Resistance HQ, Glastonbury Tor
Harry walked with Neville down a tunnel passage in the very heart of the underground tunnel network, after a few twists and turns the tunnel opened up into a large room that was echoing with activity. All along one side of the room was a long line of desks, behind which, each sat a Goblin with magical paper planes hovering overhead waiting for attention and numerous thick books in front of them and various leafs of parchment; all the Goblins were intently studying them and making notes and passing it to another Goblin that would walk between the desks. Harry watched as the walker moved across the room to the other side…where a flat table was.
Harry and Neville approached this table, around which a few other wizards were congregated…most of them Aurors. On the table was a gigantic map of the British Isles, but this was no ordinary map; it showed every single bit of magical activity that was occurring. He watched as the Goblin now approached the table and twiddled his long fingers…the result was that a black spot appeared on the map somewhere in Scotland with a question mark next to it. Harry didn't know what that meant…but judging from the amount of black spots it was probably a point of suspected Death Eater activity. This was the War Room.
"Ah, Neville, there you are," said the dark skinned Auror, Kingsley Shacklebolt, who was nominally in charge of the Aurors, at least in the field. "How is Albus faring?"
"He's walking around for short stretches now," said Neville with a grin, "though Madam Pomfrey has ordered him to stay put…even threatened to put a ward on the room to keep him in."
"She's dreaming if any ward can keep him put," said Kingsley wryly. "Anyway, I don't think we have time for small talk." Kingsley took out his wand and tapped it on the map on a large dot that represented London. The map rapidly redrew itself to show a grid layout of London. Kingsley tapped it again and it zoomed in further to a view of Central London. "Tonks has missed her scheduled check in."
"She's assigned to keep an eye on the Prime Minister isn't she?" asked Neville.
"Yes," nodded Kingsley, "she took over from me when I had to take over as Head of the Auror Corps. She's better at it than I am, considering her Metamorphmagus skills."
"How long overdue is she?"
"Four hours," said Kingsley, "and that's rather lax for her. She may be somewhat clumsy, but she's not stupid. She would not deviate from contact protocols. In addition, we detected some rather suspect spellwork done near 10 Downing Street."
"No Unforgivables?"
"None that we could detect," said Kingsley pointing at the magical map on the table, "however, a recent interrogation of a captured Death Eater revealed that he knew how to cast some form of Magical Diffusion Spell to shield his spellwork from our detection. Now…I don't think any form of Diffusion could be strong enough to prevent us from seeing a Killing Curse or a Cruciatus, but an Imperius is another matter entirely."
"So you want me to discreetly check out 10 Downing?"
"Yes," nodded Kingsley, "The Floo node into 10 Downing has been permanently disabled, so you'll have to apparate and walk in. I trust we don't have to go into further details?"
"No," said Neville, "I'll send a Patronus to you directly once I've found out what is happening."
Kingsley nodded and Neville turned and walked out of the room, Harry following in his wake.
"I suggest we dress ourselves in formal office attire," said Harry.
"How do you mean?"
Harry gestured with his hand towards himself and with multiple swishes of transfiguration his robes turned into a formal gray three-piece suit with an emerald tie that wouldn't be out of place in any major corporation or bank.
"Oh," said Neville, and pulled out his wand, the result being that his robes were replaced with a darker almost black suit in similar style to Harry with a red tie. They stopped in at Albus' room to just let him know they were going out on assignment and wouldn't be back for a few hours…they needn't have bothered as the old wizard and Hermione had buried themselves in books to research a way to destroy the Slytherin Locket safely and could barely spare a glance their way.
"How on Earth do they keep track of what they've read?" asked Neville in bafflement as they headed towards the Ring room. "There's hardly space to put a foot down in that place without stepping on a book."
"Your guess is as good as mine," said Harry with a shake of the head; he'd hardly ever had the patience for books…and the Asgard hadn't used them in countless millennia.
Downing Street, London.
Harry and Neville approached the sealed off street that contained the Prime Minister's residence. Harry had no idea what protections were around Number 10, but he knew enough that he and Neville did not want to screw this up; he wouldn't be surprised if the SAS had a tactical unit on 24 hour readiness hidden in one of the houses on the famous street, not to mention any underground bunkers or secret complexes. Harry could probably take on an entire brigade if he really had to, but the collateral damage would be enormous and impossible to cover up.
"Ok, let's stop here for a moment," said Harry and they walked out of the flow of pedestrians and stopped against an alcove, he handed a leather flip-open wallet to Neville, "this will be your ID, you're an MI-5 agent; they deal with internal threats against the UK and the Crown. Just follow my lead and let me do the talking. You're my partner and if anyone asks you a question, direct them to me. Does the Resistance keep the Prime Minister up to speed?"
"Yeah, Tonks gives him a daily briefing on anything we think that they can help us on," nodded Neville.
"Good, that simplifies things immensely," said Harry with a considering frown.
They walked back into the flow of pedestrians and turned a corner to approach the massive barred gates that blocked entry to Downing Street. A single armed policeman stood at the pedestrian entrance of the gate; he was a tall figure with a posture that screamed military training, his black tactical vest was full to the brim with various essentials and prominent was a small radio mouthpiece clipped near his left shoulder. He was armed with an MP5 sub machine gun that was clipped to his tactical vest and rested his arms on it. His eyes continuously scanned for threats from right to left. This policeman was obviously the vanguard for the security forces in the area.
Harry could also make out visible closed circuit television cameras mounted on the surrounding buildings and focused on the policeman.
"Can I help you, sir?" asked the policemen in a level voice.
Harry raised his own leather wallet that contained his Diplomatic credentials, Neville followed suit next to him. Using some subtle telepathy, Harry managed to alter the policeman's perceptions enough that what he saw was two legitimate looking MI-5 identifications.
"I'm Smith," said Harry, "and this is Brown. We have a discrete appointment with the PM."
