Harry took a deep breath.
He had his eyes closed and was currently deep in the bowels of Hogwarts, hidden away in a room that was neither the Chamber of Secrets nor any other known room to the people living in the castle. Even the headmasters seemed to have forgotten this room existed.
The room was empty, but that just helped Harry in this case.
All around the room, runes and other symbols had been drawn, building a complex scheme of safety and protection.
Harry was in the middle of the scheme, sitting on the cold stone floor, his eyes closed.
He was deep in his mind, concentrating on a part of him that he hadn't accessed in centuries.
The part that was actually connected with the wards of Hogwarts.
"So this is how we see each other again," a voice suddenly said, nearly pulling Harry out of his concentration when it startled him.
Harry opened his eyes and looked at the man who had suddenly materialized in front of him.
The man was old, his hair white, but his eyes…
They were so familiar, achingly familiar and warm in a way, Harry hadn't seen eyes - for what seemed to be a long time now - looking at him.
" Atr," he breathed, barely managing to produce a sound at all.
"Salvazsahar," the man returned the greeting and then smiled at him with his archingly familiar face. "I see you managed to return to where you belong now."
Harry's eyes started to burn.
"I did, atr," he assured the man. "But…"
"You miss me," the man concluded what Harry couldn't say. "You found others who cared for you, others who loved you, yet you still miss me."
"You were the first I actually truly remember loving me," Harry replied truthfully and when the man raised an eyebrow at him, Harry made an impatient gesture. "Yes, I remember my parents and Sirius loving me - but those memories came after… after I found you. So even if they were theoretically first, for all I try to tell myself different, you are the first to love me in my mind."
Myrddin just shrugged.
"If you look at it in a timely manner, I definitely was the first," he countered fondly and Harry nearly choked on his laughter.
"That, too," he agreed.
There was a fond look in his atr 's eyes at that.
"I understand that you missed me, Salvazsahar," he said. "But you have long since learned to live without me."
Harry couldn't object to that.
Instead, he sighed.
"You're right, I have," he agreed with a sigh. "But that doesn't mean that I didn't miss you."
"Like you have missed all loved ones who you lost," his atr agreed.
"Yes," Harry said with a sigh, before closing his eyes tiredly. "But I'm tired again, atr ."
Myrddin frowned a bit at that.
"Salvazsahar," this time, there was concern in his voice.
Harry opened his eyes again and looked at his father, self-conscious smiling.
"Don't worry, atr," he said. "I won't leave Reg - not until I actually have to."
For a moment, Myrddin just looked at the man his son had become. Then he reached out, his ghostly hand touching his son's locks and kissed Harry's forehead.
"It's your choice, my child," he said. "It has always been your decision to make, my child."
Harry snorted at that.
"Not that much of a decision this time around, atr," he countered. "I'm dying - and there's nobody to stop it."
"Your heir tries," his atr pointed out and Harry acknowledged it with a nod.
"But he doesn't understand rituals and he doesn't understand that there is nothing to stop a mistake like the one I made," Harry countered.
"A mistake you didn't truly try and prevent yourself from making," Myrddin countered, his face severe but also understanding.
Harry looked away.
"I'm old - but that doesn't mean that I don't make mistakes," Harry replied, not looking at his atr . "I didn't think about the change in my runic connection with Tom Riddle after his return to the living when I started the ritual."
"Yet, you didn't truly try to save yourself when you noticed," there was no accusation in Myrddin's voice, just understanding.
Harry turned his head away.
"My death won't be senseless, no matter what you say, atr," he countered. "The moment I noticed, I couldn't have prevented it anymore - there's just one chance in a ritual, and you know that."
"I know," his atr replied. "Yet you survived a botched ritual once already."
For a moment, Harry didn't answer, but then his eyes closed in remembrance.
"You mean I survived what I shouldn't have," he countered. "I survived my rash decision to save my godfather Nicholas - like I survived my own try to kill myself. I shouldn't have - not the later one which only Peverell prevented - and definitely not the first that didn't have anybody preventing it at all…"
There was silence for a second between then, but then Harry opened his eyes to look at his atr .
"I never understood how I survived what should have cost my life," Harry spat. "All the rules of magic I learned, all the rules of magic I discovered - and yet, something prevented all those rules from taking effect that day! I never understood, I will never understand - and I don't believe that I will have that much luck again this time around. Rituals are deadly if they go wrong. This is one of the rules I learned to live with. This is one of the rules you taught me to accept."
"That I did," Myrddin agreed and petted his son's hair again. "Those are the same rules I had to accept when I started to learn magic."
Harry leaned into his atr 's touch.
"Then why did I survive?" He whispered, his eyes closed and unwilling to look into his atr 's eyes.
"Because that's what you chose," Myrddin answered; his eyes warm and sad. "You were a gift to me, Salvazsahar. A gift I greedily tried to keep until my own end - but just because you were a gift for a while, you weren't for me to keep. You have always been a gift for all those whose life you touched throughout your life. You were a gift - but a gift is given by somebody."
Harry looked at Myrddin with a frown.
"I'm not sure I understand," he whispered.
Myrddin just smiled.
"You're born a Grim, Salvazsahar," he said. "I might have not known while I lived, but in all that time you lived, I could see it stronger every day. Your ability and wish to heal and to protect, your fierce determination to ensure a balanced world - even your destiny to fight the man who killed your parents - all that just tells me that you were born a Grim; the only true Grim since the man who held that title first."
Harry looked at his atr in amusement at that.
"I'm not sure if you didn't start to live in a fantasy world some time after you died," he said amused.
His father ruffled his hair.
"Oh, child," he countered. "My precious child - just promise me you will choose your future for yourself and not because you think that choosing like you do is the right way for everybody else."
Harry looked up when he heard that.
"Are you here just to ask that of me?" He asked, looking at his atr with tired eyes.
Myrddin smiled at him.
"Not just because of that," he answered his son, ruffling the other's hair again. "But I want my son to choose his own fate. I always wanted my son to be his own man - even if that means that I will have to sit by and watch my son choose death when I want him to continue living."
Harry sighed.
"I didn't actually choose -"
"I'm not talking about Hallowe'en," his atr interrupted him. "Your choice is yet in your future. Hallowe'en… it was meant to be. It was forshadowed long before. ' And either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives… ' I guess this sounds familiar to you?"
"The prophecy," Harry said.
"So you know the contents of the prophecy, my child?" Myrddin asked a bit amused.
Harry just shrugged.
"I do," he agreed. "I usually don't play in a game I don't know the rules of."
His father raised an eyebrow at that.
"And I thought you you had no idea what the Order of the Phoenix," there was amusement in Myrddin's eyes when uttering the name. "… was guarding."
"Oh, I didn't," Harry agreed amused. "But then, it's not as if Hogwarts has truly kept me and if I wanted to leave and take a look at something I want to see - there would have been nothing stopping me to go where I wanted to."
"So you took a look at the prophecy," his father concluded amused.
Harry smiled at his father tiredly.
"What else should I have done?" He countered. "I don't play a game where I don't know all the rules."
"I know," his atr agreed, smiling at his son fondly before his eyes turned serious. "But you know what the prophecy means, don't you, my son?"
"I do," Harry agreed, closing his eyes again, bitter from the understanding he had gained the moment his father had repeated that one part of the prophecy to him. "My death… the one I'm currently facing in a not so distant future… it's one way to the fulfilling of the prophecy."
"It might," Myrddin agreed; his face full of understanding. "But it's just one way - not the only way."
Harry just looked at his father fondly at that.
"I know, atr," he told Myrddin. "Don't worry - I won't stop my path now, just before ending it in the way I want it to end."
"And when you're gone?" His father countered, yet, still looking at Harry in understanding.
Harry just returned his look calmly.
"Then Severus and Regulus will take the lead," Harry replied. "Regulus has been trained by me for years and Severus has learned to trust me - he will know to trust Reg before my end as well. The world will be as safe as I can make it long before if I have a say, anyway."
His atr closed his eyes at that, keeping his silence.
"It hurts you to think of my end," Harry interpreted his father's look.
Myrddin just sighed.
