Chapter 3
Harry watched as an older man in a long grey cloak tumbled out of the fireplace at a truly impressive speed, clutching the raven-headed scepter Harry had seen in Kheti's hands in his dream.
"Harry, this is Saul Croaker, Chief Unspeakable and Head of the Department of Mysteries," Amelia explained tersely. "He's one of the foremost magical experts in Britain, and likely the world. Croaker, either you or one of your experts on the soul needs to examine Mr. Potter here at your earliest convenience. He says that the artifact you're holding is doing something to his."
Croaker had his wand out and waving around Harry almost before Amelia could finish her explanation, muttering under his breath rapidly as he cast spell after spell. Harry decided that staying put was a good idea, as he desperately wanted some answers as to what was going on, as well as confirmation that Kheti wasn't going to hurt him in some way. Somehow, he didn't think that taking a potential possessor at their word was a good idea if there were other, independent ways of checking his safety. He hadn't forgotten what Voldemort had done to and with Ginny Weasley with his diary in his second year.
"There's definitely a strong, albeit fading connection with the scepter," Croaker eventually said, his wand still arcing around Harry in graceful loops. "Which would explain one of the three souls or pieces thereof that I'm sensing on Mr. Potter. The whole soul would be his, I imagine, and I can trace the piece that came from the scepter. What I don't understand is where the other soul fragment has come from, and such dark magic…"
"Other soul fragment?" Amelia demanded, and Harry nodded in wide-eyed terror. Kheti hadn't said anything about that.
Croaker's voice trailed off as his slate-colored eyebrows drew together and his face paled as he cast another complicated looking spell. "But of course," he groaned. "It's only coming from your still un-healed, cursed, magical scar. Why wouldn't that foul waste of air commit another horror or two while he was embodied?"
"Saul?" Amelia ground out. "You're scaring the children."
The Unspeakable sighed, his shoulders slumping. "What I've discovered here in Mr. Potter's head is a threat to our national security, Amelia, and a crime against nature and the fundament laws of the universe. You'll excuse me if I'm only a little upset."
"That's not making me any happier, nor reassuring the kids!" Amelia snapped.
"I don't care what's wrong with my boyfriend, I want to know how we can fix it!" Susan demanded, not to be outdone by her Auntie. "You clearly know what it is!"
As chaos threatened to overtake the room, guided by one of his new instincts, Harry raised his hand and wandlessly summoned the scepter, which was wrenched right out of Croaker's hands. The Unspeakable cursed, Amelia's battle-honed instincts allowed her to fire off a stunning spell, and Susan lunged toward Harry to tackle him out of the way. None of these efforts stopped Harry, and the moment the scepter touched his hands, a sphere of pure silver surrounded him, absorbing the stunner, knocking Susan back, and admittedly doing very little to stop Croaker's four-letter word.
"It's alright!" Kheti boomed, suddenly appearing next to Harry as a ghostly apparition. "There is no reason to panic! I can explain everything, but once the power I stored in my scepter runs out, I will no longer be able to communicate with you all directly, so I beg that you listen to me now before I lose that ability."
"Who in Merlin's name are you?" Croaker demanded, his wand now pointed at the ancient Egyptian wizard.
"And how did you get past my wards?" Amelia added, her wand already out and at the ready.
Susan scrambled back on three limbs, her wand bursting out of its holster to bring another wand to bear on the intruder in her home, having obviously decided that the first two questions would suffice for now.
"My name is Kheti, and I am what remains of one of the servants of the great Pharaohs." The Egyptian offered a deep bow. "As for your wards, I am no longer corporeal, and given that my Ka is the only part of my soul currently present, and merging with my descendant's here, I presume that I no longer count as an individual for the purposes of your impressive defenses. If my descendent is staying here, however, I do have a few suggestions to add to your security. While I was living, one of my specialties was warding, something my people raised into an exquisite artform. If what I've gleaned from Harry is true, even now your people are trying to break through some of my people's work."
"How is what you're doing any different than a possession?" Croaker asked suspiciously, albeit slightly more calmly.
"The simplest answer is to say that I am not taking over my descendant," Kheti said, offering a graceful shrug. "A more complex answer is that he is absorbing my knowledge and, in the process, some of my character attributes will magnify his."
"How long will this take?" Harry asked, cutting in now that the tension had dropped. "You didn't tell me that earlier."
"Much of the knowledge transfer is instant," Kheti said. "Our lessons to understand it such that you can build from the knowledge you have been given and use it in different ways will take a few weeks, perhaps as long as two months. My Ka will have been fully absorbed by your soul in that timeframe."