"Stand by," said the policeman and spoke into his radio. This was where the Achilles, which was maintaining a geo-synchronous orbit over the British Isles came into play. It's AI sent sophisticated pings to the computers in 10 Downing Street and using Subspace began to stream data into any and all computers it could find that pertained to the Prime Minister's schedule.
"They're cleared," came a crackling voice over the radio. The Policeman walked towards the pedestrian gate and nodded into what looked like a tiny camera that mounted in a hole in the wall. There was a powerful buzzing sound and the gate opened. Harry and Neville walked in and the policeman closed the gate behind them with a loud clang and turned back to observing the traffic going past.
Downing Street had a limited number of pedestrians; of course, all of them were part of the Prime Minister's staff, going back and forth between the various houses on the street, going about the daily business of government. They approached Number 10's front door and before they could even knock, the door was opened and a young woman dressed in a white blouse and knee length gray skirt stood there and tapped away on a PDA.
"Mr Smith and Brown?" she asked politely, though there was a look of frustration on her face.
"That's us," said Harry and showed her his badge aided with telepathy.
"I'm sorry," she said with a sigh, "this PDA must be acting up, your appointment was lost somewhere and we only got wind of it when…that's strange…the date…" Harry subtly twirled his fingers in her direction and the result was, "…oh, never mind, you'll just have to wait half an hour. Follow me."
They walked into the house and were escorted to a rather comfortable sitting room with plush leather sofas and numerous paintings and portraits along the walls.
"Kindly wait here, I'll come for you when the Prime Minister is available," said the secretary, and walked off. Harry and Neville remained standing however.
"I thought Tonks was the secretary," said Neville in confusion.
"The Prime Minister has many secretary's," said Harry in turn, scanning the room and looking beyond with his eyes open to the Universe beneath the material world.
"Well, I don't think we can afford to wait half an hour," said Neville grimly. There was obviously more to be said, but it remained unsaid, as there was probably surveillance cameras and microphones watching and hearing their every move.
"I agree," said Harry, looking around the room. "But we have to wait nevertheless." Neville looked like he was going to object, but Harry stopped it by putting a hand on his friends' shoulder. Neville's eyes widened as his mind was given strange alien thoughts but then he realized they were coming from Harry. The realization brought them into focus and allowed him to make sense of the plan Harry had.
"Ok," nodded Neville. The half an hour wait was rather daunting for Neville, as he rarely could sit still when he knew there was something wrong or somebody in danger. Harry simply sat luxuriantly on his part of the sofa and even stretched his arms to lean them on the upper parts of the sofa; anyone looking would've thought that he was just lazing about, but his mind was open and watchful, trying to make sense of the ebbs and currents of the Universe around him. Finally, after forty minutes the secretary returned.
"Sorry about that, but the PM had a very important phonecall that ran longer than he expected, if you would follow me," she said, gesturing towards the door. Harry and Neville stood and walked in her wake. They passed through the main hallway, turned a few corners, passed through a few electronically secured doors that required a passcode…and finally they entered the outer office.
The outer office was a cozy square room with three large desks piled with paper and a computer, behind which each sat a secretary; two female and one male. The phones at the desks were ringing occasionally and the three secretaries would pick them up and attend to the caller; at the moment two of them were busy on the phones. Harry carefully studied the three. He had already ruled out that the escorting secretary was Tonks, so he studied them carefully. The lone male secretary was of average height, with hazel hair and eyes and a wiry build, his eyes caught sight of Harry and Neville and dismissed them immediately. It was conceivable that Tonks would impersonate a male; but it would be much harder to maintain such a disguise as opposed to a female one.
He turned to look at the two female secretaries to his left. The one closest to the door leading to the PM was slowly putting down her phone. This secretary had long red hair, a rather impressive bust and wore a black blouse…her face was oddly blank…as if she had lost all emotion. Harry narrowed his eyes and focused his mind's eye on her…she was definitely a witch. But her blank face raised warning alarms in Harry's mind…and the latest Death Eater capabilities intelligence.
That was all the warning he had before the red head secretary raised a wand.
"Look out!" shouted Harry and pushed the escorting secretary in front of him, as he did a backwards roll to avoid the green light of a Killing Curse that raced across the room and blasted a hole the size of a basketball in the wall; causing a plume of dust and debris to shoot out. Neville struck first as Harry regained his footing. A Stunning Spell shot towards the witch but was deflected. Harry cupped his hands and purple orbs of bright shining power gathered in them…Neville deflected a Severing Curse for Harry to buy time…Harry flung both hands forwards palms out…a jet of purple light shot from his left hand towards the witch…she shielded but the curse Harry was using caused her transparent dome of shield energy to buckle and warp…another purple jet of light shot now from his right palm and breached the witches' defense.
She was picked up off her feet by the force of the spell and slammed against the wall and fell to the ground…unconscious.
"What spell was that?" asked Neville, coughing from the dust and smoke.
"A Stunning Curse…that will provide guaranteed unconsciousness for as long as the caster desires and can't be countered by anyone other than the original caster," said Harry, wincing inwardly, it was really a pain to use wizard terminology to explain these things…so scientifically imprecise. "She'll be out for three hours." Harry looked around and saw that the other three secretaries were cautiously peeking out from behind their desks. "Obliviate them." Neville twirled his wand and three gray jets of light hit the secretaries on their foreheads, causing their eyes to lose focus.
Harry made a sweeping gesture with both his hands. Dust and debris stopped in mid-air…and as if someone had pressed the rewind button they reversed direction back towards the hole that was caused by the Killing Curse. The part of the wall where the witch had crashed against fixed itself and the overturned desks and papers and sheets flew back to their original positions. When he was finally done, the room had not a single scratch and there was no way to tell that their had just been a magical battle.