"You're my child, Salvazsahar," he replied. "And while I know that you lived far longer than I ever did - that doesn't change the fact that I will forever prefer you to be alive than to know you're dying."
Harry inclined his head at that.
"I know what you mean, atr," he agreed, his eyes now open and sympatic. "Just to think about Ana's potential death… it's something I can't bear. He's my son. I will never want him to die, even if I know that he's old - older than everybody else from his race - and that it would be his right to say that he has enough of living."
At that, Myrddin laughed quietly.
"You're right, Salvazsahar," he agreed. "But unlike me, it is most likely that you won't ever have to fear about your son giving up on life. Anastasius… I can't imagine him ever having enough of living to try and end his life."
Harry just smiled.
"How right you are, atr," he agreed, his thoughts with his wayward son. "How right you are with that Gryffindor son of mine…"
Then he focused on his father again.
"Alright," he said, suddenly sure of what he wanted to say. "For you, I will choose my future carefully. I will think it over - and in the end I will decide on the one thing I can live with, no matter what others want or need from me. If I ever get the chance to survive this - then I at least promise to think about my possibilities before deciding this final time."
Myrddin just ruffled his hair again.
"And that's the only thing I can ask of you," he agreed, but then hesitated. "Well - that's not totally true. There's something else I want to ask you."
Harry frowned.
" Atr …"
"It's no request for you to stay alive," his father hurriedly countered. "Nor is it anything else that you should feel hard to do. It's just… I want you to change your ward scheme - the one you want to apply to Hogwarts today."
Harry's eyes narrowed.
"You want me to change it how?" He asked, mistrust in his eyes. He didn't believe his father tried to destroy his work - but he still feared that his father might want him to add a loop-hole for Harry himself to the wards…
"I want you to bind yourself into the ward scheme," his father replied, his eyes serious when they searched out Harry's own. "I want you to change the wards you want to apply into a new layer of blood wards - a new protection disconnected from the soul wards and the blood wards of your Founder friends."
For a moment, Harry wanted to object to that idea.
Another layer of blood wards.
Another dangerous layer of magic over the school.
Another protection for the children.
That last thought was the reason he stopped before speaking, and actually started to think about his father's request.
"You don't ask just for the blood wards," he understood a moment later. "You want me to hide the school in case there will be an attack."
"If you already have to die - use your death," his father countered, his voice sever. "And if you don't - then the new blood wards surrounding the school will help anyway."
Harry closed his eyes again, thinking everything over.
He knew that Tom Riddle had an interest in Hogwarts.
He knew that even if he managed to confront Tom Riddle elsewhere, chances were that an attack on the school would take place at the same time - and the school, the children, would need every bit of protection he had to offer. There were the old soul and blood wards Harry was reactivating the moment the Horcrux was gone, but… what if they weren't enough?
Could he really refuse one last kind of protection to the school when he was already willing to offer up his life to rid the Wizarding World of Tom Riddle?
He couldn't.
And with that thought, his hand reached for his knife, adding his blood to the ritual around him.
His atr smiled.
"I knew you would never give up this school into the hands of others who showed that they didn't deserve it," he said, his ghostly features slowly but surely melting into nothing. "Thank you, my child."
And with that, he was gone - leaving Harry in the middle of floating runes and symbols.
Every symbol, every rune glowing in the light of Harry's magic.
Harry opened his eyes, his mind losing its concentration - and the new ward for the school snapped into place, binding Salazar Slytherin and Salvazsahar Emrys a third time to the most basic and at the same time deepest wards of Hogwarts.
A second later, the newest ward began to pulse and started to work, drenching the whole castle in its magic while searching for darkness lingering under its protection.
And while the visible effects of the wards faded, leaving Harry behind in darkness, the ward spread throughout the castle, cleaning the darkness from every corner and every alcove…
Harry meanwhile closed his eyes again, his mind still reeling with the encounter he had with his atr's essence bound to the old, currently nearly inactive wards.
"Forty-eight hours at most," he whispered to the echo of his father's soul. "Then Camelot will be free of every ounce of darkness within its walls again."
Forty-eight hours and one Horcrux - because the moment the ward would find magic it couldn't counter, like the Horcrux, Harry would be alerted and he would remove it.
Forty-eight hours and the Horcrux would finally be theirs…
When Harry emerged from the room he had hidden himself away in for the ritual, he was met with an enraged Headmistress in the entrance hall to the castle.
"Mr Potter!" She croaked sweetly. "Where were you?"
Harry looked at the pink wearing woman innocently.
"Outside," he replied. "I didn't have any lessons this afternood and so decided to wander the grounds."
The pink woman's eyes just narrowed.
Ever since Albus Dumbledore had been forced from the castle, she had been out to get Harry in even more trouble than she already tried him to be in before.
It was so bad, that Madam Pomphrey and even Severus had lied for Harry a few times already without even asking where he had been just to get him away from that woman's punishments.
Harry just wasn't sure with those two if they were removing him from the toad to keep him safe - or if they were removing him to keep the toad safe… or something like that at least.
Harry heavily suspected at least in Severus' help an experiment on how long that pink woman would need to explode if he kept removing the object of her wrath without giving her the chance to object…
Or an experiment how long it would take for Harry to be fed up with that woman and make her explode…
Considering the current colour of the woman currently looking at Harry, no matter which experiment Severus was actually conducting, it was heading to an end.
Either, the woman would explode because of her continued ability to find anything against Harry that might force him out of Hogwarts, or Harry would do it just to get rid of the hourly ambushs the woman had conducted on him for the past three days.
"I don't believe that you were simply outside, Mr Potter, were you?" The new Headmistress without an office said. Hogwarts had refused to open the office of the Headmaster for her and instead forced her to continue to use the office she had as a Defence Professor.
"Where else should I have been, Madam Umbridge?" Harry countered, while looking at the woman calmly.
Forty-seven hours.
Umbridge stared at him, her eyes burning with hatred, but obviously she had no evidence that he had been anywhere else but where he said he had been, because she didn't answer at all.
Instead, it nearly looked as if she was emitting stream from her ears.
"You, Mr Potter, have detention with me tonight!" She spat out finally. "For disrespect and lying!"
Harry just raised an eyebrow at the woman.
"I don't think I have ever been disrespectful to you, Madam," he countered. "And I'm not sure how you can accuse me of lying when I tell you I was outside shortly after I actually entered the halls through the door leading outside the castle…"
"I am the Headmistress, Potter," she countered immediately. "If I say you were disrespectful, then you were disrespectful!"
Several students around her frowned at that but said nothing. The most of them had learned over the last few days that her detentions were no laughing matter.
Harry just stared at the woman unimpressed.
"Is that so, Madam," he said, his eyes never leaving those of the pink-clad woman.
"That is so, Potter," she assured him, her face nasty.
Harry just inclined his head.
"If that was all, Madam?" he asked and when she continued to stay silent, he stepped around her and left.
Forty-seven hours left.
"Have a good day, Madam," he said before rounding one of the corners. "I hope you enjoy it because it will be one of your last here…"
And if his words had called it force, the clock in the entrance hall decided to announce the new hour…
Tick-tock.
Tick-tock.
Tick-tock…
When the first people entered Grimmauld Place, Albus Dumbledore was already waiting for them. Since he had returned here in the early hours of the morning, just two days before Hogwarts ended for this semester, he had been surprisingly alone. He had no idea where Sirius had hidden himself away, but fact was that Albus hadn't seen hide nor hair from the younger man for the whole day until the Weasleys arrived for the Order meeting…
"Albus! I'm surprised you all called us here today! Shouldn't you be at school?"
Albus Dumbledore sighed at Arthur Weasley's question.
"Come in first, my boy, I will explain everything as soon as everybody is here and seated," he finally replied, not too sure what he should answer.
Being thrown out of Hogwarts wasn't something Albus had expected for at least another month. Oh, he had no illusion that Fudge wanted him out - especially because the minister partly blamed Albus for Oliver Twist and his sheaningans - but Albus hadn't expected the man to act so soon…
Yet, here he was, thrown out of Hogwarts and trapped in that dark house he had designated as the meeting place of the Order of the Phoenix. Having to confess something like that as well - let's just say that Albus wasn't the happiest person around right now.
