And here's the thirty eighth chapter of "A Year Too Soon"! Enjoy!
* Review Response:
mizzrazz72, "finally"? This Dumbledore has been doing things for a while now. This is just his first major success.
mwinter1, Luiz4200, The Shadows Mistress, Yaw6113, jamnaz79, DarkRavie, Lord Mortensen, BMS, nkh1, Uday Sra, geekymom, Wicked Lovely 17, TheGreatBubbaJ, lonewolf 83, deoxeyses, Wyrtha, FotoDi, Bryan (guest), jmw03u, codm14, ghostwarrior2301, Cleddyf, thank you for your reviews, folks!
magitech, I personally think that horcruxes are kind-of independent of each other and connect only to Voldemort's "main" piece of soul. Thus, at least for this story, the way of tracking horcruxes down that you're proposing will not work well.
Jostanos, Dumbledore wouldn't cuss in corridors. He has an image to uphold.
KnowPein, this (academic) year is almost done. Next chapter will be wrapping it up. And in the following summer, a certain character that has been absent for the past two years will finally make their way into the story. ;)
Charlee56, while indeed improved over what they are in canon, Hogwarts' wards here are still not perfect.
Josendorr, Dumbledore will eventually return Harry the cloak. And yes, it will happen when Harry gets himself emancipated this summer.
Guest, yeah, I'll admit that the potion was there mostly to bump Harry's physical age to that of his classmates. /shrug. There might be some other effects from the potion appearing down the line, but I'm not sure which at this point.
Magic Blue, :)
avidnarutofan, I read that Yule Ball story. It was pretty good. As for the Greengrass curse, I indeed first saw it mentioned in one story or another, but it's apparently canon to some degree thanks to the Cursed Child. I haven't read that book, and wikia has like one sentence on the nature of the curse, so I made stuff up.
* AN: As always, great thanks to my friend Skelekitty for his help in polishing this chapter.
Disclaimer: I DO NOT own "Harry Potter" franchise. No profit is being made. Same goes for any books, video games, anime or manga I may or may not use for ideas.
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A Year Too Soon
Chapter XXXVIII: Wits Beyond Measure
It took Dumbledore nearly two weeks to learn the way to open the hidden room the horcrux was stored within. And, much to his embarrassment, it wasn't a mystery he managed to solve by himself. Instead, he learned about the so-called Come-and-Go Room from Hogwarts house elves. This room was a really fascinating piece of Magic, beyond anything that has been created in the modern times, and the aged Headmaster resolved to learn as much as he could about its mysteries once he had some free time during the coming summer.
For now, though, dealing with Voldemort's horcrux hidden within this room was his top priority. And even with his portable detectors, it still took him a couple of hours to finally locate the accursed thing among the piles of centuries-old junk filling the cavernous chamber that the Come-and-Go Room had turned into.
And as he finally laid his eyes on the horcrux, he couldn't help but utter some words that were completely inappropriate for a school's headmaster to say. Still, his reaction was very understandable as desecration of this artifact was absolutely unforgivable.
"So… This is yet another horcrux the Dark Lord had created?" Madam Bones asked as she eyed a simple silver diadem sitting under a containment ward on the table in front of her. "Why hasn't it been destroyed yet? I could understand it with the diary as you needed to study it, but..."
"I'd rather not destroy a priceless historical artifact if I don't absolutely have to, Amelia." Dumbledore replied. "This diadem once belonged to Lady Rowena Ravenclaw." Pausing for a second to let the Director of the DMLE process his words, he continued. "History is not clear on what exactly had happened back then, but we might be the first - baring Voldemort - to see this diadem in over nine centuries. And it would be a real shame to destroy it without even trying to cleanse it of the horcrux through other means first."
"I guess, you're right." Madam Bones said. "Destroying a Founders' artifact should be our last choice, especially since we know that the Goblins have a way to move horcruxes from one container and into another." The old warlock nodded.
"Indeed." He said. "I'll be making a request for performing a horcrux-transference ritual with them as soon as this meeting is over. If all goes well, the diadem shall be once again untainted by Voldemort's horcrux. And, hopefully, the original enchantments will survive the ritual intact ."
"And what are you planning to do with it afterwards?" Croaker asked. "I would certainly love to study the Magics that went into creations of the diadem."