"Secure Tonks, while I speak to the PM," said Harry. Neville nodded and walked over to the witch, who had now reverted back to the original appearance of Tonks with black hair and the familiar heart shaped face. Harry opened the doors and walked into the Prime Ministers Office.
The Office was well appointed and large, with elegant bookcases along the walls and various artworks, including the small magical portrait in the bottom corner on the wall behind the large mahogany desk that had once allowed the Ministry to keep in contact with the non-magical government; but was since discontinued when its twin in the Minister for Magic's office was destroyed along with the rest of the Ministry. Behind the large desk sat the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair; who was at the moment clutching his head with his hands, his fingers threaded through his light brown hair that was graying on the sides. His eyes were closed and his expression was a mixture of anger and misery. Harry softly closed the door behind him; confident that Neville could handle things. They didn't really have to worry about the security forces…as the levels of power exchanged in the room would have blinded any cameras and when everything cooled down they would see the room unchanged, except that one secretary was missing (disillusioned by Neville).
"There was nothing you could do, Prime Minister," said Harry softly, standing in front of the large desk. "Precious few wizards have the strength to resist the curse you were under, let alone a non-magical person."
Tony Blair cracked open an eye to regard Harry. "Are you from the Resistance?" he asked in a hoarse voice.
"Yes indeed," said Harry, "and as you can tell by the fact that your own will has returned to you, Miss Tonks has been secured."
"What will happen to her?" asked the PM, letting his hands fall to the desk.
"She was under the curse herself, no punishment will come from our side, but my partner and I will have to conduct a thorough debriefing before she returns to HQ," explained Harry calmly. "However, we need to know what she ordered you to do?"
The PM winced and stood up from his chair to stare out the window. "It's been five days since I was robbed of my own will," he said with a sigh. "And in that time I've ordered reductions on spending in various sectors…defense, police. I even ordered monetary aid to various third world nations to be stopped and diverted into anonymous accounts, probably belonging to the dark wizards. I ordered emergency services to do be diverted from certain places to undergo more training…places that were attacked not a day later."
That explained the lack of response the Resistance had been witnessing lately with regards to non-magical emergency services.
"We are lucky then, that we stopped this as soon as we did," said Harry grimly. "All this can be quickly undone with a countermanding order from you, Prime Minister."
"Lucky," said the PM incredulously, shaking his head. "You have no idea…I was ordered…I…couldn't help it…"
"People died Prime Minister," said Harry softly, "yes, it's true, but the orders did not, I repeat, did NOT, come from you. It came from a dark wizard intent on manipulating you for their own benefit."
"Knowing that does not make me feel better," said the PM bitterly.
"You are human, your guilt is natural and a reflection of your good character," said Harry understandingly. "I've been involved in many battles Prime Minister, I've lost friends, colleagues and I ask myself constantly if I couldn't have done better, and then maybe they would still be alive today. But you realize in the fullness of time, that you couldn't have done more. There is no magical spell to take away emotion permanently, only to perhaps delay your feelings, but then it would return with a vengeance when the magic wore off. My only advice I can give you is to listen to appropriate music."
"Music?" said the PM incredulously. "Music will rid me of the aftereffects of a Curse?"
"It won't rid you of it," said Harry patiently, "it will soothe the heart and the other side-effects, and that is something no magician on this Earth could do for you."
There were three quick knocks on the door into the office and Harry turned and walked over to open it.
"Everything OK in here?" asked Neville, poking his head into the office.
"As well as can be expected," answered Harry.
"I just received a message from Kingsley, they detected the spell exchange and are on their way to take Tonks in," said Neville.
"Good, I'll finish things up in here," he said, and closed the door.
"The Resistance will send someone to replace Miss Tonks as soon as we are able, in the meantime," said Harry and held up his palm. There was a flash of light and a necklace appeared with a pendant of a clear crystal pyramid about an inch in size at the base and two inches in height. "Wear this…" Harry handed it over to the Prime Minister who looked at it curiously in the light coming from his windows.
"What is it?"
"That, Prime Minister, is a personal shield device," said Harry with a grin. "Wear it at all times, it will protect you from any spell cast by a wizard, except for a Killing Curse (green magic). It doesn't have infinite power, so it will stop five maybe six spells…depending on the power of the wizard attacking you. I suggest you carry an easily concealed firearm of some kind, so that when the shield does its job you can retaliate."
"Surely not," said the PM aghast. "If it became known that I carry a weapon…surely my security could then defend me…"
"Prime Minister," sighed Harry, "With a few spells a wizard could seal this room so securely that not even a SAS squad with all its specialist equipment could break in here. They could disrupt every electronic system in the building, blinding your security forces. Need I go on…"
"No, no, you've made your point, I'll do it," said the PM with frown.
"Good," said Harry, "Do you have any further questions?"
"No," said the PM, shaking his head.
"Then I should be going," said Harry, walking closer and shaking hands with him. "It was an honor to meet you, sir. I do believe that we'll meet again, perhaps in a year, or two."
"What do you mean?" asked the PM, but he saw he was now talking to empty air.
Resistance HQ, Glastonbury Tor
Harry walked the now familiar path toward Albus' quarters and caught the scent of something very pungent indeed. Walking inside he saw that a table was now set up in the middle of the room and a large stone basin was laid out on it. All the books that had littered the room were now gone. Albus himself was clad in light blue robes of shooting stars and was standing at the table looking down into the basin thoughtfully. Hermione stood on the other side of the table with the same pensive look on her face. A large thick book was open next to the basin and the script looked handwritten. The rest of the room was surprisingly bare; gone was the bed and the bookshelves and the tapestries. The Ancient Healing Device was now in HQ's hospital wing, aiding the health of those injured in the line of duty.
"Could it be that simple?" asked Albus.
"How does Riddle view Muggles and their methods?" reasoned Hermione. "He considers it beneath his notice. He would never think that a wizard would use this method to attack his precious Horcruxes. Albus, we have subjected the Locket to every scanning, diagnostic, and sensory spell known to wizards looking for some weakness in the Locket's enchantments…there is nothing. You of all people know the kind of magical genius that Riddle was and is."