Yet, being thrown out of Hogwarts didn't bother Albus just because he had been thrown out - it also bothered him because of the political ramifiactions. Something utterly unforeseen must have had changed for Albus to lose his post without even a slight previous warning at all.
But…
It couldn't be.
Albus had the voting rights for not only the Blacks but also the Potters as well as the Founders under his control. He should have been warned.
Given, the Founders' votes were more of a formality, not a true place in the Wizengamot, but the Potters' and the Blacks' were definitely his to vote - Albus had made sure of it after Lily and James Potter as well as Arcturus Black had died…
It hadn't been easy, but he had been able to find proof that he had been considered a close friend to the Potters and as long as there were no actual relatives that could claim the vote - something only possible with the agreement of the heir… and Harry was still too young to know about his family's standing in the Wizengamot. Albus Dumbledore as a close friend of the Potters and a known and admired war hero, had the only way to gain access to the votes of the Potters - and therefore of the Blacks as well considering that Arcturus left the lordship of Black to his heir and with Sirius, being incarcerated at that time, unable to claim it the vote had gone to his own heir Harry…
Yet, somehow Albus hadn't been notified… but how?
Sirius wasn't officially considered a criminal anymore but as long as he didn't claim lordship - something that he would never do considering how much he loathed his family - the votes would stay with Albus… so there shouldn't have been a change there.
"But Sirius changed," Albus remembered before dismissing his memory of the cool and collected Sirius Phineas Black looking at Albus from Sirius Orion Black's face back at Albus from his mind. It had to have been a play of the light.
The man couldn't have changed so much.
The man loathed his family, after all…
"Yet, he looked like his namesake," the traitorous part of Albus' mind reminded him. "Or like Arcturus at the height of his power."
Albus shuddered.
Arcturus Black had been a formidable man - utterly dark and entrenched in the darkest of magicks, but also formidable in a way that made Albus still shudder when thinking of him even all those years after the other man's death…
It definitely wasn't a good sign that Sirius Orion Black had reminded Albus of that dangerous man…
His thoughts were interrupted by the man himself, finally willing to resurface after vanishing last night.
Sirius Black stepped around the corner of the kitchen.
He was clad in fancy robes - the ones normally just worn by a Head of House - and his long hair was actually braided in the way of the Lords of old. If Albus had ever thought that Sirius' previous appearance had been a play of the light, he was now proven wrong.
The man entering the kitchen definitely didn't look like Sirius Orion Black at all - but Sirius Phineas Black? Yes, that man could be a return of that pureblood prince of old without even trying.
Obviously, Albus wasn't the only one noticing the change in Sirius' clothing and behavior.
"Sirius," Arthur said surprised. "You look… good."
"Thank you, Arthur," Sirius replied and his eyes settled on Lupin who was currently choking on his water after seeing his friend.
"What the hell happened to you, Padfoot?" The man finally choked out after managing to spread water over half of the table.
Sirius gestured with his empty hand and the loathsome house-elf appeared, muttering about 'great masters finally returning to their ancestry' before cleaning the table and refilling Remus' glass of water without complain.
Remus just stared at his glass of water as if the house-elf had poisoned it before putting it down on the table hastily.
"Nothing happened to me, Moony," Sirius answered and sat down in one of the chairs. It was the one at the head of the table.
A second later another glass of water was standing in front of Sirius on the table.
"But…" Remus Lupin stuttered but was interrupted by the strange man who had once been Sirius Black immediately.
"James was the one who said it was finally time to stop playing around and grow up," Sirius said and there was the same grief in his voice he always had when talking about the last of the 'true' Marauders. "I didn't want to listen back then - but I decided to listen to him now. It's time that I stop playing around. I was incarcerated without being convicted. I fled and I was hunted. Now I am free again - and maybe it's time to accept that fooling around won't win us the war…"
"So you what? Pulled out your grandfather's robes and decided to play serious for once?" Lupin asked with a frown.
Sirius looked at the ceiling thoughtfully.
"No," he said. "The robes are only to remind me that I have changed. The true change is somewhere else entirely. Like I said: I'm done playing around. It's time that I finally step up and do something for a change."
"So… what did you do?" Arthur asked interestedly. Albus also listened, wondering if Sirius had taken on his seat and therefore lost Albus his pre-warning about his loss of position.
"I trained," Sirius replied. "And I will continue to train. This time around I won't sit by and watch my brother die."
From the faces of those who had already been there at the beginning of the discussion or had entered after that, nobody had the heart to remind the dog-animagus that he was already too late with his pledge. His brother, after all, was long since dead…
"That's… a good idea," Arthur said instead, not pointing out that James - the only brother Sirius ever acknowledged as long as Arthur could remember - was already gone and would not return no matter what Sirius did or didn't do. "But how about we start this meeting now?"
Sirius frowned for a second, but then his face smoothed out and he nodded.
"Of course," he agreed. "Now, that all are here, we truly should start."
Before Albus could object that they weren't all there and that Severus was still missing, the man himself slipped into the room silently.
For a moment, Snape looked at Black, but the half-formed sneer vanished from his face before it even truly materialized. Instead, he nodded at Black shortly and then concentrated on Albus.
Albus thought that behavior odd, but decided to ignore it for now for more pressing matters.
"My dear Order members," he said. "I must confess to have asked you to come here because of one incident especially: the fact that I was forced out of Hogwarts."
Tumult was the answer to that declaration.
The only ones silent were Black who wasn't looking surprised at all, Alastor who looked as if he hadn't listened at all and Severus who already knew.
"Yes, I am aware that this is an unseen setback for us, but we simply have to rely on the other teachers to keep the children safe while I'm forced to stay gone for a while. Don't worry, friends, I still have the control over the wards and as long as Hogwarts doesn't withdraw them from me, I'm still the rightful Headmaster of Hogwarts!"
Just why did those words feel like a lie in his mouth?
"Meanwhile Severus will keep Harry safe and we will keep the prophecy safe."
And why was Severus looking at Albus with so much hatred in his eyes - nearly as much hatred as he might have shown if Albus had proclaimed Lily to be safe after her death?!
"I'm quite sure that as long as we work together, I will return to my post sooner than later - maybe even in the next Wizengamot Meeting!"
And why was Sirius looking at Albus with that odd look that Arcturus had shown shortly before he had refused Albus' hand of friendship and comradery after the war with Grindelwald?
"And the moment I'm back, I will do my best to keep our children safe from Tom again!"
Why did Alastor frown at that - or wasn't he listening to Albus' words at all and the frown had appeared because of something else?
"Until then, we should ensure that the prophecy in the Department of Mysteries will never be without a guard twenty-four/seven. Voldemort might use our distraction and our feud with the Ministry to ensure that he gains access to the prophecy, after all."
And why didn't Arthur nod along like he normally did and instead was looking at his watch?
Albus took a deep breath and put out from his mind. Instead, he went on to the individuals' schedules.
"Arthur," he said. "I want you to guard the prophecy on the day before Christmas. People won't question you when you stay longer to finish your work - especially if you say it's that or working on Christmas if they do ask."
Arthur nodded.
"Of course," he said. "Don't worry, I will keep the prophecy safe."
"Severus," Albus said and the dour man looked at him unhappily. "Keep an eye on Voldemort's plans and on the students, will you?"
"Of course, Headmaster," the unhappy man agreed and looked away, clearly brooding.
"Sirius," the man looked at Albus with a frown. "You and Remus stay here over Christmas. I know you've been cleared and you might yearn for something to do - but we should give it another month or two before adding you to our plans, just to be on the safe side."
Sirius definitely didn't look happy at all at that, but Remus answered for them both: "Of course, Headmaster. I will keep an eye on him."
The answering look Sirius shot the other Marauder was nearly a dare; 'try it' it said.
"Alastor," Moody's eyes opened. Had that man even listened to one thing Albus had said?! "I want you to take a look who actually voted for my removal from Hogwarts. We must know who else has been brought over to Tom's side before the next meeting of the Wizengamot in a few weeks. I'm concerned about some people. Some weeks ago, Augusta Longbottom has been seen talking to the now late Narcissa Malfoy and I fear for her and her grandson…"
For a moment, Alastor stared at Albus blankly. Then, slowly, he nodded.