"Well..." Dumbledore said. "I want to put the diadem on display at Hogwarts but, I suppose, I can let you study it for a couple of weeks before then. Just make sure it stays in one piece." The Unspeakable gave him a nod, silently thanking him for a chance to study a Founders' artifact.
"You want to put it on display? Now?" Madam Bones asked, surprised by Dumbledore's worlds. "Won't that alert Voldemort to the fact that we're hunting for his horcruxes? He might have no physical body right now, but what's stopping him from contacting one of his followers that didn't get locked up in Azkaban and instructing them to move the remaining horcruxes someplace we will never find?"
"That is… a valid concern." The Hogwarts' Headmaster conceded. "But I don't believe we need to worry about that. I've been studying every piece of information about horcruxes that I could find and nothing I could find about these abominations mentioned a possibility of transferring them between vessels. If the Dark Lord sees an undamaged diadem on the display, he certainly will believe that we were unable to identify it as one of his horcruxes." Dumbledore explained his idea.
"It's still a very big risk." Amelia pushed. "Even if we manage to fool him into believing that the diadem is still a horcrux, Voldemort will know that we've found it. And if we can find one, we can find the rest. He's a paranoid bastard, so he will try to move the other horcruxes and when he discovers that the diary has been destroyed… I believe it would be better to keep the diadem a secret until we're certain that the Dark Lord has been dealt with permanently." She said.
"I believe Amelia is right." Croaker spoke up. "It is better not to give the Dark Lord any reason to make our hunt for his horcruxes any harder that it already is. I'm sorry, Albus, but putting the diadem on display is not a good idea." Dumbledore let out a sigh. Unused to losing arguments, but unable to see any faults in their statements, he reluctantly agreed.
"Very well." He said finally. "I'll refrain from putting the diadem on display for now." He then turned his attention towards the Unspeakable. "I still want it back with me as soon as you're finished studying it, Saul. And so help me if it's not in the most pristine condition when you return it to me." The old warlock said threateningly.
"I'll make sure to use only passive methods to study the diadem." Croaker said, his voice clearly conveying that he wasn't happy about this.
"Now then." Dumbledore continued, back to his usual jovial self. "If no one has anything to add, let's adjourn this meeting."
"Just send Amelia and I an owl once you finish your negotiations with the goblins. We would like to know when this horcrux is going to be destroyed" The Unspeakable said.
"Of course." Dumbledore agreed.
~/ *** \~
Harry, Flora and Hestia were sitting on a large flat rock at the edge of Black Lake, enjoying a relaxing Sunday afternoon. With the spring being here in full force now, the weather was warm and sunny. It would be a crime to spend such a nice day cooped up in the castle.
"Harry?" Flora spoke up, suddenly breaking the silence. "Can we… Can we talk about something?"
"Mhmm." The green-eyed teen hummed non-committedly.
"Hestia and I have talked about it quite a bit and…" Flora began, her voice unusually uncertain and bashful. "We… "We... we think that we all should be more honest with ourselves about what we feel about each other. And... Well..." She trailed off as he face - and that of her sister - turned almost tomato-red. Harry glanced between the Carrow sister, uncertain.
'What we feel about each other?' He wondered. The three of them were friends, right? Good friends that spent quite a lot of time together... And hugged and kissed each other…
"Oh… You… You want me to be your boyfriend?" He asked hesitantly as blush crept onto his cheeks. "But…" Here he went silent for a moment, before continuing: "Isn't it supposed to be just a boyfriend and a girlfriend? I don't want to hurt you by choosing one of you."
"That's so sweet of you, Harry." Hestia said. "But you don't need to worry."
"We agreed to share you. You don't need to choose between us." Flora finished for her sister as both of them now had blushes rivaling Harry's own. "And if this isn't how it is supposed to work… Well,.. We don't care."
"Ahm…" The young Potter breathed out, not knowing how to respond to this. Indeed, while he had certainly entertained the hope that one of them might like him as more than just a friend one day, he didn't expect it to be both of them. And never in a million years had he imagined that they would be willing to share him.
"C'mon, Harry." Flora pushed. "You love us and we both love you. Just ask it." Taking a deep breath to calm himself a little, Harry addressed the twins:
"Flora, Hestia… Will you… W-will you be my girlfriends?" He asked
"Of course." Hestia said, giving him a happy smile. Her sister, meanwhile, decided to forgo words and gave her reply in the form of a gentle kiss that lasted for several long moments and left them both with goofy grins on their faces. Not to be outdone, Hestia drew close and playfully pushed her twin out of the way, taking her place in front of Harry. Then she gave him a kiss of her own.