"I do indeed know," said Albus with a sigh. "Could this be the simple answer to the riddle that seems impossible to solve?"
"Can I jump into this reasoning process?" asked Harry with a wry grin, walking toward the edge of the table.
"Oh, Harry," said Hermione, glancing at him. "You're back rather early."
"It went quickly," said Harry, and gave them a brief rundown of events at 10 Downing.
"And how is Tonks?" asked Albus sadly.
"She's fine, though a bit angry with herself for allowing a Death Eater to catch her unawares. The Death Eater released the Imperius when it became apparent we were tracing him or her through it, so no leads on that end," explained Harry with a disappointed sigh. "Anyway, what are you two debating about?"
"This book," said Hermione, pointing to the thick handwritten book, "is Albus' notes when he worked with Nicholas Flamel in the early 20th century. It highlights all the avenues of research they pursued to perfect the Philosopher's Stone."
"We had to keep track of what we had done already," shrugged Albus modestly. "One of the ideas I had was to bring everything Muggle science knew about Gold and its properties into our theories and research. Nicholas and I approached a Metallurgist Professor at Oxford and asked if we could…go to school again, as it were." He smiled fondly at the memory. "After a bit of 'financial' persuasion, he agreed. It was here that we learned of a rather ingenious method of refining gold without the need for extremely high temperatures and elemental spells. It's called 'Aqua Regia'."
"It's a method of refining gold by using two types of acids," explained Hermione, pointing towards to large containers under the table with obvious warning labels prominent on them and displaying… "nitric acid and hydrochloric acid. Now, my theory is that we take the Locket and immerse it first in nitric acid and then in hydrochloric. This will dissolve the gold that is present in the locket…destroying the Locket's structure…with the basis gone, the enchantments will not remain, since they were placed on the locket long after it was forged."
"Leaving it vulnerable to any kind of magical attack," concluded Harry.
"If this method works," said Albus with a raised finger, "if…then it must be decided what kind of attack to launch upon the locket." The old wizard considered Harry now with a grave look. "Are you still as capable as you were since you've retaken human form?"
"Are you asking whether I could still perform a Killing Curse?" said Harry with a frown. Albus nodded, his gaze serious. "I could do it, yes, but I have since learned of other attacks equally as lethal that would be far less…corrupting to the caster."
"Indeed," said Albus thoughtfully, his fingers combing through the long hair of his white beard, "you would be doing every Auror in the Resistance a favor if you taught them this weapon."
"I suppose I would," said Harry neutrally. "But you can understand my reticence, killing should not be made easier."
"Very true," said Albus with a tired sigh, "it was with great reluctance that I ordered a wartime rules of engagement for the Aurors. But we can't afford to hold ourselves back, it would give the enemy a too great advantage."
"You don't have to justify your decision to me, Albus," said Harry stridently, holding up his hands. "So, are we going to do it now or later?" he said, gesturing towards the Golden Locket that was lying at the bottom of the stone basin.
"Are you sure of the spell you're going to use?" said Hermione worriedly. "Once we start the process…there's no turning back."
"I'm sure," said Harry, gesturing for her to continue.
She pulled out her wand and with a few flicks a heavy-duty plastic apron; gloves and goggles appeared on her. She then cast a Ventilation Charm on the room that would obviously get rid of any fumes from the process. Harry and Albus backed away from the table as Hermione took the large book and placed it safely out of the way.
"OK," she sighed nervously, "here we go." With a flick of her wand the container of Nitric acid rose into the air and unsealed itself, she guided it over towards the basin and the Locket still lying inertly on the bottom. Ever so carefully, the container began to tip itself forward, and the acid began to pour into the stone basin. This continued until the basin was filled to the brim with the harmful chemical. Hermione guided the now empty container back to the floor.
"Now we wait for at least a half an hour," she said anxiously. Albus and Harry couldn't see what was happening to the Locket from where they were standing but soon enough brown fumes began to emerge from the basin, only to be swept away by the Ventilation Charm.
After twenty minutes Albus got tired and conjured himself a chair. But Harry had to remain vigilant…the acid was eating away at the natural impurities in the gold and in the process destroying the structure of Locket, meaning that the soul fragment could emerge with little warning.
When the half hour mark passed, Hermione carefully came closer to the basin and with a few waves of her wand the now stained and dirty acid was Vanished. Harry also came closer and inspected the Locket's condition…it was worn down quite substantially, the ornate Slytherin 'S' was gone, and gold had run off against the bottom of the stone basin so that the once round shape of the Locket was now more of an oval.
"Now for the Hydrochloric…" mumbled Hermione and repeated the process with the remaining container. When the new acid had settled into the basin they began to wait again. "Get ready, Harry, the Hydrochloric will begin react with the gold and the solution will become quite hot…the gold should begin to dissolve at this point."
Harry nodded and backed away from the basin to give himself some room. Hermione had the foresight to move and stand next to Albus, as both were behind Harry, giving him a clear line of sight on the basin. Harry cupped his hands and held out his arms, his eyes narrowed in focus as his mind concentrated and reached out to the Universe around him. This would be the first time that he would use this particular matrix…he could only hope that he could pull it off, as it was the most difficult and dangerous talent that the Alterrans had developed…in this plane of existence, anyway.
Whiffs of pure silver-white energy began to dance above Harry's hands…he gritted his teeth with visible effort…more energy began to appear, until there were two coherent orbs of light shining above each hand, no bigger than the size of a marble.