"Of course, Albus," he said and abruptly stood up. "If you excuse me now - I have a lead to follow."
And with that, he was gone, leaving a totally floored Albus Dumbledore and the Order of the Phoenix in chaos.
Only Sirius Black leaned backwards grinning, enjoying the tumult around him. Oddly enough, the only ones who shared his smiles briefly, were one Arthur Weasley… and one - even if his smile was more a grimace than an actual smile - Severus Snape.
But Albus didn't notice, too stunned by the odd behavior of one of his oldest friends to even notice the odd silent conversation going on right under his nose.
What by Merlin had gotten to Alastor that he had acted that much out of character for him today?!
The Chamber was only lit by a few green lights when they met again. It was the same day the Order would be meeting in the evening and actually it wasn't just day time, but also in the middle of the school day for once.
"So…" Regulus said, leaning on one of the stone snakes in the Chamber of Secrets. "You called me here?"
"I did," Harry agreed, not bothering to stand up from the floor he had sat on while waiting for Regulus to appear. "The wards alerted me to the location of the Horcrux about an hour ago."
Regulus looked at Harry in amusement.
"And you want to go now?" He asked. "Shouldn't you be in class currently?"
Harry just shrugged.
"I should," he agreed. "But I doubt that Umbridge will miss me - and even if she does -"
Harry shrugged again.
"I guess she will have to live with me not coming today."
"So you want to go now?" Reg repeated, a bit disbelievingly.
"No," Harry replied. "Not now. Tonight. It would take too long to go now - but I want you to go and have a look already."
"So you want me to wander the castle as a cat while looking for what?" Reg asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Looking for the signature of the Horcrux. Atr will guide you."
"Attr," Harry grimaced at the mispronounciation Regulus managed to produce. "… is the castle, isn't it?"
Harry grimaced again at the rest of the sentence, but then he sighed.
" Atr ," he corrected the word with rolled eyes. "Means 'Father' - as in the soul who offered up the rest of their essence, their life, to keep this castle safe once. Their essence basically is the foundation the wards of the castle are based on."
"Oh," Regulus said. "So… I follow Father 's guidance."
Harry just sighed again.
"How about you call him Myrddin," he suggested. "Or Merlin if you can't pronounce the other name as well. It sounds odd if you say Father because then I keep looking around for… never mind."
Reg rolled his eyes again.
"Myrddin it is," he agreed. "So how does he guide me?"
"Atr - show him?"
Considering that Reg hadn't expected to get a sudden mental urging to go to a specific place he had never heard of before, it was definitely a frightening demonstration.
"Oh, alright," he said, shuddering. "Follow the creepy feeling, I get it."
Harry looked at him a bit amused.
"If you want to call it that," he agreed before turning to the entrance of the Chamber. "And now come. I don't have all day. Transfiguration will start in twenty minutes and I have no intention to come too late for that."
Reg just rolled his eye at the other man.
"Do you know how odd that sounds considering how often I've seen you use Transfiguration without a second thought? To think that you're actually going into fifth year Transfiguration lessons after that - well, it's somehow funny, you know?"
Harry just looked at Reg in amusement.
"Doesn't matter," he replied. "I'm not about to be late. Now hurry up!"
Reg grumbled a bit at being treated like a child, but turned into a black cat nevertheless and then jumped on Harry's shoulder.
Together, they left the Chamber.
It was only on the third floor that they parted and while Harry continued on to his Transifiguration lessons Regulus started to slowly pinpoint where Myrddin was actually leading him.
It would take some time, but ten minutes before dinner, Regulus would have finally traced the signature of the Horcrux to the Room of Requirement. Until then, he had found the curse on the Defence position, some other dark objects and some other hidden curses that had all been too dark for the wards to remove the taint themselves…
Ten minutes after dinner he would rub himself on Harry's trousers and then vanish with the boy into an unused classroom.
"I found it," Reg said the moment he had changed back.
Harry smiled.
"I already guessed as much," he answered. "Tonight then. Three o'clock. We meet in front of the Fat Lady."
Regulus nodded and changed back into a cat. A second later a cat and a boy left the classroom again - the cat to wander the halls and find something to eat in the kitchen and the boy to return to his friends who had been waiting for him with a frown on their faces just a corner away…
With them, Harry returned to Gryffindor tower. The rest of the day he used to play chess with Ron and to do his homework. He went to bed at midnight and waited until it was three o'clock in the morning before he left his bed again.
Then he slipped on his invisible clock and pocketed the Mauderer's Map before he left the common room.
Outside, the Reg-cat was waiting.
"Let's go," Harry whispered and Reg-cat started to hurry through the corridors until they reached the seventh floor. There he meowed at the wall opposite the tapestry depicting the attempt of Barnabas the Barmy to teach tolls ballet.
"The Come and Go Room," Harry breathed in recognition. Then he sighed and layed a hand on the wall where the entrance of the room was hidden.
" Open, " he hissed in Parseltongue, not bothering to do it the hard way. The entrance appeared and Harry entered. Inside was an utter chaos. As soon as the entrance door closed behind them, Reg turned human again and looked around.
"I never knew there was such a messy place in Hogwarts," he said. Harry sighed.
"I do not know who put all the stuff in here - but I know that the Horcrux we are searching is hidden somewhere inside."
Reg snorted.
"Of course it is. I followed its trails as soon as I was able to," he huffed.
"I know," Harry answered and looked around unhappily. "This might take months!"
He didn't even have to say aloud that they didn't have months to search for the Horcrux…
"What will take months?" another voice asked from behind them.
Harry and Regulus turned startled.
Behind them Ron and Hermione were standing, both wearing nightgowns.
"What are you doing here?" Harry stared at his friends unhappily. He had assumed that they were asleep and hadn't bothered to actually look out for a tail therefore - especially considering that Dumbledore was out of school and Umbridge preoccupied with some pranks from the twins…
"We followed you, mate," Ron answered. "Or do you think we would miss it if our friend continues to behave weirdly?"
"We were worried about you," Hermione added. In her hand she had her wand, pointing it at Reg's chest. "And I think there might have been a good reason for that as well. Who is he? Is he threatening you? Are you imperioused?"
Harry rolled his eyes.
"Neither, Hermione," he answered and looked at Regulus.
"What will you tell them?" the older looking man asked interestedly.
"Actually," Harry answered shrugging. "I have no idea. What do you think I should tell them?"
Hermione's wand shot sparks at that while still being pointed at Regulus' chest and Ron had also drawn his wand and was now pointing it unsurely between Harry and Regulus.
"Maybe, you should give them pointers in appearing more threatening," Regulus suggested, sounding quite relaxed considering that Hermione's wand was pointed at his chest.
Harry rolled his eyes at him.
"Maybe you should do it," he countered. "You're the idiot who doesn't fear the wand in the hands of the witch."
Before Regulus could counter that, Hermione spoke up again.
"I think you should explain what you are doing to Harry," Hermione said, still eyeing Regulus distrustfully. "Now - or I'll stun you and Ron will go to Dumbledore."
"Er… Hermione," Ron said slowly. "You do remember that Dumbledore isn't at Hogwarts anymore, do you?"
Before Hermione could say anything to that, Harry groaned.
"Wonderful," he said. "Now she will want to debate which other teacher might be a good idea to take us to if Dumbledore is out!"
Regulus just looked at Harry amused.
"As if you would ever let her take you anywhere," he countered. "I don't think I can remember even one instance when you let a child decide what you had to do."
Harry just looked at Reg fondly at that.
"Ah," he said. "But I listened to a child before. You might be more than two thousand years too late to see it - or maybe just a few months? - but anyway, I actually once listened to a child when it came to making important decisions."
Regulus just snorted.
"May I guess that you listened to one when you were the same age instead of all the other dates you mentioned?" He countered, still amused.
Harry shot him a short, clearly entertained look. Obviously, he thought Reg's interpretation of his words quite funny.
The former Death Eater was just about to stick out his tongue at Harry - very mature, but then, he had recently gotten back into contact with his brother so he might be excused - when Hermione spoke up again, her face hard and not understanding at all.