~/ *** \~
Peter Pettigrew was rather annoyed. It took him literally months to get from Hogwarts and all the way to London - mostly because he did the entire journey disguised as Scabbers the rat. He didn't dare to revert back to his human form even once, afraid that someone might recognize him despite eleven years that have passed since his supposed death at Black's hand. And for whatever weird reason, animagi couldn't apparate while transformed into their animal.
And as if that wasn't bad enough, in the time since his arrival to London, he failed to find even a single scrap of information that might lead him to his Master. It was almost as if everyone honestly believed that the Dark Lord, the greatest and mightiest wizard since Salazar Slytherin himself, had died on that Halloween night.
It wasn't very encouraging, but Peter wasn't going to abandon his quest to find his Master. Not now, when he knew that the Dark Lord wasn't truly gone and only waited for someone to help him return to his full might. Thus, the rat animagus continued eavesdropping on people in Diagon Alley and Knockturn Alley, hoping that someone might accidentally drop a clue to the Dark Lord's current whereabouts.
He passed by a group of Ministry witches out for lunch - still disguised as a rat, of course. Normally their conversation would be of no interest to him as none of them belonged to a house that had supported the Dark Lord during the war and they weren't high enough in the hierarchy to possibly know anything relevant to his quest. Then he heard something interesting:
"You've been to Mister Crouch's house, right? I don't think he had had any guests since his wife had died years ago. What is the Crouch manor like these days?" The first witch asked.
"I… I… I don't know." The second witch replied hesitantly after a few seconds. "I remember going there to have Mr. Crouch sign some parchmentwork. I even remember talking to him in his study a little. But I don't remember anything else about his manor."
"C'mon, Bertha." The third witch spoke up. "I know that Mr. Crouch likes his solitude and all, but you can tell us what his home is like. Does he have paintings of his late missus everywhere? Or maybe..." The now-named Bertha didn't let her colleague finish.
"I honestly don't remember." She insisted. The other two witches continued to question her, but Peter wasn't listening to them anymore. Instead, he was thinking about what this Bertha said. He might not be an accomplished wizard, but he knew what a victim of Oblivation was like when they were asked about something that was erased from their memory. And this Bertha exhibited exactly those signs.
But why would Barty Crouch Sr. place her under the Memory Charm her simply because she had been in his home once? The man was paranoid, but definitely not to that degree. No, Crouch Sr. was hiding something. Something that he didn't want anyone finding out. But what could it be?
Peter briefly considered the possibility that Crouch Sr. simply had had a fling with his subordinate and was trying to keep that a secret. He quickly discarded this idea. It was quite unlike the man as he remembered him to be, and using the Memory Charm for that? No, something else was going on here.
Didn't one of those witches say that Crouch Sr. hasn't had any guests ever since his wife died? That happened only a couple of months after the fall of the Dark Lord. And maybe a week after his son died in Azkaban. Peter remembered reading articles about those events in the Daily Prophet as he had been vigilantly looking for any signs of his deception being discovered back then. Could it be that the man had actually rescued his son from Azkaban and was now hiding him in his manor? That was a pretty ridiculous thought, but the rat animagus decided that he still needed to look into that. He was getting sick of Diagon Alley anyway…
~/ *** \~
As he observed the ritual to safely transfer a horcrux into a new vessel, Albus Dumbledore couldn't help but wonder yet again why wizards so readily dismissed other Magic-wielding species as inferior. The Magic that took place in front of him right now was beyond almost anything he had witnessed throughout his long and eventful life. And he had seen many great and terrible things over the years.
Pushing those thoughts aside for the moment, the old warlock watched with rapt attention as the goblin ritual reached its completion and the Dark Lord's horcrux was forcefully transferred into its new container - a simple block of wood.
"It is done, Mr. Dumbledore." The Master Curse-Breaker standing at the head of the ritual announced. "All that is left to do now is destroying the horcrux. Would you like to end it yourself, or shall we?" The goblin asked.
