Chapter 28

Episode - The Queen Is Dead

New York

"You took my Milua from me!" said Hook in an angry voice with uncontrolled righteous justice in his tone. "Now I'll repay the debt by taking your life!"

Very quickly regained his composure after he had fallen to the floor Harry pointed his wand.

"Stupefy!"

The jet of red light hit Hook in the side and he fell to the floor unconscious.

Mr. Gold fell to the floor clutching his chest in pain. It was then that Neal and Henry came back into the room. He saw the pirate laying on the ground.

"Hook?" Neal said in recognition.

"What, you know him?" asked Emma with confusion.

"We met once." said Neal.

Though he clearly had no desire to speak to or be with his father he looked at Mr. Gold with genuine concern.

"Neal, help me carry him upstairs." said Harry.

Back in Neal's apartment they laid Mr. Gold down on the sofa.

Emma came into the room a moment later.

"I tied our stab happy pirate up in a janitor's closet. Hopefully that will keep him contained for a while. Harry, how long will that spell last that you put on him?"

"The Stunning Spell." said Harry. "It temporarily paralyzes every muscle in the body except for the heart and lungs, rendering them unconscious. It will last about an hour."

Emma then fiddled with a folded up piece of paper.

"According to this it seems that he got here by ship."

"The Jolly Roger, from the Enchanted Forest?" said Neal. "How in the world do you dock a pirate ship in the middle of a New York Harbor?"

"It's cloaked."

"Are you all right Mr Gold?" asked Henry as he tried to comfort his grandfather.

But then in an uncontrolled fit of rage Mr. Gold grabbed Henry and pushed him away.

"You stay away from me!" said Mr. Gold in an accusatory voice. "You caused this!"

Harry pulled away the front of Mr Gold's shirt and tie and examined the wound. He pointed his wand and began to cast a basic healing spell that would repair damaged tissue. But then he noticed that the wound wasn't bleeding red, it was bleeding black, and there were black veins that were spreading out from the wound.

"Oh my gosh, what in the world is that?"

"This is not a regular wound." Said Mr. Gold through a labored breath. "It's poison."

"I have a bezoar in my pocket." said Harry. "It can cure most poisons."

"No." said Mr. Gold. "Not this poison. It's A superior poison of Hook's own design. It can kill even an immortal."

"The Magical Congress has a wizard hospital nearby. We can take you there."

"No." said Mr. Gold. "It won't be enough; they don't have the means to heal this. We need to get back to my shop."

"I'll call a car." said Neal. "We'll begin the drive back to Storybrooke immediately."

"No." said Mr. Gold. "It'll take too long by car. We need something faster. We need the pirate's ship."

"How will Captain Hook's ship help?" said Harry.

"Captain Hook's pirate ship, the Jolly Roger. It's not a normal ship. The hull is made of enchanted wood allowing it's sail to go 10 times faster than the wind. It's the fastest ship in all the realms."

"I'll call a car." said Neal.

"I thought he just said that a car wouldn't do any good." said Emma.

"To get back to Storybrooke, it's no good." said Neal. "But we still need a ride to the harbor."

"Okay, fair enough," said Emma, "but I don't know about you, but I'm not a sailor, so it seems that the only person who is actually qualified to Captain a pirate ship is tied up downstairs."

"I can help you there." said Neal. "I can Captain the ship."

"You know how to drive and sail a pirate ship?" asked Harry.

"Yeah. I do." said Neal matter of factly.

It was then at that moment that an owl flew in through the window and perched on the sofa beside Harry. There was a letter attached to its leg.

"Is that for you Harry?" asked Emma.

Harry untied the letter from the bird's leg. He opened the wax seal and examined the letter inside.

"It's from the Holyhead Harpies Quidditch team." said Harry. "They say that Ginny never arrived. And now they don't know where she is."

"Harry Potter." came a voice from the breast pocket of Harry's jacket.

Harry, for the second time that day pulled out his Enchanted mirror where he then saw Hermione's face in the glass.

"Hermione, what is it?"

"We have a problem. We've just learned that Cora and Regina are trying to find the Dagger of The Dark One."

"And Captain Hook just made his way to New York and stabbed Rumpelstiltskin with his hook that apparently was poisoned."

"Well it seems that our villainous friends are up to no good." said Hermione.

Emma then came up beside Harry to look into the mirror.

"I thought Regina was on our side against Cora?" said Emma.

"Well, from personal experience Cora is a master manipulator and apparently they have settled their differences." said Hermione.

"If the Evil Queen, or her mother get their hands on that dagger, then they will be able to control the Dark One." said Harry.

"Or become the Dark One themself." said Neal.

Harry turned to the dying man on the sofa.

"Mr. Gold." said Harry. "You have to tell us where the Dagger of the Dark One is so that we can get to it before Regina and Cora do."

"Nonsense." said Mr. Gold through labored breathing. "That dagger has not left my possession for nearly two centuries. How is Belle?"

"Belle is safe." said Hermione through the glass.

"Who's Belle?" asked Neal with curiosity.

"Your dad's girlfriend." said Emma.

"Oh, another thing." said Harry. "Have you seen Ginny? Is she still there in Storybrooke?"

