grey fleshy sack from a large crate labelled "Hinkypunk Bladders, out of date 12/12", nick it with a knife and then squeeze it hard. Harry immediately knew what the source of the smell was, as when she squeezed it, from the cut sprayed out a pungent, dirty greenish-brown liquid directly into the large flask set in front of her.
"Hi handsome," said Daphne brightly, "Can you itch my nose for me? You can't wear gloves when handling these and they leave your hands all gross."
Harry chuckled and said "No problem," and reached out to scratch his fiancée's nose and followed it up with a kiss on the cheek.
"Did you have fun in London?" she asked, her eyes not leaving her current task.
"Do you mean "Did you find me some pretty jewellery to wear?" Harry replied with a smirk.
"Maybe," she grinned.
"You'll have to wait and see."
"This is the last one anyway," she said, holding up the last bladder, "I hate Hinkypunk urine, it's gross. But I've just gotta weigh it."
"No worries."
Harry waited patiently while she finished her work, doffed her apron and then cleaned her hands thoroughly.
"So," she said when she was done, turning to him with an expectant grin.
"So…" Harry teased.
Daphne put a hand on her hip and raised an eyebrow.
"Come on," Harry said, "I'm not giving you this in a room that smells this bad."
They walked back into the room at the same time as Ellanore vanished the foul odour with a wave of her wand. For a few minutes, Harry leaned against the cashier's desk while the Greengrasses and a shopkeeper worked in perfect harmony. The shop had been closed for the day, and it was clear with the way the four of them danced around each other that they'd closed the shop together many times.
Once they'd all finished, Astoria sat on a stool by the door while Cyrus, Ellanore and Daphne stood patiently. Harry reached into his pocket and pulled out the red velvet box.
"It's…" Harry hesitated, "It's okay if you don't like it. We can get you another if it's not your taste it's just-"
"I'm sure I'll love whatever you got me."
"Well," Harry said, "I won't be insulted if you don't, don't worry. But this was the engagement ring my Dad gave to my Mum."
He clicked open the small box and Daphne gasped. Astoria ran over to take a look.
"It's…" Daphne tried as Harry slid the platinum, diamond and emerald ring, "I just…"
"It's beautiful, Daphne," Ellanore cooed, "And the leaves, green like Greengrass."
Happy tears trickled down Daphne's pale cheeks as she admired her new ring.
"I think the green is more because they're the same colour as my mum's eyes," Harry said.
"And they're like yours," Daphne whispered to herself, "I love it, Harry, thank you."
"You're sure?" Harry asked.
"I'm sure," she assured him and reached up with her newly bejewelled hand and kissed him tenderly.
After a few moments more of the Greengrasses admiring Daphne's new ring, Cyrus started to put in his cloak and spoke to the newly engaged couple.
"Right you two, you should get back up to the school, I'd prefer it if you were back before it gets dark. Astoria, you're stopping with us. Thanks again, Harry, for everything."
After Harry had once again assured them it was no problem, Ellanore hugged them both before they stepped out into the street. Most of the shops were beginning to close for the day and the sun was only just beginning its descent.
"Shall we just portkey back to the room?" Harry asked.
"No, let's walk," Daphne replied, taking his hand, "I've been cooped up too long in that hospital room."
"Fair enough."
They smiled fondly at one another and made their way back down to the street commenting on a few things in shop windows.
It wasn't until they'd exited the village and were out of earshot of other members of the public that Daphne felt she had the privacy to talk properly.
"I can't believe you found a way to cure the curse," she said, "Generations have tried, but they didn't have enough basilisk venom. I heard my great grandfather tried to procure some, but it's so rare and only sold in small amounts."
"Me either. We're just lucky I killed the right snake." Harry replied.
This jogged Daphne finally to take the opportunity to voice her thoughts to Harry that she'd had in the time he'd been in the alley. It had been when she'd first started draining the bladders that it had finally clicked.
"It just seems somehow like this was all meant to be," she said, "If you hadn't gone for your potions after the third task you wouldn't have saved Astoria and wouldn't have found out about the curse. Apart from Dumbledore, there was no one else powerful enough on our side to save her."
'I know, and if my first patient hadn't been an infectious disease I wouldn't have been researching in a book that had notes about the draught you used or connected it with the seizures and talked to Poppy," Harry replied.
"And the potion, if you hadn't slain the basilisk we couldn't make it. And your mum was the one to research that spell and Dumbledore didn't have to give you the book," she said. She took a big breath and looked up at her fiance.
I'm part of it," she voiced quietly, "This whole thing with Voldemort. Your destiny. It's our destiny. There's too much coincidence in the connection of my life to yours."
Harry slowed their pace and looked back at her, "You're right. We're destined to be together."
"Kind of puts the whole free will thing into question doesn't it?" Daphne mused.
"I dunno," Harry shrugged, "I made my own decisions. I was always going to try to find a cure, even if we hadn't gotten together."
"I'll never be able to thank you enough, and the fact that you would've tried anyway is one of the reasons why I love you."