"Speaking of souls, how did this get triggered, and does having a third piece hurt this process at all?" Amelia asked.
"Harry has the Blood of Nile," Kheti said. "The Blacks have a long history, and the river of life and death flows through their veins. Harry is one of my descendants, otherwise this process could not have started. Our Ka would have been missing the familial link needed to start the process when Harry activated my scepter in his attempt to defend himself from the mad Black sorceress. As to the invention of the foul Greek, it both is and is not a complicating factor for this process. In fact, there may be a ritual we can perform that will allow it to follow the stream of magic I have begun and allow Harry to absorb it entirely, severing it from the control of the original caster."
"Wouldn't that corrupt Mr. Potter?" Croaker asked, but Harry could see the instincts of a researcher coming to the fore. "The soul fragment in his scar is very dark magic, and the wizard who put it there, almost certainly accidentally, was quite evil."
"This ritual would only be possible because the soul piece was not properly secured," Kheti said dismissively. "I suppose we could purify it first, but it is death magic, of which my descendant already has a strong affinity for through one of his other bloodlines, so I do not believe that taking advantage of this dark wizard's clumsiness would carry any risk."
"I have an affinity for death magic? From who?" Harry asked, feeling a little lost, albeit excited at the possibility of being free of his scar and the resulting headaches and visions.
"From whom, not who, and the Peverells, most likely," Croaker said, thinking it over. "The Potter line absorbed one of the branches of that ancient family a few hundred years ago. The main three Houses you would have potential bloodline gifts from would be the Potters, famed for Transfiguration, the Peverells, with a noted connection to death and combat, and the Blacks, known for their curses and ability to conceal themselves."
"Another use of the soul fragment, however, would be to track the others," Kheti mused, having clearly ignored the discussion of Harry's magical heritage.
"Others?" Amelia asked. "What does that mean?"
"Until all of the Greek's perversions are found and dealt with, this dark wizard cannot be truly slain," Kheti said. "They are nasty creations, but I believe you have a spell used to separate a soul from that which houses it, no?"
"Of course," Croaker said in shock. "The Killing Curse. How did we not think of that? Our other methods of destroying Horcruxes have been much more destructive."
"Why else would such a spell be developed?" Kheti asked, looking amused. "Even thousands of years ago, we had many, many easier ways of killing each other, even without a trace. An unblockable killing curse is only needed to destroy heavily protected magical artifacts that have souls in them, particularly if you want to leave the surrounding area untouched. Our pyramids had great treasures in them, after all. We wanted our venerated dead to remain so, and to not trouble the living any further."
"Kheti, as fascinating as this discussion is, we must use this soul piece to track the others down so that we can kill He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named," Amelia said. "How long will it take to set up this ritual, and what do we need? Time is of the essence here, if there is going to be a Magical Britain left by the time we're done here."
"Do you have a ritual room?" Kheti asked. "I can feel the remnants of old death magic here."
"The Bones name is an old one, and we have our own history with death magic, albeit less famous than the Peverells," Amelia said shortly, ignoring Susan's jerk in surprise. "The ritual room hasn't been used in my memory, but I know where it is."
"Bring us there," Kheti said. "For this, I will require an athame, chalk, and a flawless crystal ball. Also, if you have any potions for blood and magical loss, we will likely want them close to hand. Harry should not be harmed, but this is a rather…draining… ritual, in several senses of the word."
"That sounds encouraging," Susan muttered under her breath, but Harry heard her anyway.
"It'll be okay, Susan," Harry said, giving her a smile. "If this ritual can get this thing out of my head and help us kill Voldemort once and for all, I'll happily sacrifice some blood."
"That is exactly the kind of sentiment that will be required, my descendent," Kheti said.
"I've got a well-stocked potion pantry, and I have the chalk and a ritual knife," Amelia said as she began to lead them deeper into the Ossuary. "I don't know if I've got a good crystal ball, though. Flopsy?" she called.
With a slight pop, a smartly dressed house elf burst into existence.
"Yes, Madame Bonesy?" he asked. "What can I be doing for yous?"
"Do we have a crystal ball anywhere in the manor or the Bones vaults?" Amelia asked.
Flopsy frowned and then popped away before returning a moment later with three balls floating in the air behind him. "Will one of these be doing it?"
"The middle one," Kheti said after studying them for a moment.
"Excellent," Amelia said, and grabbed it out of the air.
After walking further into the manor and descending into the basement, Amelia opened a door at the end of the long passageway they had been walking along.
