Chapter 64: Tales of the Future
Despite the fun I'd had overseas being in the U.S., my time there had come to an end, and I'd left with both a better understanding of what the Flamels had willed to me, and what my plans for expanding in the Americas would look like going forward in the next few years.
But I was back in England again, and had spent the last forty-eight hours after getting off the plane ensuring everything I'd missed while on vacation was in order.
"Yeah. Yeah, I know," I said, talking into the phone in my apartment. "Thanks again, Delilah."
"Of course. It was fun, running a company for a little while," she giggled in my ear. "But if you want me to do it again, it'll cost you~!"
"I have plenty of souvenirs for everyone," I drawled.
"Good! I'm also annoyed you didn't tell me you now owned a house, too," she said, and I could hear the pout in her voice.
"I'm sorry, I didn't really expect it all, either," I said, scratching the back of my head sheepishly.
"Well, at least you have a place that's your own. Though I have to ask, when are you going to be moving out of that apartment of yours?" Delilah wondered. "You can afford to live anywhere you want right now."
"I guess it is time to upgrade," I muttered, thinking about getting a penthouse suite somewhere in London, or perhaps just buying a house out in the suburbs. Housing prices were fairly cheap right now. Especially since the economic downturn I'd feared had come to pass.
"Well, when you do, let me know so I can get some housewarming gifts and help you break in your new place," she said, her voice becoming husky.
"With a 'gift' like that, I'd better get a brand-new bed, too," I teased, before turning a little more serious.
"Anyways, Delilah, if you have any other questions or concerns… just ask and say 'em. I'll always have time for you," I promised.
"You're so sweet," Delilah said, a tiny note of fondness clearly audible in her words.
I paused as the sound of knocking filled the apartment, and I frowned. Seemed like it was time.
"Ah. Sorry again, but I've got to hang up. They're here, at the door," I said. "Call you back soon."
"Of course. Love you!" Delilah said before hanging up. I smiled a little to myself as I carefully set down the phone and went to get the door.
"Remus. Sirius," I said in greeting as I opened up for them. "Come in."
"Where's Harry?" Remus asked as the two men entered my apartment.
"He's at a friend's house," I replied. "Can I get you anything? Tea? Coffee? Water?"
"None for me," Sirius said, declining, and Remus nodded in agreement.
"Alright," I shrugged and gestured to the couch. "Take a seat, then."
They did so, plopping down on my couch, and I sat down across from them in a chair I dragged over from the dining area.
"I'm glad you two are here. Finally ready to hear me out, huh?" I asked.
"I think it's time we had a little chat about your 'prophecies,'" Sirius said, folding his arms as he looked at me.
"I agree," I replied. "And I will tell the truth. What do you want to know?"
Sirius and Remus briefly shared a look with each other before the werewolf leaned forward. "Edward, we want to know what you know about the Horcruxes V-Voldemort created."
"Now that you destroyed Slytherin's Locket and Hufflepuff's Goblet, and that the Diary and one other were eliminated, there are only two Horcrux currently left," I revealed. "However, I do know that Voldemort planned – or is planning – to create another one in the summer of 1994 by murdering a woman named Bertha Jorkins."
"Fuck!" Sirius snarled, punching the armrest of the couch.
"Six Horcruxes…" Remus uttered in horror. "Who would be mad enough to make that many?"
"He ended up making one of them by accident," I revealed. "Still terrible, though."
"Where? Where are they?!" Sirius demanded.
"I will not tell you where one of them is," I replied, but quickly held up a hand to forestall any shouts from my interrogators. "I will gladly reveal the location of this final Horcrux to you after I have explained what happens in the future, because you need to know about it first."
"Fine," Sirius growled. "Tell us about the location of the ones you're willing to discuss."
"The first is hidden in Hogwarts," I revealed. "It's made from the Diadem of Ravenclaw, and is being used as the anchor for the curse on the Defense Position."
"Fuck," Remus stated, accurately summing up the situation.
"Quite," I agreed dryly. "Thankfully, I have a plan for it. Remus, you were invited to teach at Hogwarts, correct?"
"Yes," he nodded. "I shouldn't be surprised that you knew. I haven't decided if I'll accept Dumbledore's offer, though."
"You have to, Moony!" Sirius exclaimed. "It'll keep Harry safe if you go, and you can destroy that Horcrux!"
"I… yes, I see that," Remus muttered.
"Think it over," I told him. "I have another plan if you truly do not want to go to Hogwarts."