"Harry!" She said. "What by Merlin is wrong with you?!"
That actually removed the amusement straight from Harry's face.
"Nothing is wrong with me, Hermione," he answered coolly, his eyes suddenly settling on her again.
"You… you… This man! You can't tell me that this… this man isn't forcing you to do whatever… whatever you're doing just now!" Hermione looked at him with a frown. "Harry! You have to go to Dumble-"
"I don't have to do anything!" Harry interrupted her, suddenly ice in his voice. "And I definitely won't go to a damn traitor because you say so!"
Hermione stared at him.
"Traitor?" she asked unsure.
"Almighty Albus Dumbledore," Harry huffed, now annoyed with her.
"Dumbledore? Harry - what are you talking about?! Dumbledore definitely…"
"Dumbledore," Harry interrupted her with hard eyes. "Has been planning my death since the day my parents have been murdered."
Well, if Harry was truthful, this might not have been totally true; but Harry also knew that after his history with the man who denied the dead in two wars their true recognition - not out of spite, but out of blindness - he would never see the man in a good light ever again… so chances were that Harry saw his actions a lot more biased, a lot more dangerous than Albus Dumbledore had wanted them to be for Harry…
Nevertheless, Harry couldn't stop from formulating his answer in the way he saw Albus Dumbledore's actions after his experiences with the man. He doubted that Dumbledore actually wanted to kill him - but he sadly also doubted that the man had searched for another way to keep Harry alive in all the time since he had found out about the (now removed) Horcrux in Harry's scar…
Obviously, his answer hit both of his childhood friends hard, because Ron and Hermione gasped, disbelief waring with fear in their eyes.
"You… Harry, you don't mean that… I mean… just because this stranger told you…" Hermione tried to counter Harry's words, but Harry decided that he had enough of her views and this time didn't even let her finish.
"Reg did not tell me anything like that," he interrupted her coolly.
"But -"
"This summer I was able to go to Diagon Alley alone," Harry elaborated, changing his story a bit because he had no intention to tell his childhood-friends about his summer - or the millennia in between. "I went to Gringotts for some money - just to discover that I am a Lord and emancipated since at least my fifteenth birthday."
His cool eyes wandered from the confused of Hermione to the slowly understanding one of Ron.
"But then, I remember telling you about that part before," Harry continued, waving it off.
"I… I don't…" Harry interrupted Hermione before she could actually get her wits together enough to object to what he had to say.
"Nevertheless, that was the beginning," he said, concentrating more on Ron who hadn't said anything than on spluttering Hermione. "That was the reason why I discovered that Albus Dumbledore saw it fit to neglect my parents' will and placed me with my aunt instead of the persons I should have gone to. I also found out that instead of giving the money my parents had kept aside for raising me to my guardians he saw it fit to use it for who knows what - so tell me, Hermione: does this traitor have a right to know what I am up to?!"
"I… Harry…" Hemione spluttered.
"Hermione," Ron interrupted her this time. "I know you looked up heirs - but not following the wishes of a decreased Lord when it comes to his heir, refusing to ensure that the heir is educated in our ways…"
Ron took a deep breath.
"The worst is the refusal to tell the heir of his lordship when he turned fifteen," Harry said quietly.
Ron looked away unconfortable when he heard that. Harry knew that Ron had understood the hidden meaning behind Harry's words far better then Hermione as Hermione wasn't a pure-blood.
An heir of a House was emancipated when he turned fifteen. As of that point he had to fulfil his duty as a Lord - and one of the duties was the Wizengamot-meetings. A Lord had to attend them or send a proxy.
The Wizengamot's first meeting always took place in January. A young Lord had to have his lordship at least half a year to participate. If he didn't participate in the next January-meeting after the half-a-year stipulation was fulfilled he fortified his right for his seat until he turned twenty-three years of age.
Doing so naturally lowered the political power of the house - and Potter had a high clout of power. If Harry would not attend the next meeting Potter would suffer an irreparable loss in status.
"But… but the Wizengamot… !" Ron finally whispered with huge eyes, his gaze searching Harry's. "Your family is one of the most important ones since I dunno - when you do not attend your house definitely would lose its reputation!"
"Yes," Harry answered grimly while Hermione looked a little lost.
Harry sighed and explained to her what Ron had grasped automatically.
"But why should Dumbledore do…?"
"He was named proxy by some twisted play of his after I was given by him to my aunt instead of my rightful guardian," Harry answered coolly. "He used my seat for his agenda until now - and he is not pure-blood enough to understand the impact of raising me unaware and using my seat."
But while Ron's frown deepened, Hermione finally seemed to gear up to defend the former Headmaster of Hogwarts.
"But… but Dumbledore -"
"… never was a good politician," Harry ended Hermiones sentence. "He is manipulative - but he does not get the full concequences of his doings. He was never interested enough in the customs of pure-bloods that he truly understands them and he has forgotten a lot of things his father might have taught him when he was young because of his favorism towards muggle-borns."
Those words actually ensured that Hermione stopped with her stuttering and instead returned to her normal character.
"You sound like Malfoy, Harry," Hermione accused him fuming.
"No," Harry answered. "I don't think that pure-bloods are better. I simply said that pure-bloods are raised with the customs of the wizarding world. Muggle-borns have to learn them - but because of Dumbledore's neglect never do. There is a difference between thinking that Muggle-borns are inferior and understanding that our culture is simply different then the Muggle one and that Muggle-borns who aren't taught the difference will have problems living in the wizarding world. You cannot change a tradition easily that was taught for thousands of years. You have to teach those that aren't raised with this tradition our ways so that they're able to understand why we act like we do."
This time Hermione hesitated.
"You've also grown up in the Muggle world," she finally pointed out.
"I have," Harry answered. "Reg's teaching me the way of the wizards."
Regulus looked at him in amusement at that, clearly just not objecting because Hermione and Ron were in front of them.
"Reg?" Hermione now looked at said man.
"Regulus Black," Reg offered, not even trying to conceal his identity. There wouldn't be anyone Hermione and Ron could warn before it was already too late - considering that Sirius already knew, it was basically too late anyway… "I'm Sirius younger brother. I met Harry by chance and when I found out he knows nothing I decided to teach him."
Hermione blinked when she heard his declaration.
"Aren't you dead?" she asked leery, remembering Sirius saying something like that in the summer.
Reg laughed.
"I am not as you can see," he answered smiling, but then he said seriously. "I went into hiding and let myself officially 'die' - so somehow I really am dead."
"But… but why?" Ron asked astonished.
Reg sighted.
"I was a Death Eater once," he said and suddenly the other two had pointed their wands at him again. He rolled his eyes. "I was one for four days until I understood it was nothing like my parents told me it would be. After that I looked for a way to destroy Tom Riddle - and that's what I have been doing for the last fifteen years."
"And because of that we're here tonight," Harry intercepted. "I promised to help him and he needs my help to find an object that has to be destroyed as it is the cause that Riddle did not die all those years ago."
"But… but Harry! He's a Death Eater!" Ron objected, for once actually speaking up with distrust clearly shown on his face.
Harry sighed.
For a second, he closed his eyes, but then he looked up to first look at Hermione and then at Ron.
"I know who he once was," he told them both. "But I also know who he is now. I don't want a discussion with you two tonight. We have enough to do without -"
"But what if what he said you have to do will actually help Vol -"
"It won't." Regulus interrupted her immediately, looking quite unhappy after that declaration. "Or do you want to accuse Augusta Longbottom of working with the Dark Lord as well?"
Hermione's eyes glittered with defiance.
"Why shouldn't she -"
Ron actually reached out to hold her mouth shut.
"What?! Ron!" Hermione freed her mouth from his hands.
"Hermione! Don't accuse the Dowager Longbottom!" Ron hissed, eyeing Regulus and Harry warily. "Her son, Neville's father and her daughter-in-law, Neville's mother were attacked by You-Know-Who's people at the end of the last war! Accusing her to actually work with those people - this could get you in a lot of trouble!"
"Especially because the Blacks, the Potters and also the Weasleys are actually allied with the Longbottoms politically," Harry pointed out, his left eyebrow raised.