"Not that I've seen." said Hermione. "Why?"

"I just received an owl from the Holyhead Harpies Quidditch team. Apparently she's missing. No one knows where she is?"

"Curious." said Hermione with confusion and suspicion. "Do you think Voldemort is behind it?"

"I wouldn't put it past him." said Harry.

"Wait a minute." said Neal in surprise and confusion. "Voldemort? The Dark Lord? I thought you defeated him 5 years ago."

"Long story short, he survived." said Harry. "Where's that car?"

"The cab company has been delayed. I think I know of another car that we can use. A friend of mine."

"Fine." said Harry. "Mr. Gold. I'm just going to warn you, as confident as you feel that Cora and Regina won't find the dagger, you're taking a big gamble. Let us find it. Let us at least have the dagger in the hands of someone that we can genuinely trust."

Mr. Gold thought for a minute. Contemplating the ramifications of all possible scenarios. Do you promise me that the dagger will be safe? And that it will not be used to control me?"

"You have my word." said Harry. "I trust Ron and Hermione with my life."

Mr. Gold then told Harry where the dagger could be found.

Episode - The Miller's Daughter

30 minutes later they had arrived at the Harbor and found the cloaked ship. They carried Mr. Gold into one of the cabins below deck. Then they went up to the main deck.

Neal immediately began to fiddle with the ropes on the main mast.

"Harry, weigh anchor." ordered Neal.

Harry tapped the chain on deck with his wand and the chain began to reel in.

Neal then ran to the helm and started rotating it. The ship immediately began to leave the dock and back out of the Harbor.

Once the ship had backed out and then started moving forward they followed the map North up the Eastern seaboard.

"We should reach Storybrook in about an hour." said Neal.

Harry then received another alert on his magic mirror. He had a brief conversation with Hermione.

Harry then went below deck and he spoke to Rumpelstiltskin.

"Mr. Gold." said Harry with a tone of guilt and regret in his voice. "I'm sorry to say that the Dagger Of The Dark One has been taken by Cora."

"What?" said Rumpelstiltskin through a labored voice. "How did this happen?"

"Snow White and Prince Charming had successfully retrieved the dagger. There were members of the Order of the Phoenix there, as well as Dumbledore's Army. But unfortunately Cora had a hostage. Someone who was very dear to Snow White. She surrendered the dagger in exchange for the hostage's life."

Mr. Gold then slumped in the bed in the cabin. In a tone of exasperation.

"I expected nothing less from Ms. Blanchard." said Mr. Gold.

"Does this mean that they can control you?" asked Emma.

"They can't control me outside of the Town line." said Mr. Gold. "And once we are back inside the town line, they can't control me in this weakened state."

Storybrooke, 45 minutes later

They pulled the ship up to the edge of a vacant berth at the Storybrooke fishing dock. Mary Margaret, David, Ron, Hermione, Belle, and a few others were waiting when they walked down the offloading ramp. Neal and Harry half carried half dragged Mr. Gold under the armpits.

"Rumple!" screamed Belle as she ran forward to embrace him and then put her mouth to his.

"Belle!" said Mr. Gold with relief at the sight of her.

"I drove a pirate ship." said Henry with a smile and a tone of pride in his voice.

"Did you now?" said David with a smile towards his grandson.

"Yeah, my dad taught me." said Henry.

David then looked at Neal.

"Yeah, that's me." said Neal.

"You're Baelfire? Rumpelstiltskin's son?" said Ron.

"That I am." said Neal.

"Is Cora trying to control you?" asked Hermione.

"You would know if she was." said Mr. Gold through labored breathing. "With a wave of my hand, you all would be dead."

"So what do we do?" asked Mary Margaret.

"We need to get to my shop." said Mr. Gold. "There's magic there that can heal me."

Out in the woods, the fire burned under the cauldron as the liquid inside began to boil. Voldemort had been waving his Wand over the cauldron for hours muttering extremely complicated incantations. While throwing the rare and valuable potion ingredients into the liquid one at a time. Then he finally threw the last ingredient in. The cone shaped tip of a dragon's horn.

"It is done." said Voldemort with a tone of finality. "It's ready."

"What now my lord?" asked Nathan McAllister.

Voldemort then unrolled the tiny little red scroll covered in runes.

"The final ingredients." said Voldemort. "Once the curse is enacted it will take several steps and several levels of building. It will start to absorb the Magic in the air."

He opened up the flip open lid box, and inside was his heart. Mostly black with only a small amount of red in it. He took out his heart and placed it on a small pedestal that was off to the side.

"My heart will act as a conduit. All of the magic in Storybrooke will be channeled through it and then into my body. Storybrooke will again be a world without magic, and I will be all-powerful."

He then turned to the little girl playing with her toys on the ground.

"Delphini." he summoned.

The girl came over to him. With a single wave of his wand the girl then fell to the ground unconscious.

"No need for her to be awake while this happens."

He then reached over and took hold of the bag that was over the head of the prisoner that had their hands tied behind their back. He pulled it off to reveal the face of Ginny Weasley.

"The blood traitor will serve a purpose too."

He then pointed his wand and conjured the Patronus of a large python snake. And it flew off into the air.

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