"Thank you," Remus nodded.
"Alright, I wanna know about the Diary and the other one that is supposedly destroyed," Sirius said.
"The Diary was originally in the possession of Lucius Malfoy, before he used his son to transport it to Hogwarts, where it possessed Astoria Greengrass and summoned the Basilisk," I said.
"Is that how that all went down?" Remus asked as Sirius swore up a storm, vowing bloody revenge on the Malfoy lineage.
"Yup. Harry destroyed the Diary. In my visions, he used the Basilisk fang that pierced him to do it. In this timeline, I believe he rammed the Sword of Gryffindor through it," I said.
"Pierce him? Oh, Merlin! Did Harry… was the pup supposed to die this year?!" Sirius demanded fearfully.
"No. Luckily, Fawkes the phoenix managed to cry onto the wound in time, neutralizing the venom. At least, in the vision," I explained. "This year, things were different, and I have to explain why."
"I don't like the sound of that," Remus muttered.
"Harry… Harry was a Horcrux," I revealed, ripping the band-aid off right away. "When Voldemort murdered his parents and tried to kill him, the rebounding of the Killing Curse shaved away a part of the Dark Lord's already unstable soul and embedded it in Harry's scar."
"No!" Sirius gasped in horror. "You can't turn living things in Horcruxes!"
"He found a way," I said. "Though it was probably only possible due to how unstable his soul was and currently is."
"Hold on, you said 'was a Horcrux.' Is that not the case anymore?" Remus asked hopefully, and I nodded, which had Sirius sagging in relief.
"I worked with Fawkes and the Sorting Hat to… arrange things differently in this timeline," I replied.
"How? The only way to deal with a Horcrux… is to destroy it," Sirius whispered.
"Harry did die in the Chamber of Secrets," I told them softly. "One of the Basilisk's fangs cut his scar. He died from the venom. But with phoenix tears, combined with the Elixir of Life produced by the Philosopher's Stone, he was revived, and the Horcrux was destroyed. He is free and safe, now."
Sirius let out a sob and he slumped in his seat. Remus awkwardly patted his friend's back, his own face screwed up in tearful relief.
"Thank you," Sirius eventually whispered to me. "Thank you, Edward."
"I love Harry like a little brother," I said truthfully. "I would not – could not! – let him suffer like that."
"What… what do we need to know about the future so we can discover this final Horcrux?" Remus asked.
"Let me tell you about what is supposed to happen before, during, and after Harry's Fourth Year," I said grimly.
The Quidditch World Cup, the Tri-Wizard Tournament, Harry being chosen for the latter, the convoluted scheme of Barty Crouch Jr. (who was still alive) and the aftermath resulting in the death of an innocent student and the revival of the Dark Lord was relayed to the two men. It took over an hour to get it all out, and once it was, Sirius and Remus were stunned, to say the least.
"How… how accurate?" Sirius asked, licking his lips nervously.
"Very," I said. "At least, if I had not ended up interfering. I do not know how it'll happen from now on. My actions have changed things. And it'll only deviate further from what I know as time passes."
"But what does this have to do with the Horcrux?" Remus asked.
"The final Horcrux – that have already been created at least – lies near the very spot where Voldemort revives himself," I said. "We could go and destroy it right now. But then we'd tip our hand, alerting the bald snake that we're onto him. He will try to investigate his other Horcruxes, and may discover or suspect they've been destroyed. Which means he'll try to create more."
"Ah. I can see how that would be a problem," Sirius muttered.
"Now, that could be useful for us. Voldemort never planned to create a Horcrux out of Harry," I continued. "That means, as far as he's aware, he only has five: the Diary, the Goblet, the Locket, the Diadem, and the fifth one I've yet to reveal the identity of. But that means he can only create one more Horcrux. But he doesn't know that. He thinks he's still able to make two more wretched soul anchors."
"Why one more?" Remus wondered, before he realized the answer himself. "Of course! Seven! He's tying his Horcruxes into the number seven!"
"There's no number more powerful, magically speaking at least, than seven," I said with a nod. "I believe Voldemort's goal was always to create seven of them."
"If he doesn't know Harry is – was – one, then he'll over extend, damaging his soul by ultimately separating it into eight pieces," Sirius murmured. "He was already badly unstable with five… what in Merlin's name would having made eight Horcruxes do to a man?"
"I don't know," I admitted. "If Voldemort was smart, he'd have made just three. Three is the number of stability and protection, at least in arithmancy. It would have likely kept his soul and sanity more… intact. Still, his mistakes are to our advantage."