Harry's whole body thrummed happily as she squeezed his hand. "I love you too," he replied. He stopped and kissed her deeply, her soft lips thrilling him as Daphne revelled in the passionate safety of his strong arms around her. The kiss deepened and she started to push him backwards against a tree. Harry tripped over a root and their teeth clashed together. They winced and laughed and looked at each other.
"Later," they both said aloud and laughed again at their accidental unison.
As they trudged down the winding road back to Hogwarts, Harry told her about what had happened in the Diagon Alley shop earlier that afternoon. She smiled fondly at her Dad's kindness as they stepped through the Hogwarts gates. They didn't make it more than ten paces when there was a burst of flame in front of them, the sudden heat stinging their face and illuminating the area as Albus Dumbledore appeared by phoenix fire before them, his eyes wide with panic and his wand raised.
"Stop right there!" Dumbledore called before he even recognised who it was.
Harry and Daphne froze.
"Is everything alright, Professor?" asked Daphne with a frown.
"No, Miss Greengrass. Something dangerous came through the wards. What do you have with you?"
"Nothing," Daphne answered immediately.
"Harry?" asked Dumbledore.
Harry's mind halted at the sudden realisation.
"Erm…I don't know Professor, I just brought something out of the Slytherin Vault when I went to get Daphne's engagement ring."
He reached into his bag and retrieved the silver box.
"What is it?"
"Slytherin's Runestone."
Both Albus and Daphne gasped, but only one with any true understanding.
"Do you have any idea how dangerous it is!? It was kept in Gringotts strictly because of Slytherin's own wards surrounding his vault!" Dumbledore asked, his eyes wide with fear.
"I don't understand, Professor," Harry replied.
"It can't stay within the wards. How did you get it back?"
"Apparated it with Cyrus."
"We might be lucky we aren't killed. It cannot travel that way again only via floo, the sphere is incredibly fragile to certain types of magic. It can't stay within the wards."
"Why?"
"Before it was discovered only three centuries ago, it had been in the room you sleep in for over a thousand years, absorbing Hogwart's ambient magic all that time. If the runes were tampered with, the magical explosion would destroy the castle and most of the British Isles!"
"What!?" Harry said in a panic, "Why doesn't everyone know this!? Why did no one tell me this? I'm the Lord of Slytherin!"
"It's a high-level Ministry secret, my boy, and mostly forgotten about. I'd forgotten myself, or I would've told you."
Dumbledore sighed and stroked his beard, "It got through the wards again safely, so it must be stable enough at least," he thought aloud, "It can't stay within them, but Gringotts won't likely take it back now, there was so much red tape in the first place, maybe if I?"
"I could portkey it to the Chamber library, Professor," Harry said, "It has the same kind of wards as the Gringotts vault, I could feel them.
"You're sure?"
"I'm sure."
"It can't go via Portkey, not until I've checked the runes and stabilised the seal. We will take it to the Chamber Library on foot."
"I'm sorry Professor, but I won't take you into the Chamber sanctum. I'd rather not risk the ire of the portrait of Slytherin. He gives me an awful lot of help. I wouldn't have gotten through the trials without him."
Harry chewed his lip, this was clearly a very serious situation and he was worried about how Dumbledore would react, but he had to stand his ground.
"He…he doesn't want me in there at all, even for something like this?" Dumbledore frowned, upset, "A fellow headmaster?"
"No. I'm afraid he wasn't very happy with how you knew that Sirius a Lord of a Most Ancient and Noble House was innocent for a whole year at least and didn't attempt to secure him a trial even when you didn't."
"I…I see…you're right," Dumbledore, "I betrayed the old ways, he would despise that."
"The orb still needs to be contained."
"I could bring you into the Chamber, but not the library. You can stabilise it however you wish there and I will take it into the inner sanctum afterwards."
Dumbledore's eyes gleamed, happy he'd get a look inside the Chamber at least.
"Let's go then."
The speed at which Dumbledore marched up the castle ahead of them surprised Harry and Daphne, he was awfully agile for such an old man. It took them just less than twelve minutes to get to Myrtle's bathroom.
"I know Fawkes carried you up last time Harry," said Dumbledore after Harry had opened the Chamber's bathroom entrance, "But don't expect me to believe that Slytherin didn't give this entrance the ability to form stairs."
"You're such a spoilsport, Professor," said Daphne and Harry grinned at her, clearly they'd both wondered if they could get the headmaster to take the trip down the slimy slide.
"Another day, Miss Greengrass and I'd clean this tube and have quite a few slides with Harry's help, but not with such precious cargo," Dumbledore replied.
"I'll hold you that Professor," Harry replied after summoning the staircase, "Your beard is long enough you could sit on it and go faster."
"Watch your cheek, my boy," Dumbledore answered with a wry smile and he led the way down the long dark staircase.
"It still astounds me how you managed to defeat such a beast, Harry," Dumbledore said minutes later after the main door had opened and the Chamber had come into view. "Well done."
"Thanks," Harry said awkwardly as Daphne swung her hands listlessly by her side, feeling like a spare part.
"Well isn't this place astounding?" Dumbledore announced, "And we're clearly deep beneath the lake."
He waved his wand a conjured a sturdy wooden table that came up to his middle.