"But…"
"Some things you don't do in the wizarding world, Hermione," Ron whispered to her. "And one of them is to accuse a whole political alliance to work with people who killed parts of their family - or do you want to accuse me and Harry of willingly working with You-Know-Who as well?"
Hermione said nothing for a moment, but then she slowly shook her head.
"No," she said hesitatingly. "But -"
"No 'but'," Harry interrupted her, his eyes hard. "Now, Ron, if you would?"
For a moment, Ron hesitated, but then he looked a bit pleadingly at Harry.
"May we help?" And when Harry frowned, he hurriedly added. "I mean, you said yourself, you would need months to search this room - so why don't you let us help?"
For a moment, Harry clearly wanted to say no, but then Regulus touched his arm and he sighed.
"Alright," he gave in. "You can help - but I want you to clearly listen to Regulus' and my instructions. If you don't think you can listen to our command, you won't help."
Hermione frowned but Ron nodded.
"I will listen," Ron agreed.
"But, Ron!" Hermione protested. "It's Harry! Why should we listen to Harry when he's our age!"
"Well, but he obviously knows not only what they're looking for but also how to handle it, 'Mione," Ron pointed out, looking at Hermione as if she would dare to slap him for saying that.
Hermione frowned, but Regulus nodded.
Considering that neither Hermione nor Ron would be able to warn anybody of the Order in time before Harry would have already destroyed the Horcrux, Harry and Regulus both weren't too bothered by the idea of Harry's childhood-friends knowing that Harry and Regulus had been after something.
At least, they weren't worried as long as Ron and Hermione wouldn't stumble upon the word 'Horcrux'.
"So… ," Ron said slowly when Harry and Reg stepped aside to allow Ron and Hermione - even if Hermione still looked like she wasn't too happy with calling Harry for help when she actually found what they would be looking for - but as long as she was calling either Reg or Harry, Harry didn't actually care.
"What are we actually looking for?" Ron asked, looking around with a frown in the full room.
"A diadem," Harry sighed and gestured. In front of him a replica of the diadem made out of magic started to flow in the air. "It looks like this."
Ron looked at the diadem.
"Huh," he said. "So this is it?"
"It is," Harry agreed, having seen it on Hallowe'en when his mind had been connected to Tom Riddle.
Hermione meanwhile stared at the floating diadem made out of magic with huge eyes.
"How… how… how did you do that?" She stuttered, staring at the magic. "I don't even know… how can you do magic like that?! I have never seen someone do a spell like this!"
Regulus looked at the spell Harry had done and waved it off.
"He's been doing that one as long as I actually know him," Regulus said disinterestedly. "Now, let's go and actually look for that thing. Hopefully we will be able to find that thing tonight…"
"And if we don't?" Ron asked with a frown.
Harry sighed.
"Then there's only tomorrow," he replied. "After that, the Christmas holidays start…"
And with it hopefully the next part of his plan - but that wasn't something he would tell either Ron or Hermione.
In the end, they didn't even have to search until twilight.
It was Ron who found the diadem and it was Regulus who bagged it.
With a last look towards Regulus, Harry left the Room of Requirement with his two childhood-friends.
But the look they shared said it all.
Tomorrow night - after Harry had definitely ensured that there would be no one following him this time around - they would destroy that Horcrux as well.
As for Ron and Hermione?
Well, Harry didn't feel too guilty when he applied a rune to their skin with a friendly touch that would ensure that both of his childhood-friends simply wouldn't actively remember about the whole diadem-hunt as long as they weren't reminded of it. It might not be perfect, but it was the best he could do and it wasn't as if Harry would need them to stay quiet after the beginning of January…
Alastor Moody was sitting silently in the back of the meeting of the Order of the Phoenix. He was listening to Albus Dumbledore speak - at least with half an ear.
The rest of his attention was centered elsewhere entirely.
Potter.
And everything Potter had said.
He was sure, the boy was actually hiding a lot of other things still - and yet, he knew that whatever the boy was hiding, it wasn't something easily found out.
The boy… he knew too much.
It had taken a while for Moody to actually understand that fact, but the moment he had, something had changed within him.
Alastor knew that the boy had changed throughout the summer.
Alastor also knew that the boy wasn't an imposter - and yet, he had changed… and it was more than just finding out his name that summer.
Alastor might have believed that in the beginning, but then his father had come up and his father's death. And while the explanation of why Potter had changed had sounded believable at first, the way he talked and the way he had interacted with Alastor had made it a lie over time…
Yet, even now Alastor couldn't actually tell why his gut told him the boy was lying. He knew that the boy had said the truth in a way, yet the words uttered by the boy sounded like a lie in Moody's memories - and wasn't that an odd and totally confusing revelation?
It was that thought process that actually drew Mad-Eye Moody into his mind while sitting on his chair in the corner of Grimmauld Place's kitchen while listening to the Headmaster's talk.
Of course, Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody knew that he should actually listen to the man he called his leader in the fight against Voldemort right now, but instead of doing what he should, his mind went over everything the Potter-boy had told him whenever he spoke to the child.
A fifteen-year-old boy - confirmed by Veritasserum…
A runic ward created within seconds - in a way no other adult wizard Moody had met ever had been able to. So how had a fifteen-year-old managed what an adult couldn't?
Admitted secrets in the hands of a child who was unbelievably wise for his admitted years…
Moody's own voice declaring: "You know a lot about that time, don't you, Potter? And it doesn't seem to be things that you should actually be able to know…"
Yet, for all Potter shouldn't have been able to know, he still knew. He still knew far too much, was far too knowledgeable about things that should have been lost in time and forgotten!
" And he won't be remembered for his deed except by us."
Us.
As in Alastor and Potter?
But why Potter? Why was Potter one of those who remembered - because Potter shouldn't be able to remember… Potter hadn't been born at that time, hadn't lived at that time, shouldn't even know about Allaric Moody and his death.
And who should have told the boy so that he did?
Albus Dumbledore - didn't know.
Garrick Ollivander - didn't know.
And Charlus Potter had died before he could tell his grandson…
So who?
There was nobody who should have been able to, nobody who should have even thought about telling Potter something so unimportant as the circumstances of a mere man out of million…
All these thoughts were just supported by Potter's own words about the death of Alastor's father, spurning Alastor's own conclusion in a way he had never thought to think of before: "Yet, as unimportant as my father has been for history, you still know about him. You still know how he died."
And behind all that thoughts about the death of Allaric Moody, a missing name from a list Alastor Moody had created…
" Mad Marius, Charlus Potter, Arcturus Black, Newt Scarmander, Garrick Ollivander and Sal Sanctuary - nearly all of them are dead."
" Garrick wouldn't know. The same for Scamander."
And Sanctuary? What happened to Sanctuary?
Mad Marius was dead, Arcturus Black and Charlus Potter were dead - but Sanctuary? There was no evidence, nothing about the man that told Moody he was still alive or already dead.
Alive - Moody's gut told him, created from the silence when he told Potter that the rest of the people who knew about Allaric Moody's death were dead.
Potter knew how Allaric died.
Potter had kept his silence when Alastor had assumed that those who knew were all dead.
Potter said "Allaric" when speaking about Alastor's father…
" Why do you feel the need to honour those who fought and died in the war against Grindelwald?"
And eyes so old, so unbelievable old had looked back at him, pierced him with their tired gaze.
" That's the question, isn't it, Lord Moody?"
Harryjames Salvatio Amethyst Potter.
" And yet, I have still no idea how you knew about Sal Sanctuary."
" Sanctuary - do you all have to add that name to 'Sal'?"
Sal Sanctuary.
Harryjames Salvatio Amethyst Potter.
No true first name for a hero known throughout Europe.
Sal.
No last name for a hero fighting against Grindelwald.
Sanctuary.
Just a nickname for a first name for a hero known throughout Europe.
Sal.
Just a nickname for a last name for a hero fighting against Grindelwald.
Sanctuary.
And a sudden understanding in an old Auror's mind…
" You found out your true name this summer. Is that the reason why you are different from what Albus described?"
" Partly."