"You want to try and arrange things to play out as they did in your visions," Sirius realized, a note of accusation in his voice.
"I do," I admitted. "But obviously in a more controlled setting."
"Letting Crouch Jr. run around and do all that shit doesn't sit right with me," the lord of House Black stated.
"I'm of the same mind," Remus said, before adding, "However, I do think there is some merit to the idea."
"You cannot be serious!" Sirius gaped at his friend.
"No, that's you," Remus shot back with a smirk, before his expression turned serious. "But we have a chance to arrange things in a way that could lead to the Dark Lord's death and defeat if we follow along with the visions."
"No. No! We should not let things play out like that!" Sirius protested. "There has to be another way!"
"I'm open to ideas," I replied calmly. Or, as calmly as I could, at least. "How do you think we should handle it?"
"I… we have to catch Crouch Jr., obviously!" Sirius declared. "That way he can't do that crazy plan! Besides, it likely wouldn't work, not with Pettigrew locked up in Azkaban right now!"
"True, Voldemort's plan does hinge on having at least two followers to pull it off," Remus said. "One to take care of him, another to infiltrate the school."
"Actually, it'd only need one," I pointed out. "Their plan to replace Mad-Eye Moody was a terrible one. Why infiltrate the school for months, just to plant a single Portkey at the end of the Tri-Wizard Tournament? If they were smart, they'd have slipped a Portkey to Harry at any other point in the year. Having Harry become a Champion was stupid and counterproductive. Junior could have snuck in disguised as his father with a portkey and then used it on himself and Harry. Quick and easy. No way to stop it."
"Well, maybe they waited so long because it took a while to prepare the ritual to restore Voldemort's body and that's why they went for that convoluted plan," Remus suggested, though by his expression he too was seeing the flaws in the plot.
"My point still stands regarding making Harry's name come from the Goblet of Fire," I pointed out, and Remus nodded slowly, conceding the point.
"By your own admission, the plan is stupid. So why would they try and go ahead with it in this timeline?" Sirius demanded.
"That… I don't know. It's a good question," I admitted, it being one I too had wondered about. "But by keeping to the plan from the vision, at least slightly, is a good way to both ensure Voldemort has a body we can actually destroy once his Horcruxes are finally wiped out, and it'd let us spring a trap for the Death Eaters he summons."
"You want to guide events so Harry ends up in the cemetery, Voldemort gets revived, and his minions get summoned so they are all there and we can murder them when they do appear?" Sirius asked.
"That's right," I said with a nod. "A decapitation strike!"
"It's not terrible," Remus mumbled, causing Sirius to glare at him in betrayal.
"It's stupid! And relies too much on future knowledge Edward himself has admitted may become flawed the more time passes!" Sirius hissed. "I think we should take out Crouch Jr., eliminate the final Horcrux, and be done with it!"
"And that would leave Voldemort alone in Albania, free to do whatever he wants," I stated. "That's where he is right now, by the way. Albania."
"Why there?" Remus asked.
"I don't know," I admitted. I then spread my hands out, palms up. "But that's my plan to eliminate Voldemort. I've told no lies."
"Hmm," Sirius muttered, squinting at me suspiciously before glancing down at his pocket. Curiously, his expression softened a bit as he got up and retrieved something from it.
"Well, you didn't lie, that much is true," Sirius grunted as he dropped a Russian Nesting Doll with an eerie blank face onto the coffee table between us.
"What does that do?" I asked.
"Every time a lie is told, it creates a new doll," Sirius said. "Watch. My favorite color is green."
The Doll rattled and then a tiny copy popped out of it, but with Sirius' face on the front.
"Every doll bears the face of the liar," Sirius explained. "And since not a single doll was made, that means you told us the truth."
He leaned forward. "That doesn't mean I like your plan for getting rid of Voldemort, Edward. Because I really, really don't."
"Were there other methods of detecting if I was telling the truth being used?" I wondered.
"The Blacks have a few others, but I didn't bring 'em out. I didn't think cursed thumb screws that force you to constantly talk in order to keep them from squeezing would be a good idea. Nor did I think the Liar's Poison would work."
"Liar's Poison?" I asked.
"It forces whoever drinks it to tell nothing but lies," Sirius said. "It's used as a way to find out the truth through process of elimination, though it's not very effective. And it's the counter serum for Truth Potions."
"Ah. So the doll was the least awful method," I muttered. "Thanks for that."