Harry groaned in effort to keep the matrix stable and filter the negative effects of drawing such energy. His hands were shuddering and taut under the strain. He had to fight the urge to close his eyes and direct all his focus to the matrix, he could not lose sight of the basin…if the soul fragment emerged when he had all his attention elsewhere it would be disastrous; as the fragment would want to try and possess the nearest vessel for itself it could find in an effort to remain. It would find Harry completely unsuitable, but the same could not be said for Hermione…who, while she did have the skill, she did not have the experience or the power to fight off such an attack.
Finally, after what seemed like a million years to Harry in terms of relative time, he had a stable matrix in both his hands. They were now the size of a tennis ball and glowed an ethereal silver-white that was nearly blinding in intensity. He let out a breath of relief…he only now had to maintain the field that contained the matrix…, which was relatively simple, compared to building the matrix itself.
"My goodness, Harry," said Hermione in awe, shielding her eyes from the glow of the two matrices. "What kind of spell is that?"
"A very difficult one," said a heavily breathing Harry, keeping his focus on the stone basin which was now visibly radiating heat, causing the lightwaves to ripple above its surface as it reached his eyes. Albus was looking at Harry with great concern.
"That must have been very taxing, my boy, are you all right?" he said gravely.
"I'll be fine, though I'll probably be consuming a five course meal afterwards and sleeping for a day," he quipped with a rue grin.
"Albus what did he do?" demanded Hermione. "I know your expressions well enough to guess that you have an idea."
Albus sighed and said, "While there were some parts of the spell that I did not understand, I saw enough to get the gist of what it is and just how powerful the effect would be, but it's difficult to find the words. It's as if Harry reached out into the very basis of reality and pulled energy to himself."
"But…" she began to object, looking alarmed.
"It is done, my dear," said Albus with stern finality. "Harry cannot simply let this spell fade out and go…the energy he has gathered must be used for the purpose he has in mind, to do otherwise would cause his death and the deaths of everyone in the British Isles if not further…"
Their conversation was interrupted by the sound of utmost, soul wrenching pain…
The stone basin flashed with power and in an instant the acid had been vaporized as the enchantments on the Locket exploded outward. Albus recognized the danger an instant before it happened…he berated himself for not foreseeing it. Harry was too busy maintaining the extremely powerful spells in his hands meant for the soul fragment to protect himself against the magical backlash of the enchantments freeing themselves and dissipating.
From his seated position his wand was out and he cast the strongest shield he knew and could perform on such short notice.
A solid wall of white magic appeared between the stone basin and Harry. Albus was surprised to note that Harry was not as encumbered as he believed. In fact, the next moment he felt the younger wizard add his own power to Albus' shield. It truly made him wonder just what were Harry's limits. By now, Hermione had reacted as well, and pointed her wand towards the shield wall and a jet of supporting magic joined in holding back the magical onslaught of the now broken Locket.
After a few seconds of this Harry began to wonder just how much bloody power Salazar Slytherin had put into the damn thing, which would have only increased over time, and then when Riddle got his greedy paws on it what more power had he added to it? The shield wall began to slightly shift towards Harry and there were points where it began to warp and wobble…but it seemed to hold.
After a prolonged struggle of nearly ten intense seconds the power of the enchantments on the Locket had been expended and returned to a natural state of equilibrium. Through the transparent shield wall they saw that the room beyond had nearly been carbonized and a good section of the rock walls had been turned to shiny hard glass fragments…Harry would hardly be surprised if he could dig up a diamond from the wall afterwards. The only thing beyond the barrier was an ethereal wraith that looked very familiar to Harry…memories of his Clones' first year confrontation with Riddle came to the forefront.
"Drop the shield!" shouted Harry frantically. An agonizingly slow moment later the white wall vanished and Harry wasted no time and flung the two matrices towards the wraith. The bright energy balls seemingly vanished into the formless wraith and for a moment…nothing happened.
Then there was another soul wrenching screech of pain. The wraith twisted in agonized knots in upon itself…it writhed and screamed…and then it was as if reality itself bent slightly and with flicker the soul fragment was no more…
Harry staggered backwards with the realization that another milestone of his journey had passed. He fell with a huff on his buttocks and felt extremely sleepy all of a sudden.
"I suggest you…find…Madam Pomfrey," said Harry, the exhaustion evident in his voice. "Explain to her the full truth…I won't be able to conceal myself…"
"Don't worry, my boy," said Albus, and Harry was distantly aware that the old man was kneeling next to him and holding him up. "Rest…you've done your part…"
Harry barely nodded and fell unconscious.
He felt consciousness return after an indeterminate amount of time. His kept his eyes closed and listened, his mind reaching out like a giant searchlight and after a few tense moments, he relaxed. He was still in Resistance HQ, though he was in an unfamiliar room he had never seen before. It was relatively small, with his being the only bed in it and seemed to be in the Hospital Wing. He was also not alone. Seated in a plush armchair next to the bed was Albus, who seemed like he was keeping vigil.
His chromesuit AI immediately told him that there had been an attempt to remove it, and its camouflage system had come online to maintain the illusion of robes when Harry fell unconscious.
Harry opened his eyes and sat up in his bed, feeling sorry that he had escape the warm comfortable confines of the sheets.
"Ah, Harry, how are you feeling?" said Albus with an eye twinkling grin.
"Much better, thank you," said Harry after he had taken a few moments consideration, "though quite hungry."
"That can be solved," said Albus lightly, and gave a clap of his hands. With a crack a very familiar house-elf appeared. Harry couldn't place the name of the small being with tennisball yellow eyes and large floppy ears for a few moments, as his clone's memories were slow to come to the fore.
"Dobby?" said Harry, with a grin blossoming on his face. The small elf had an expression of awe on his face and bowed his head, not wanting to look Harry in the eye as if he couldn't dare contemplate it.