It was absurd, it was impossible - and yet, it was the only thing that could be true in any way or form. It was the only thing that combined all the evidence that explained how Potter could have changed so much, matured so much, embittered so much…
The boy - no, the man - Potter had become had been forged long before that day the boy had been attacked by the Dementors. There was no imposter; there was just the man the boy everybody else had known had become…
Harryjames Salvatio Amethyst Potter.
Harryjames Sal vatio Amethyst Sanctuary .
Sal vatio Sanctuary.
Sal Sanctuary.
"Alastor," Moody's eyes opened. It was then that he noticed he had closed them at some point while he had retreated to his mind. "I want you to take a look who actually voted for my removal from Hogwarts," Albus Dumbledore continued, frowning at Alastor. Obviously he had noticed that Moody hadn't actually listened to a word he said. "We must know who else has been brought over to Tom's side before the next meeting of the Wizengamot in a few weeks. I'm concerned about some people. Augusta Longbottom has been seen talking to Narcissa Malfoy and I fear for her and her grandson…"
But the only thing Alastor could hear in his ears, were his own words, proclaiming his father having given up his own life for the heir of Black.
His eyes travelled over the rest of the Order, stopping when they met the grey ones of a man who looked so much like his grandfather that one time Moody had seen the man as a child that it hurt.
"Of course, Albus," Moody said before standing up. "If you excuse me now - I have a lead to follow."
There were some odd glances all around the table, but Alastor Moody didn't care.
Allaric Moody.
Newt Scamader
Arcturus Black.
Charlus Potter.
Sal Santuary.
And Garrick Ollivander .
" There's too much… there has happened too much to give a simple answer. It is you, who will have to find that answer yourself."
Harryjames Salvatio Amethyst Potter had never lied to Alastor Moody - but he had also never told him the whole truth. There had always been a secret to his answers that Alastor hadn't been able to determine until he had all the pieces, until he had truly been willing to look.
But now, after Alastor had taken a look, he finally knew what he wanted to do - what he had to do. And so he left Grimmauld Place with a last look at Black and apparated straight to Diagon Alley.
Sal Santuary.
Salvatio Santuary.
The boy that wasn't a boy anymore and the man that had fought a war yet had never had a true name.
A boy with a secret that he wanted to keep in every way possible, yet a man who was willing to tell Moody enough to ensure a child knew about the heroic deeds of his father…
" Secrets, Potter?"
Oh, yes, and what secrets to have - even for a grown man.
Harryjames Salvatio Amethyst Potter and Sal Sanctuary.
They were one and the same.
Time travel.
" Secrets, Potter?"
More so than Alastor Moody had ever suspected - secrets wrapped in determination, desperation and the bitterness of knowing that Albus Dumbledore had only acted for his own gain before.
Potter didn't trust the Headmaster anymore and Alastor couldn't fault him, not after finally understanding what had changed the adoration the boy had held for the man into that wariness that the boy now displayed.
The death of hundreds or thousands could change a man - and being left alone by a man he had been told was a great hero and the savior of the world he had been suddenly a part of… something like that would break a man.
Time travel.
What a destructive way to mature a soul beyond the years it should have lived…
It had been that last thought that had decided it for Mad-Eye Moody. He had known the moment he came to that conclusion that he would never be able to return Potter to Albus Dumbledore's side. The only thing Alastor still had under control was his own choice - but then, hadn't he already chosen the moment he decided to actually listen to Potter?
There was only one thing Alastor Moody would and could do now that everything had come crashing down around him…
And Alastor knew exactly whom to search out when it came to finding information about the third - or was it fourth considering the Ministry? - fraction of the war. And it wasn't Harryjames Salvatio Amethyst Potter who was still in school and under tight scrutiny from the Ministry and Albus Dumbledore himself.
"Ah, Mr Alastor Moody. What can old Ollivander do for you today?"
The change came slowly.
It started as a shiver and the feeling of hidden eyes on her.
The hair on her arms and neck stood up, leaving a feeling of exposure in their wake - but unlike with the feeling of being watched, the goosebumps continued to travel all over her body.
She shivered again.
"Bella?" There was a frown on her husband's face - and he wasn't the only one suddenly looking at her. The Dark Lord and every other Death Eater in the room stared at her as if she had grown another head.
The only gaze that was different was the one of the infernal vampire who was leaning in the dark next to the fireplace.
His dark eyes were on her and his gaze was knowing and somehow… smug.
And maybe Bellatrix Lestrange would have pointed out his different behavior towards the others in the room, if the air around her wouldn't have thickend suddenly.
Her eyes widened.
A feeling of utter coldness travelled up her body, starting from her toes and slowly but surely making her freeze everywhere.
Bellatrix had never felt something like that - but she knew what that was anyway.
She had heard her father describing it to her as a small child to warn her from disobeying Arcturus Black.
But Arcturus Black was gone and the only one who could - but never would - was…
Without a word, Bellatrix turned on her heels, before running out of the room - not bothering to keep her dignity.
She couldn't believe this was happening.
She would have never thought that he would -
But he had.
He had done two things Bellatrix had never expected him to do and there she was…
"I'm a Black," she whispered to herself. "I'm a Black! I'm a Black! I'm a Black!"
But it didn't help.
Her legs trembled.
Her fingers couldn't keep still enough to even try and draw her wand.
She shuddered and stumbled but forced herself to continue running down the hallway.
"I'm a Black! I'm a Black! I'm a Black!"
Black magic began to dance around her shuddering frame.
"No! I'm a Black!"
Black flames left her body as if she was trying to produce Fiendfyre through her body alone.
"No! No! No! I'm a Black!"
Then her legs gave out and she stumbled and crashed to the floor.
She tried to stand up again, tried to run and hide - but it was no use.
Her legs refused their service, leaving her a trembling mess on the floor of the manor her Lord used as his current hide-out.
"I'm a Black!" She mumbled.
"Bella!" Then her husband was next to her, his face showing his confusion.
In the air surrounding her were dark, black flames, dancing away from her body in a merry dance.
"I'm a Black," she repeated desperately.
"Of course you are, wife," her husband assured her, but his eyes were on her and not on the dancing flames surrounding her. "Did anything happen?"
Bellatrix knew that he was only concerned because being concerned was his duty as her husband. He didn't truly feel anything for her - and he had no idea… absolute no idea at all…
"No," she gasped, trying and failing to get to her feet. "No! No! No! No!"
"Is it the spell?" Her husband asked. "The one you were hit with in Azkaban?"
The one the healer hit you with? But her husband wouldn't dare to formulate his words like that after she cursed anybody who did into oblivion before.
"No!" She forced out - but maybe… was that the reason? Was that the reason why she was feeling so cold, so lonely? Was that the reason why…?
It would explain so much - and it would explain it a lot better than… him… being the aggressor.
He wouldn't do it after all - not if it meant to acknowledge what he had never wanted to be true in the first place…
"Bella," but she didn't listen to the false concern of her husband, instead her mind turned inwards to something she had tried to forget since the day it happened…
That one thing that seemed to have turned her life into a living hell even before this awful and yet fateful day…
Ever, since that fateful day in Azkaban, everything she touched seemed to vanish in front of her eyes from her grasp for forever - just like the ghost she had attacked in Azkaban.
She shuddered at that thought.
" Bella!"
That one time had been one of the worst in her entire life - including her stay in Azkaban.
That green light, nearly the same shade of the killing curse…
That unbelievable power cursing through her body, nearly destroying her…
If it hadn't been for some other Death Eaters' skills in healing, Bellatrix wouldn't have survived.
Whatever that curse had been - and it definitely hadn't been the killing curse, no matter the similar colour and the fact that she had been in a dead-like state for the next three weeks - it had been vicious an destructive for her body.
"It's like a healer's curse," one of the Death Eaters' treating her had said. "Everybody knows that healers are the most dangerous if they curse you. There's a reason why we have the oaths, after all…"
" Bella!"
"A healer's curse?" There had been a lot of sceptic looks sent the Death Eater's way when he said that. The man on the other hand just frowned at them.
"I mean it!" He exclaimed, his frown not lessening.
"Healers don't curse anybody," one of the others pointed out, but the Death Eater had been insistent.
"They do," he said. "Some do."
Then his eyes darkened.