Sirius just grunted, and Remus gave me a scrutinizing look.
"What happened after Voldemort was revived?" the werewolf asked.
"Ah. It's not pretty," I admitted. I gave a brief summary of the years after the events in the Goblet of Fire and both men grimaced in disgust and anger at the Ministry's incompetence and Dumbledore's obfuscations. I left out how both men in front of me would die by the end of it. They didn't need to hear that. And I was fairly certain they both suspected that their deaths were somewhere within the vision when I glossed over certain parts. Though I did warn them about Kreacher's possible betrayal and the mental link Harry would end up sharing with Voldemort.
"I see," Remus muttered. "I will… I need to think on this."
"We all do," Sirius stated. He glanced at me. "Are you going to tell any of this to Harry?"
"If he asks, I will," I replied. That had his godfather grimace, but he nodded.
"So… all of what's happened so far… me being freed and exonerated, Remus's lady friend, Harry's happiness… it's all because of you, huh?" he muttered to himself, looking down at the table.
Sirius looked up at me. "Thank you for that, I suppose."
I bowed my head at him, accepting his thanks.
"Alright! Now that that sappy stuff is over, I think we need to figure out what to do about Bartemius Crouch, both Junior and Senior," Sirus said, switching from humble to fired up.
"Indeed. But it won't be easy to keep track of Crouch Sr. now that he's out of a job," Sirius said. "No set routine for him to follow, anymore."
"He was fired?" I exclaimed.
"Of course he was. Man was in charge of trials when I was tossed in Azkaban, so obviously it was his fault I never got one," Sirius huffed. "Somebody had to pay the piper, and the man already had a black mark on his record thanks to his son being a Death Eater. This was just the straw that broke the camel's back."
"And Minister Fudge needed a scapegoat," Remus added. "He should have been demoted, but there was a lot of pressure to see him removed entirely so he couldn't cause anymore problems for the Ministry. And I think some money changed hands to ensure Crouch's removal."
"That changes things, then," I admitted with a frown.
"How so?" Remus asked.
"Because Barty Crouch Jr. manages to overpower his father after the World Cup, and puts him under the Imperious, controlling him," I stated. "If Crouch Sr. is fired, he'll be at home more often. And that means it will be a coin toss on whether or not his son will be able to break free."
On the one hand, Crouch Senior would be able to keep a closer eye on his son. On the other, he could potentially grow lax with cursing Junior into obedience or worse, forget to do so entirely, and get ganked early.
"What should we do, then?" Sirius asked. "If we try to arrest him, it might give his brat a chance to escape."
"The Crouch's House Elf, Winky, is a loyal soul, and will do whatever it takes to keep Junior safe," I said. "Plus, he has an Invisibility Cloak. It would be easy for Winky to pop him out to keep him out of our hands."
"This needs to be thought over carefully," Sirius decided after a moment. "Much as I'd like to go in wands blazing, the risks are too great."
"Never thought I'd hear you be the one to urge for caution," Remus chuckled. He then frowned. "By the way, what happened next year? You only mentioned Harry's Fourth."
"Hopefully, this coming school year shouldn't have too many things go wrong," I said. "In my visions, Sirius broke out of Azkaban after learning Pettigrew was alive, and while you yourself Remus were hired to be the Defense teacher. From what I understand, you were the best one the school's had in over a decade."
"It's nice to hear Moony can teach some brats about spells and stuff, but you're saying in your visions I was still in Azkaban?" Sirius demanded, leaning in, and I nodded.
"Yes. That's another thing I've affected. Remus and I helped free you and catch the little rat so he could face justice. You would have broken free, and Minister Fudge would go mad with fear and unleash the Dementors, allowing them to act as 'guards' at Hogwarts."
"What? Why the hell would that moron do that?" Sirius demanded, blanching in fear at the mention of the prison's dreaded guardians.
"Because everyone thought you were as batty as your cousin Bellatrix, and would try to hunt down Harry and kill him for destroying your 'master,'" I said in a sarcastic drawl. "Hence the protection detail on the school. Which predictably goes horribly wrong."
"Shit," Remus said. "And if I'd taken the job there… Dementors and werewolves do not mix well. The animalistic nature of the curse, combined with the emotion-draining power of the Dementors… well, it's not pretty, based on what I've heard. The transformations are particularly brutal."