"The box, Harry."
Harry once again retrieved the silver box from his bag and placed it on the newly conjured table.
Dumbledore lifted it gently as if it was made of glass.
"Good. The seal is still intact. The stasis field will still be active. Can you open the box?" he asked.
Harry nodded, his pendant streaming the knowledge into his brain. He removed it from his neck and touched it and his wand to the surface box, saying "Unlock." in parseltongue.
There was a loud click and the box swung open. Inside, floating free from the edges of it as if by some sort of magnetism, was a glowing white orb, the size of a fist and so bright it looked like a miniature sun. Reflexively, the three of them shielded their eyes with their hands. Immediately Dumbledore summoned three pairs of thick sunglasses and handed two of them out before sliding a pair up his long, crooked nose.
"Very stylish, Professor," Harry commented with a smirk, but Dumbledore ignored him, bending down to look at the orb once more. With the glasses on, they could see a single ring of tiny runes etched into it, encircling its equator.
Dumbledore stepped slowly around the orb, observing the runes from all angles, before letting out a sigh of relief.
"The runes are clear, but I can feel it draining the ambient magic, I won't be able to stop that but I'm afraid of how much it can take before the surface becomes fragile. I need to conceal it somehow."
"Is there any way I can help?" Harry asked. The headmaster looked up and gave him a curious look. He'd almost forgotten they were there, for a moment.
"I'm afraid not, I need to use some very complex magic, transmutation. Get me a small stone."
Daphne crouched and handed a small pebble to the headmaster.
"What are you going to do with it?" she asked.
"One moment," Albus said, screwing up his eyebrows in concentration. He waved his wand thrice, around the top of the orb, his wandtip pointing down and incanted something in Latin and then a long stream of numbers, but said as Roman numerals.
He dropped the pebble onto the sphere and it landed softly before changing colour and seeming to melt. Slowly the melting stone crept around the sphere and became a dull, dark grey metallic orb that encapsulated the white one. The moment it had surrounded it entirely, it fell into the box with a clink of metal on metal. Dumbledore immediately picked up the orb to examine it before dropping it into the box quickly with a pained gasp, his fingertips burnt.
"It's a runestone. It needs to be able to be used or it will overheat. Possibly only by the Slytherin Magic. Quickly, place your wand to it Harry, and hold your house jewellery and repeat after me." Dumbledore ordered, "Familia Arcana Oberide Sunt."
" Familia Arcana Oberide Sunt ," Harry incanted and he felt a thunk of magic shoot from the pendant and into his wand. When he removed it, there was a wandtip-sized ring on the surface of the sphere surrounding a smaller letter S. Dumbledore tentatively touched it with his little finger and sighed once more.
"It's done," Dumbledore replied. He waved his wand, "And I can't even feel the magic anymore.
"What did you do?" Harry asked, picking up the orb and examining it.
"I surrounded it in a sphere of Tungsten Carbide, Harry. A very hard metal with a very high melting point that is very difficult to tarnish or break. It's a muggle invention. Transmutation is the use of one's magic to transform and mould a substance into another. It's almost impossible to create a pure element, which is one of the reasons why the Philosopher's Stone is so impressive. It takes an innate understanding of a chosen substance to transmute anything, which takes a very long time. It took longer before the discovery of the atom, the many transmutation purists, mostly purebloods refuse to study substances in that way and so most of those who study transmutation often only learn about one or two. Myself, I am not shall we say, fussy. Tungsten Carbide is an unnatural muggle creation, after all."
"Ah, so when Voldemort made Pettigrew's silver hand…" Harry said.
"Yes, Harry, very good," He likely formed it from the flesh at the end of Pettigrew stump, though as silver is an element, it is likely a substance similar, an alloy, not quite the same. This is magic bordering on alchemy."
"I see."
"Now, if you ever wish to use the orb, you must do exactly as you have just done, and then simply will its use to channel its magic in place of your own. I must warn you though, it's exceedingly dangerous. It should remain a secret. Only use it in the direst of circumstances and store it in the Library. The Chamber feels far enough away from the castle wards and I daresay that of the Chamber will give it even better protection than Gringotts."
Harry nodded. "I will, thank you, Professor."
"Now," Dumbledore said with one last relieved and tired sigh, "I must be getting ready for the feast. Will the stairs still be active?"
"They should be," Harry shrugged.
"Good." I'll see you in the Great Hall, or in a few moments if the stairs have disappeared," Dumbledore said with a chuckle, "Try to let me know if you're going to bring such magics within the wards again."
"I will, not that a plan to," Harry said with a blush.
"Very well."
Dumbledore took his leave, his footsteps echoing off the dark stone floors. Harry turned to Daphne.
"Well that was eventful," Harry said, sheepishly.
Daphne rolled her eyes. "Honestly, you are just trouble."
"The best kind of trouble," Harry grinned.
"Hmm, we'll see," Daphne said with a playful squint, "Your bedroom awaits."
Harry felt his blood drain south, "Our bedroom."
Daphne bit her lip lustfully, which did nothing but worsen Harry's ardour.
"Our bedroom," she replied.