"What can Dobby be doing for Ancient One?" squeaked the elf. Harry sighed, he would have to get used to this reaction from some of the other 'magical' races. Dobby could clearly sense the awakened Alteran power within Harry and unlike wizards, who have forgotten their own history through circumstance and through the efforts of Merlin himself (the truth would've devastated wizardom), other magical races kept a healthy oral history through the millennia. The magical races themselves were in fact not native to Earth per se, they were found when the Alterans first began building their empire in the Milky Way when Earth was their home planet. They were races that, like the Alterans, had begun to evolve and master the universe around them. When the Great Plague had struck the Milky Way, the Alterans brought all these races together on Earth in quarantine to protect them. And they have called Earth home since that time.
"Please Dobby," said Harry with a sigh; the faithful elf had adored Clone Harry, now this was going beyond that. "Don't call me that around other wizards besides Albus. You may call me Master Harry, do you understand?" Dobby nodded his head so hard that his ears flapped like wings. "Now, I'm feeling rather peckish, can I please get some food?" The elf nodded and snapped his fingers. A tray with a large plate of poached eggs, bangers and French toast with syrup appeared and a mug of steaming hot coffee.
"Can Dobby be getting Ancient One, anything else?" said the elf.
"No, thank you, Dobby, you may go," said Harry with a nod. A crack was heard and the elf had disappeared. Harry could feel Albus' curiosity at Dobby's strange reaction but chose not to respond to it. "How long was I out?"
"Oh, just the night," said Albus genially, "it's about ten in the morning. It seemed all you required was a Strength Replenishment Potion and some rest. Quite remarkable, considering the power you manipulated yesterday to destroy the Horcrux would've exhausted anyone else into a coma."
"What was Pomfrey's reaction to me?" asked Harry carefully, choosing not to elaborate on the comment.
"Well, she was at first understandably shocked," said Albus with a quirky grin, "but once she saw your condition, she put it out of her mind. Only afterwards did she ask me how it was possible."
"And you said?"
"I elucidated on what happened to you as much as you explained to Hermione," said Albus, giving Harry an enquiring look.
"That's OK," said Harry with a relieved sigh, waving Albus' concerns off. "'The next great adventure' or 'Ascension' as it's properly termed is the natural fulfillment of our evolution. Merely knowing about it is not of grave concern."
"How so?"
"It's difficult to use words to explain it," said Harry with a grin, and he reached over and grasped Albus' shoulder. There was silence as feelings and concepts impossible to form with words were traded. After but a few moments Harry removed his hand and sat back.
"Amazing," was all Albus said, his eyes had a faraway look to them.
"I take it Pomfrey was skeptical of you claim?"
"Of course," said Albus, snapping out of his inward reverie. "But I managed to convince her by allowing her to run a few tests on you…nothing invasive, I assure you, just a few rather specialized diagnostic spells. Her standard diagnostic brought up some odd results as well."
"They would," said Harry in an unconcerned tone, and began eating. "When can I meet with the Council of Races?"
"There is a bit of a problem with that," said Albus delicately. "In the hubbub of getting you to the Hospital Wing I'm afraid we, that is myself and Hermione, were a bit frantic to get you treatment, since you had just performed an extremely powerful, unknown spell and we couldn't begin to guess what might be wrong. So, we put you on the first available bed we could find in the main ward."
"Oh boy," said Harry with heavy sigh, and rubbed his hands through his hair in frustration. "Cat's out of the bag, heh?"
"Quite," said Albus dryly. "I've never known such bedlam to exist. I've had to ward this room with extensive spells to allow you some privacy before facing the entire Resistance. Those closest to you have been most especially vociferous in wanting to see you. I think Remus fainted when he saw your unconscious form in the Hospital Wing."
Harry inwardly frowned while keeping his face ambivalent; he really didn't know what he going to do with regards to the close family of his Clone. He had his clones' memories and the somewhat diluted feelings to go with it; but he didn't know if people like Remus Lupin, the best friend of his father, would appreciate the distant, unfamiliar eyes that stared out at them from the face of Harry Potter. Hermione's reaction had been indicative enough of the response he would get.
"So you think I should meet with Remus, the Weasleys, and Luna before I go to the Council of Races?"
"Indeed, it would be better to 'clear the air' as it were with them first," said Albus with a grin.
"I will meet them, but you must warn them not to expect much, my time on Earth is limited until my purpose here is complete," said Harry somewhat sadly, a feeling coming from his clone's memories.
"You will leave then," said Albus gravely, "like Merlin did?"
"Yes, and for the same reason he did," said Harry stridently. Wizards had greatly sought Merlin when he was on Earth, to either learn from the great sorcerer or to challenge him, it had gotten so tiresome for Merlin that he took the four Founders as Apprentices and taught them in hiding, after which he promptly Ascended; preferring to let Wizardom evolve on it own. Though Harry wouldn't ascend, (he didn't plan to do that for a long time) he couldn't remain with the Goa'uld threat hanging like the sword of Damocles over Earth. "Oh, and can you bring me Merlin's Journal before you send anyone in…"
He was cut off in his request when Albus pulled out the book in question from the folds of his robes. "This book is never out of my sight," he said at Harry's questioning look.
"Quite," said Harry with a grin, "better safe than sorry. It's time I find us a way into Hogwarts."
It seemed Albus wanted to allow Harry some time to study the Journal as the first visitor to his private ward room only entered two hours later. Harry had long since recovered his strength and had transfigured the bed into a desk and chair with a nice lamp on which to study Merlin's Journal.
Harry looked up and saw a man in his late thirties with brown hair with streaks of gray in it, wearing a ubiquitous set of dark gray robes. Scars on his face denoted the curse the man was afflicted every full moon. The man who was Remus Lupin walked cautiously into the room and seemed to be studying Harry intently; as if he was memorizing every detail.
Harry sighed and closed the Journal and looked up, meeting the eyes of his father's friend, and as he predicted flinched slightly at the unfamiliar stare in Harry's eyes.
"Greetings Remus," said Harry, standing up and stopped a few feet away from the man. "It's good to see you, again, as it were."