"Got that right," Sirius grunted. "There were a few werewolves in cells near me for a while. They'd go berserk every full moon and the Dementors would always gather around them, sucking up every scrap of emotion they could get. Made the entire cell block cold as Morgana's tits. The Dementors would always feed too much and eventually the poor bastards would die, their minds shattered to the point they forgot how to breathe."
"Anyways, Sirius did try to break into Hogwarts, but only because that's where the little traitor was hiding as somebody's pet," I continued. "As for the Dementors, Harry has some bad interactions with them as well. Nearly dying… I want to say three times to them. At least."
Sirius said some words that were absolutely foul, and Remus didn't even scold him for it.
"There is a tiny silver lining, though," I say. "Harry does manage to master the Patronuscharm that year as a way to defend against them. Manages to drive off over a thousand Dementors at once with a single spell."
"HA! That's my godson!" Sirius barked out gleefully, a vicious grin on his face at the idea of the Dementors getting trounced like that.
"I am surprised he was able to master such a high-level spell," Remus said, impressed as well.
"Yeah, it sorta becomes Harry's signature spell, alongside Expelliarmus," I confirm with a grin of my own. "He also manages to teach it to a whole bunch of other students in his Sixth Year."
"A teacher, too? He's got a great future ahead of him!" Sirius cheered.
"Anything else we need to know?" Remus asked after settling down.
"A few things," I said, and I quickly summarized the events of the third book for them. By the end, they were impressed with Harry's resourcefulness, dismayed by the Ministry's incompetence, and annoyed with each other for what their 'future' versions did wrong.
"I can't believe I didn't speak with Harry about his parents until he brought it up himself. I was truly a coward," Remus muttered to himself.
"Yeah. My plan was really stupid. How did I possibly think it would work? At least some kids are following in our footsteps with the Marauder's Map," Sirius hummed. "I think I should meet these Weasley twins."
Remus and I both shuddered at that. The pranksters, meeting up and uniting their forces? Chaos would consume the world!
Coughing a little to get us back and track, I gave them both a long, hard look. "Do you agree that how I've changed things is, at the very least, better than it could have been?"
"Yeah, can't argue with your actions, now that I have some context," Sirius admitted with a sigh. "Doesn't mean I like it."
"Yes, you've said that. A lot," I said dryly.
"Well, it bares repeating!" he huffed. "And I still think letting things play out as they did in your visions is a mistake!"
"So, our plans are to try and follow the original path laid out by the villains to catch Voldemort and his most loyal minions unaware for a single devastating attack, or shake things up by eliminating the Horcruxes we know exist right now and hope we can weather the storm caused by the changed future," Remus said, laying out what the two main options going forward were with a pensive expression.
"Don't really like either of 'em," the animagus whined.
"You don't seem to like anything about any of this, do you?" I drawled.
"Sure don't! Both options seem terrible!" Sirius replied with a bark of deranged laughter.
"Can we at least agree to wait and see about what might change in this coming year?" I asked. "The World Cup and the Tri-Wizard Tournament are inevitable. Short of the Ministry collapsing overnight, those two international events have been in the works for a while and won't likely get altered, at least date and location wise."
"Ugh… fine," Sirius grumbled in agreement, and Remus nodded along. "Not what I wanna do, but I can see the benefits of it."
"Thank you," I said, breathing out a gusty sigh of relief.
"Like we said earlier, let us think this over. Sleep on what we've learned. And come up with new ideas," Remus said, always the conciliator. He stood up and gave me a nod. "Thank you for being so open with us, Edward. I'll see you at work tomorrow."
"Mm-hmm. See you then. Oh, will you be able to attend Harry's birthday party?" I wondered. "He'll be having a combined one with Neville."
"Yes, there is no way I'd miss that," he vowed, giving me a nod. Sirius stood up next, pocketing the lie detecting nesting doll as he did so.
"See ya around, I guess," Sirius said. "And thanks again, for getting me out of that hellhole."
"Of course. Nobody deserves that sort of torture," I replied.
The two older men left, and I was left in silence. I felt exhausted, mentally drained by laying out so much of what I'd kept hidden for so long.
'I can only hope that this brings them over to my side fully,' I thought to myself, before groaning as I got up. I still had several days' worth of paperwork to go through, so I might as well get some of it done now, rather than put it off till tomorrow.
"Inky," I called out. "Please get me the documents I need to sign."
My dutiful House Elf obeyed, and I got ready to do more work.
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Author's Note: Did you enjoy the chapter? I hope you did! And if you want early chapters or to support the writing process, check out Akashicrecordstrue on Patty-ron or Akashicrecords on Kofi!