Disclaimer:
Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K. Rowling.
I own nothing but the original characters I make.
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
-Author notes-
Chapter 37: New Runes
"I understood it from your explanations, but still…it's very gruesome," V commented as he rested on one side of the table while watching Harry work.
The tools that Harry was using were originally designed to carve runes into solid objects and allow the ink to permanently mark them.
But Harry was using this same tool on his own flesh. He ran the tool across his skin, cutting it to the muscle and filling the gaps with the special ink he had created.
His expression never changed one bit as he did this and remained in a permanently focused state.
"Doesn't it hurt? It definitely should hurt a lot." V commented. "I still remember what it was to have a body."
Harry did not respond to him. He just continued to work on drawing complex shapes around his right forearm. It started with a circle and began to expand outwards, covering most of the available surface.
Once he was done on one arm, he would need to do the other one. But this did not seem to deter him one bit.
Blood dripped onto the table, and Harry continued to work.
"I have done this many times, V. You know this." Harry finally spoke a few words. "The pain…I can control it, so it doesn't bother me anymore."
"I only know what you told me. This was before my creation." The hat said.
The focus runes were supposed to be a permanent upgrade. Harry would never have needed to make them more than once.
The only reason Harry was forced to repeat the process was that he kept trying to destroy himself. But his body always returned to its original state.
Dying was the one thing he could not do in the frozen world. Regardless of how much he tried.
"How many times did you say you did this? I don't remember." V said.
Harry stopped for a moment after he was done with one arm and prepared the ink for his left arm.
"You never forget anything, V. I just never told you."
"Mmm, then I am asking now." The hat said in a grave tone. "How many?"
Harry began to carve the flesh of his other arm. It started by cutting a small circle at the center of his forearm, and he worked from there on expanding the shape.
"Why do you want to know?" Harry spoke without stopping the movement of his hand.
"I know those memories bother you. I was curious as to why you never deleted them, as you had previously done with so many other unpleasant experiences, or people."
"Because it can't be done. Some memories cannot be erased, no matter how much I would want them gone. Death…leaves a permanent mark on you. One that never goes away. You do know this. It's kinda similar to those Horcruxes you worked so hard to create. Every single creation, every single murder, must have left a mark on you. One that will never disappear."
"You are right about that. Even a mere fragment like me still remembers what it felt…" V chose to remain silent after that. Because he knew that even if the experiences could be somewhat equivalent to each other, the numbers were on a completely different scale.
Harry had made thousands of attempts and remembered the details of every single one of them. That was something that shaped him into what he is today.
V let Harry work in silence after that.
The only sound that could be heard was that of the tool in his hands, carving his flesh as if it were stone.
After ten more minutes of this, Harry stopped.
"It's done." He stared down at his arms. The symbols were glowing with a reddish hue, and the wounded skin appeared to be healing quickly.
Once a bit more time passed, the ink lost its brightness and settled down into a pitch black color, making it look more like a normal tattoo.
"Mmm…yes, it looks like the ones you used to have in there," V said. "I thought you were going to alter the design or something."
"Why would I do that? This is a design that I have been perfecting for many iterations with a lot of trial and error. I don't think I can improve on it, so there is little point in trying now." Harry stood up from the chair, picked up the hat and placed it back on his head.
"Let's go somewhere else to test the runes." Harry took out the wand he had been carrying since the battle at the Ministry and threw it in the air.
He then made a simple gesture with his hand, and this one burst into flames, allowing only cinders to touch the ground.
"You know…you could have kept it. In case you want to hide the use of these runes in front of others." V said.
"I can get a stick for that." Harry had hated the feeling of using that wand and was happy to get rid of it.
He then made a circular motion with his left hand, and a portal appeared.
After crossing it, Harry was now in the air, almost a mile above a massive forest.
"Whoa, hold on!" V exclaimed. "Why did yo—"
"Calm down." Harry activated his flying charm, and they began to levitate. "I needed to get an aerial view, so I chose a good spot."
"A forest?" V scanned their surroundings. "I'm not familiar with this one, but it's definitely not the Forbidden Forest." He added. The landscape didn't fit, and one could see the ocean in the distance.
"This is a large forest north of Scotland. Only a small part of it is considered magical." Harry pointed down. "The one surrounding that pond over there."
"What are you planning on doing here?" V asked.
"You'll see soon." Harry chose a good spot and descended near the pond, on a large grassy field that didn't have many trees. "I'm going to need to borrow a bit of your magic for this, V."
"Mmm?...go ahead. My reserves are near full now, thanks to Hogwarts' bountiful magical veins."
Magic began to swirl around Harry as he channelled the hat's magic through his body and into the two runic marks on his arms.
When large amounts of power went through them, the previously pitch-black runes started to glow with a red light, returning to the appearance they had after their creation.
Harry knelt down and placed both hands on the ground, and a second later, this one began to shake violently.
Scared birds flew out of the trees, and countless leaves fell to the ground.
Harry's green eyes were focused on a single point, and just a few seconds later, something large emerged from beneath the earth.
"Oh!, that's why you needed so much." V realised what Harry was doing.
A tower made of black stone was now rising above the tree line.
"The chamber is fine, but I miss my tower after all." Said Harry with a wide grin on his face.
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