"Harry…" said Remus cautiously and seemed to sniff slightly, "or whoever you are."
"Ah, the lycan's sense of smell," said Harry, looking amused. "Yes, I would most certainly smell different to you now. I'm curious, how do I smell now, in comparison to my previous incarnation?" Remus flinched at the mention of incarnation and it's obvious association with death…Harry's death.
"You smell…perfect…clean…pure," said Remus, clearly trying to put it into words.
"Thought so," nodded Harry with a smile.
"What happened?" asked Remus in a voice laden with pain. It was easy to guess what the man was referring to.
"After my capture at the battle of Hogwarts, I had to endure three months of a great variety of tortures…the Cruciatus being the preferred choice, Dementor exposure, various slow acting Curses that were healed sloppily afterwards, I even think they threw in a Muggle technique here and there…and then in Diagon Alley, well it was relief to have it end…" Harry continued with much the same explanation he had given Hermione. Remus was clearly baffled with the idea of Ascension and looked skeptical.
"So it's true then…you did die?"
"You have to die to Ascend," said Harry evenly, "it's the catalyst needed for shaking off the physical body…and emerging as a being of pure energy…" Remus's skeptical look continued… "oh come now Remus, you know that matter and energy are closely related…how on earth do you think you use your own energy to transfigure something or yourself for that matter?" Remus sighed and shook his head; clearly he didn't want to contemplate it at the moment. "I know this is hard for you…but think about Hermione, imagine how she feels."
"I can't," said Remus ruefully.
"So if misery loves company, you can go and prove it with her," said Harry sadly. "But understand this Remus, I am only back temporarily…you know of my task. I will rid this world of Riddle and scatter his followers and sow the seeds of a better future, but I cannot be here to watch them grow and blossom."
"But…" said Remus looking alarmed. "You just got back…"
"This war is but a small thing, Remus," said Harry enigmatically. "There are battles in the great beyond that make this war seem like a minor lover's quarrel. Those battles must be fought for the sake of all. Even I, with all this power at my disposal, am but a pawn in the grand scheme of things. But you do not wish to know of it, so let me do something for you that the previous Harry could not…I'm sure Prongs would approve…" Harry closed the distance between them in a blink of an eye and he grabbed both Remus's hands in his…his mind reaching out towards the lycanthrope…his mind searching for the Curse…there was strobing flash of light and Remus flinched in pain…another flash of white light and Remus sank to his knees gasping for air.
Harry stood back and let go of Remus' hands; who's slumped to the floor his body wracking with tremors.
"I'm sorry for the pain," said Harry softly.
"What did you do to me?" asked Remus, still twitching on the floor, staring at his own hands…which seemed to be in the early stages of transforming into a werewolf's claws…but stopped and settled back into human hands…backwards and forwards…like a stuck record.
"Take it easy, it's just the Curse of Lycanthropy adjusting itself," said Harry genially. "I couldn't remove the Curse itself, that's beyond my power, but I can alter it somewhat."
"Alter how?" said Remus hoarsely, looking in horror as his nails blackened and lengthened in front of his eyes and then returned to its normal state.
"I altered the parameters of the Curse, I could go into all technical details for you but I'll give you the bottom line instead," said Harry with a grin, "on the full moon you will still transform into a werewolf, but your human mind will remain intact permanently. I've also removed that nasty allergy to silver that comes with the Curse."
"What?" said Remus in astonishment and sat up, his body's stability returning to normal.
"Do I need to repeat what I said?" said Harry, "or better yet I'll prove it to you. Experiencing it is believing it, after all." Harry reached into the folds of his robes and what looked like a pure silver knife emerged, before Remus could even think of dodging and running away, the younger wizard pressed the flat of the blade against the lycan's hand. Remus closed his eyes and prepared for the inevitable burn and pain that would come with it…he had experienced it once before when he had accidentally handled silver cutlery as a child…but no pain came!…unless you counted the coolness of the knife.
He opened his eyes and stared at the silver against the flesh of his hand in near wonder.
"See?" asked Harry expectantly. Remus brought his gaze up to Harry's and asked a simple question.
"Why?"
"My dad would be very put out with me if I didn't help the last Marauder while I was here and it was within my power," said Harry with a happy grin. "And this way, if you ever run into that traitorous rat Peter Pettigrew, you'll have one up on him when he tries to use that fancy silver hand given to him by Riddle." Remus' eyes flashed amber in anger automatically at the mere mention of the traitor who sold out Harry's parents to Riddle. "If I come across him in the battle to come, I promise to leave him alive."
"Leave him alive? What battle? What are you talking about?" growled Remus.
"Pettigrew has a date with you on a full moon, of course," said Harry with satisfaction, "and the battle will be the one we will be launching shortly to retake Hogwarts."
The meetings with Luna Lovegood, Fred, George and Ginny Weasley went in a similar vein. Their initial disbelief countered by Harry's brief explanation of Ascension, throwing in Merlin as reference for a similar occurrence. He even allowed his bright white aura to flare into the visible spectrum for them as further proof of his assertion. Then of course, there was the shock and the protests when they heard he wouldn't be staying long after settling matters in the wizarding world.
Then of course, there was the time when he first walked openly amongst the Resistance. It was eerily like his Clone's memories of the first day at Hogwarts. The astonished whispers, the outright amazement on people's faces, but what really made his day was the young children; on one occasion a slew of them, ranging from five to nine years old came forward and politely asked if he was Harry Potter. He answered in truthfully, that yes, he was, and they all cheered and swamped him in a group hug, asking him if he was going to finally kill You-Know-Who and in the same breath begged him to tell them a story. And he happily complied. He considered this good practice, with Apollonia soon to give birth to his own children.
The meeting with the Council of Races followed the next day.