"I've only seen it once," he told them. "That man… he killed seven of us and took the Dark Lord out of commission for a whole four months - and all of that because the Dark Lord decided to attack one of his patients."
" Bella!"
There was scoffing all around but Bellatrix… she said nothing. She remembered an incident like that as well. She remembered her Aunt Walburga talking about it and - was that man right? Was it a healer's curse that had affected her?
That thought had scared her, because she remembered her Aunt telling her that when the Dark Lord had been hit with the curse, he had lost every and any ability to heal from potions or spells done by sworn healers or potion's masters.
It had taken the darkest of magic to break that curse…
" Bella!"
But for her, nobody had tried to break the curse and while she was still living, still breathing she was also still entrapped in that nightmare the curse had envoked.
No potions to aid her.
No spells to actually heal her.
And the absolute inability to see her for those who had taken their final oaths as a healer or potions master…
" Bella!"
Even Snape hadn't been able to help her - mostly because he didn't even hear her anymore, or see her at all. It was as if the curse ensured that she wasn't there for him to see at all and those less strong who still saw her weren't trained enough to break the curse on her.
And the Dark Lord…
" Bella!"
She was forced out of her spinning thoughts when her husband actually hit her.
She cursed him for it, making him writhe on the floor in front of her.
But her spells were less strong than normal - suddenly missing the most of the fierce and deadly magic she had relied on for all her life.
Instead, said magic just started dance in black flames even faster around her in the air and with every second she held the curse, the magic left her body at twice the speed it had before when she hadn't used magic at all.
She stopped the curse and instead reached out to the flames dancing in the air in front of her.
"I'm a Black," she whispered to the flames. "I'm a Black!"
But the flames danced out of her reach, not believing her claim.
"I'm…" her voice shuddered and broke. "I'm a Black!"
She had never pleaded in all her life - but those last few seconds before the last of the black flames left her body left her with the feeling that she should plead… that she should plead with magic for all it was worth.
But before she could actually act on that thought, it was already too late.
The last flame left her cold and shivering body, taking the last of its heat with her.
She shuddered again.
Her body, already stressed under the curse of the healer - the curse so much like the killing curse and yet so much more cruel and different - folded when that last little flame ripped itself from her core.
"I'm a -"
She chocked on the name, unable to utter it anymore and she knew for a fact that if not all of what made her a Black - most of it at least was gone.
Disowned.
Forever lost to her in any way or form.
There were things like her hair and eyes and facial structure that would forever stay Black - there might even be a touch of her magic still remaining - but everything else, everything that actually bound her to the family, that had once made her Bellatrix Black… was gone.
Lost with the dancing black flames in front of her.
One last time she reached for them from her crumpled postion on the floor.
"I'm a Black," she croaked, but the flames just danced one last time around her body before dissolving into nothingness.
"No, you're not," their actions seemed to say and the second time in barely two months, Bellatrix closed her eyes, her crumpled body lying on the floor like dead.
Like dead - because as cruel as the healer had been, as cruel as her cousin had been, neither of them had the heart to end Bellatrix Lestrange's former Black's pitiful life…
"That was… unusually cruel," Regulus remarked, leaning backwards against the wall, not sounding surprised at all by his older brother's deed.
Sirius just shrugged.
"It had to be done," he said.
Regulus just raised an eyebrow.
"A simple disownment would have been enough as well," he pointed out. "Most people don't bother to recall a family magic she can't give to her descendants anyway."
Sirius shrugged.
"I thought it a more thorough way of doing things," he countered. "Leaving her with just a sliver of Black magic after all she had done… seemed just wrong, you know?"
Regulus raised an eyebrow at that, but stepped away from the wall to help his brother heal his cut wrist which he had used to conduct the ritual.
"Did you actually learn those protections Grandfather insisted on before we started on our first rituals or do I have to start wondering if you're going insane next?" He asked his older brother with a frown.
Sirius waved it off.
"I learned them and did them when I was fifteen. Mother wasn't happy with me. She thought them unnecessary," he answered.
Regulus snorted.
"Well," he drawled. "That at least explains mother."
Sirius snorted.
"You think?" He asked and when his brother reached out for his wrist, Sirius let Regulus treat him without a second thought.
"I'm surprised it went as well as it did," Sirius said. "I actually haven't done that stuff… ever before, you know?"
Regulus raised an eyebrow at his older brother.
"Like you never did our warding?"
Sirius just shrugged.
"Our warding and ward-breaking is as dark as any other ritual we have in this family," he pointed out. "I have never wanted anything to do with the bigoted way of our mother and father… he never said anything different… so are you truly surprised that I never used a spell of what I was taught?"
Regulus sighed.
"No," he confessed. "I'm just surprised that you actually did the protections our family has in place since the Founders' time."
When Sirius raised an eyebrow at Regulus, the man shrugged.
"Considering that believing family legend they have been taught by Salazar Slytherin himself I thought you wouldn't touch them even with a stick."
Sirius frowned, but then he shrugged.
"Mother didn't want me to learn them," he explained. "I figured learning them would piss her off so the decision wasn't hard to make - taught by Slytherin or not."
Regulus snorted amused.
"Should have figured that argument would bring you to learn anything - even something considered dark magic," he said amused.
Sirius just raised an eyebrow at his brother.
"Not just considered," he corrected. "Rituals like those are dark magic -"
" - that every healer apprentice has to learn," Regulus pointed out drolly. "Very dark magic indeed, big brother."
Sirius opened his mouth to object - just to close it again without uttering a word.
There was no way he could actually argue against that because he knew that his little brother had actually been telling the truth. Sirius had been interested in a carreer as a healer before leaving Hogwarts and he had researched the whole thing and found out about the rituals used to keep healers safe - rituals that were, but some minor differences, the same the Black family had used for far longer than the healers ever had to protect their family members from the magic they regularly dabbled in…
Well, most family members.
Sirius somehow doubted that Bellatrix and his mother had ever gone through the rituals like they should have…
"Ouch!" He exclaimed, his attention drawn to his brother who had been treating his hand.
Regulus rolled his eyes at him.
"If you had paid attention to me at all, you would have known that the next spell I use would hurt a bit," he pointed out dryly before cleaning Sirius' healed hand with a flick of his wand.
Sirius frowned at his brother.
"Who the hell raised you to be the bastard you are?" he grumbled good-naturedly.
Regulus just raised an eyebrow in return, his eyes pointedly looking at Sirius himself.
Sirius got the message.
He huffed.
"You can't actually blame me for your prickly personality, can you?" He grumbled.
Regulus just continued to look at him.
"I wasn't that bad, Reggy!" Sirius defended himself. "I was a prankster… and a bit wild… but that doesn't mean -"
His brother's gaze didn't waver.
Sirius groaned.
"Alright," he agreed, giving in. "It's all my fault. I should have been a proper big brother and not just gotten you into trouble and left you there all the damn time!"
"Good to know we agree on something," Regulus said, suddenly cheerful and with a pat on Sirius head moved to leave the room.
His brother's eyes widened.
"Hey!" He exclaimed. "You guilttripped me deliberately, you little -"
Then he broke of, blinking in surprise.
That stunned silence was used by his brother to actually leave the cellar.
"You prankster!" Sirius finally brought out, still far too stunned about the actions of his little brother. "You damn little prankster you… you tricked me!"
And with an amazed and somewhat proud shake of his head he followed his brother upstairs.
"I knew that some day I would manage to be a good influence on you!" He called cheerfully.
"That's one way to put it," a voice that was known to Sirius yet wasn't Regulus answered amused. "But do you truly want to take claim on the fact that Reg managed to prank the whole world into thinking him dead when he was around a much more capable teacher all the time, my dear Pad-daddy?"
Sirius stopped short on the last step down to the cellar.
"Hey! That's Dogfather to you!" Sirius protested, but his protest was automatic and it was only when he had uttered it, that he understood what he had said at all.
It had been the same he had always said when he had been called 'Pad-daddy' by the voice in the kitchen.
A voice he knew - a voice he had heard before, years and years ago…
"Salvazsahar," he said, his tongue not even stumbling over a name the most of the current world couldn't pronounce at all.
"Dogfather," the other man returned the greeting.
And Sirius' whole world turned on its axis once again…