"I'll do it." The Hogwarts' headmaster replied after a couple of moments. Almost immediately, he was offered a goblin-forged dagger, its blade infused with basilisk venom. "Thank you." He said, accepting the dagger. "I was going to use Fiendfyre, but this is definitely a better alternative." Indeed, the cursed fire, while potent enough to destroy even Soul Magics, was very volatile and hard to control.
Approaching the piece of wood that now contained a fragment of the Dark Lord's soul, Dumbledore drew the dagger from its sheath and sank it into the temporary vessel. The wood immediately began to darken, corroded by the basilisk venom, and after a couple of seconds a soul-chilling scream of a dying horcrux filled the ritual chamber while a cloud of black smoke vaguely shaped like a human head rose into the air. With no attachment to the material plane, however, it quickly dissipated into nothingness. The horcrux was no more.
Later that day, after returning to Hogwarts, Dumbledore found himself studying the Founder's relic. By itself, the diadem wasn't especially impressive: it was made from pure silver and tastefully decorated with runic ornaments, but that was it. There weren't any Magical jewels adorning it and even its very shape was rather basic. Enchantments it was imbued with, on the other hand… Those were completely unlike anything found in the modern times.
Even the knowledge of Magics of old that he had gained during his apprenticeship under Nicolas Flamel did little to help Dumbledore make head or tail of the arcane enchantments used by Rowena Ravenclaw. Then again, these enchantments weren't meant to be understood or reverse engineered. That, of course, wasn't enough to stop the old warlock from trying.
As evening fell over the castle, the Headmaster had to admit with some disappointment that his effort thus far had yielded no tangible results and the diadem's enchantments remained as inscrutable as ever. And as he had promised Croaker a chance to study the diadem himself, he would be parting with the Founder's artifact the next day. But before then there was one more thing that Dumbledore wanted to do.
He was going to put the diadem on.
With the horcrux gone, there were no malicious Magics left within it. But the aged warlock knew better than to believe an artifact of great power - and Rowena's diadem definitely was one of them - would be entirely harmless. Unparalleled knowledge the diadem promised could easily be addictive and lead a Man to their downfall. But he wasn't a weak man, and he could resist the temptation of power.
And so he put the diadem on.
For a moment, it didn't feel like anything had changed. Then, the enchantments finally revealed their power. And… The diadem didn't give one knowledge they didn't already have. There was probably nothing that could do that. What it did instead, was remove the fog of Time from one's memories - Albus could recall events that took place a century ago as clearly as those that have transpired not a minute into the past - and sharpen one's mind beyond what even a master Occlumens could ever hope to achieve.
The diadem didn't create knowledge, but Dumbledore could see why others would think it did. And he could equally understand why Lady Ravenclaw would do nothing to quash those rumors.
"'Wits beyond measure' indeed." He whispered under his breath.
~/ *** \~
A few days have passed since Harry and the twins had acknowledged that they were indeed more than just close friends, and the young Potter hasn't noticed any significant changes in their relationship. True, they might have become a touch more affectionate towards each other as they weren't 'just friends' anymore, but that was it.
It didn't look like most of their housemates noticed that anything changed. Either that, or they just didn't care. About the only exception was Tracey Davis.
"Congratulations!" The witch said as she appeared before the trio as they were enjoying a peaceful moment in their corner of the common room. As Harry, Flora and Hestia were caught by surprise by their friend's sudden appearance, their first reaction to her proclamation was a raised eyebrow. "You've finally confessed to each other, haven't you?" Tracey asked.
"Erm-... Yes." Harry confirmed with a faint blush blossoming on his face.
"Great!" Tracey said. She then turned to Blaise and Daphne who came to see what the commotion their friend was making was about. "Hey, Blaise, you owe me ten Sickles!"
"You were betting on us?" Flora asked, not really sure how to feel about this.
"C'mon, everyone here knows you'd end up together. The bet was about when it'd happen." Tracey explained. "And don't worry, we all support you." She then focused her attention solely on Harry and added conspiratorially: "Though, I'm sure little Astoria will be so heartbroken by the news. She's quite smitten with you, Heir Potter."
"Don't even think about that, Potter." Flora hissed, before a single thought could've formed in Harry's head in response to what Tracey had just said. "Hestia and I agreed to share you, but only between ourselves."
"B-but I… I wasn't…" The green-eyed teen really had no idea what to say here.
"Then prove that you love us, Harry." Hestia said. Harry responded in the only way he thought was right: he gave his girlfriends a kiss.
That's all, folks!
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