"Ritual rooms like this often have to be at some remove from the wards of the manor, as well as all the ambient magic that we tend to be surrounded in," Amelia explained briefly to Harry and Susan as they looked around curiously at the barren room. "The circles for rituals will need to be drawn each time, and cleaned up afterwards, all without magic. Speaking of, what kind of circle will we need for the transference, Kheti?"
"Hmm," Kheti said, floating above the floor as he pondered the smooth grey stone beneath him. "I must admit I am likely unfamiliar with your way of drawing and casting rituals. But my descendant should have the knowledge within him now to create the circle, complete with the correct runes."
"I do?" Harry asked, not aware that this was knowledge that had been transferred.
"Yes," Kheti said, sounding faintly amused. "Please draw out an Aramaic cleansing circle and leave the top half open to incorporate the tertiary Persian transference design."
"Do you know what that's about?" Susan asked, and Harry frowned.
"Kind of?" he said, grabbing the piece of chalk that Amelia offered and bending down to start etching out runes, circles, and elegant, sweeping lines. "When Kheti described it, I knew what I needed to do, but if you asked me to explain how it works or why I'm making the symbols I am, I couldn't really tell you."
"Fascinating," Croaker muttered, walking carefully along the edges of the circle as he examined the developing ritual. "Some of these runes I've never seen before, let alone together, and I've never seen these two rituals combined before like this. Was this common knowledge among the ancient Egyptians?"
"It depended on which temple or sect you belonged to," Kheti said. "Some shared knowledge freely, while others only allowed prized apprentices to learn the deeper mysteries. Rituals were frequently used, due to their versatility and ability to be shaped precisely, albeit at the cost of time and the understanding required. My scepter was one of the easiest ways to channel magic with finesse, and it was considered a rare and powerful focus. Most used a staff, which while useful for war, was always more suited to a less… delicate touch. Your wands are truly a useful tool, albeit they seem to constrain the amount of power you can put into a spell."
"I've never heard that critique of wands before," Croaker said in surprise. "And I've never had any trouble putting additional power into my spells with a wand. I'm able to do some basic wandless magic, but I haven't found that to be any more powerful than my magic with a wand. Quite the opposite, in fact."
"All who use magic should be able to do at least a few things without a focus," Kheti stated, watching as Harry finished the first half of the circle. "Leave a channel for the crystal ball, Harry," he instructed. "As for the kinds of spells you are using, of course you wouldn't notice much of a difference. Most of them seem to have been sanded and shaved down to the bare minimum power requirements, like finely honed blades. But on the field of battle, a keen dagger cannot fulfill every purpose. Sometimes, you need a spear to strike from a distance, or hammer to break shields and armor, or even a siege weapon. Your wands are nowhere near as suited for these tasks."
"How many such war spells could an ordinary wizard or witch even cast?" Croaker asked in amazement. "The magical power demands must have been incredible."
"Only the strongest could truly be considered war mages," Kheti said proudly. "Other mages went to war as well, but they did not bear the title, only the staff. A war mage had power in great abundance, but they had other methods of casting as well. I will not speak of them to any but my descendant. Some secrets are dangerous, and destructive to friend and foe alike. Now, place the crystal ball in the second half of the circle, and give my descendant the athame."
Amelia did as instructed while Croaker did another lap of the ritual that now spanned half the room.
"Everything looks like it will do what Kheti said," Croaker reported.
"You can do it, Harry!" Susan said, locking her eyes with Harry's.
"Don't worry, Susan," Harry assured his girlfriend. "Nobody wants this thing out of my head as much as I do."
"Begin," Kheti commanded, and Harry made a shallow cut across his left palm before clenching his hand into a fist, allowing the blood to drip onto the crystal ball. Then he switched hands with the ritual dagger and sliced open his right palm before dabbing the blood on his scar. Then, Harry began chanting in ancient Egyptian, building up his magic and shaping it with the words of power. To his alarm, blood began to flow freely from his hands, dripping onto the floor while his magic burst out of him in a great flood. Finally, as his chanting began to increase in pace, Harry's scar burst open in a jet of black ichor, and the pain began to increase to agonizing levels. It was all Harry could do to keep standing and chanting, but as the last of his strength left him and he began to sway in exhaustion, he noticed that the formerly pristine crystal ball was filled with swirling, smoky darkness.
As the last lines of the ritual dropped of his tongue, Harry collapsed on his side, hoping that someone would be willing to explain what had just happened after he had a nice nap.