The Council held session in a room adjacent to the 'War room'. On one side was a C shaped desk that each had a chair for the chief wizard, goblin, vampire and house-elf that were seated in them; in the case of the goblin and house-elf the chairs were extra tall. There were a few rows of seats at the other end of the room for anyone who was summoned to appear before the Council and any witnesses that were required for the sessions as needed.
In this case, only Harry was to appear before the Council in a closed session.
Albus Dumbledore, Ragnarok the Goblin Chief of Clans, Count Vlad Drakul of the Vampire Nation in Exile and Tigby the Eldest House-elf all sat arrayed before Harry.
"I think we can begin?" said Albus, staring at the others lightly, who only nodded in return. "Well, we have assembled here today to consider a course of action that will hopefully see a final end to this war and hopefully bring freedom from terror and persecution for all magical beings on the British Isles."
"You all know of Harry Potter, and his return to us is in front of your eyes, and you have heard the rumors flying about since he was brought into the Hospital Wing yesterday. What you don't know is that Harry has been working in secret amongst us for over a month."
"So he is the impetus for all the recent surge in Auror activity," said Ragnarok with a satisfied calculating grin on his leathery face; which immediately faded into a rare look of respect when his eyes settled upon Harry.
"Indeed," said Albus, "it was he who removed the Curse from my person, it was he who placed the Healing Device in the Hospital Wing, which has saved numerous lives since. He has gone on numerous missions with Hermione Granger and Neville Longbottom in support of Resistance activities. It was he who originated the final plan that will be the demise of Voldemort and his supporters, a plan that will be explained fully in this meeting. We have assembled to consider this plan and whether it is plausible to commit all our resources to achieve it or perhaps to consider more ideas to improve upon it."
"And what if we disagree with the whole thing?" said Count Drakul in an extremely cultured and refine tone of voice that had a seductive silkyness to it as well. If a non-magical person had been in the room, they would've been instantly in the Thrall of the Count and rather willingly offered their neck for him.
"Harry would accept that and ask us to table a better plan that would suit us," said Albus confidently.
"Indeed," said the Count, arching an eyebrow at Albus.
"Very well," said Ragnarok, "let's hear it."
"Harry, the floor is yours," prompted Albus.
"Thank you," nodded Harry, leaning slightly on his staff that was clutched in his right hand. "Just a day ago a significant advance was made into engineering the demise of Voldemort, whom I shall address as Riddle from hereafter. For a long time, this secret, the secret of Riddle's apparent immortality, has been kept from the Resistance as a whole. No longer. For it's really a moot point now."
"What are you saying?" said the Count with interest; for a long time this subject had been debated amongst the vampires, of how Voldemort seemed to be immune to a mortal death. The issue was what had led a lot of the vampire covens to side with Voldemort, because he had seemingly achieved immortality without becoming undead, and as result had none of the weaknesses associated with vampirism.
"Riddle achieved his 'apparent' immortality by splitting his soul and creating a Horcrux, a vessel to contain and protect a portion of soul…and with it earthbound and safe, he could not die a normal death. He was reduced to a specter, a formless wraith when the Killing Curse he fired at me rebounded on him. But this was not all, he went further than any other wizard who had created a Horcrux, he made not one, but six of them, with the seventh piece residing in his current body."
"Really? Is that what he did?" said the Count looking angry, disgusted and unimpressed in quick order. "He entrusted his soul to bunch of enchanted trinkets?"
"Yes," said Harry earnestly, "and yesterday, the fifth Horcrux was destroyed."
"What of the sixth?" asked Ragnarok gruffly.
"Riddle always keeps it close to him, it's his familiar, the snake Nagini, so there is no point in waiting to launch our endgame," answered Harry.
"And this endgame is?" asked the Count lightly.
"To launch an attack on Hogwarts," said Harry and immediately raised his hand to forestall any protests. "I have a sure way in past the wards, they won't even bother us."
"You have found something Harry?" asked Albus, looking pleased.
"Indeed," nodded Harry, "we will approach through the Forbidden Forest and enter through the tunnel Salazar Slytherin built for his pet Basilisk to leave the Chamber of Secrets for a meal every once in a while."
"Surely there are wards that extend to this tunnel as well," opinioned Ragnarok.
"There are," confirmed Harry, "but I've had access to certain…research notes from the Founding, and since I am a Parselmouth I am nearly a hundred percent sure that the wards in the tunnel will open."
"How many do you wish to commit to this battle?" asked Albus evenly.
"Three quarters of the Aurors, enough vampires to counter those inside the castle, a squadron of goblins, and all the former Hogwarts house-elves."
Count Drakul whistled in appreciation and settled back into his chair, his fingers tented under his pale chin.
"You realize that we will lose our neutral position and as such, many of our Intelligence sources will be compromised," said Ragnarok gravely.
"I understand," nodded Harry, "but unless you have the location of Riddle himself…intelligence on Death Eaters will not help us in the coming battle. And the only way I'm going to find Riddle is to allow him to come to me; which should not be long after we retake Hogwarts." Harry remained silent at this point awaiting the opinion of the others.
"Your strategic plan is sound at least," said Count Drakul eventually. All eyes turned to Ragnarok.
"I'm rather hesitant to endorse a course of action that will cause Gringotts a great many headaches in the future," said the Goblin Chief with a gruff sigh, "but it seems that we no choice to accept those future ails if we want to regain long term profit. We accept the plan of the Ancient One."
"Three quarters of the Aurors, Harry?" asked Albus with raised eyebrows.
"We need numerical superiority, Albus," said Harry. "Nearly all of the casualties amongst the Order of the Phoenix in the first war were because the Death Eaters had numerical superiority. I think it's time we give them a taste of how that feels." Albus bowed his head and nodded.
"Very well, I accept," he said. Harry turned his head towards Tigby, the elf only nodded in agreement, looking very serious; probably because he was a Hogwarts house-elf himself and anything that would reclaim his home from dark wizards he would support.
"Thank you," nodded Harry in relief. "Within a week, Hogwarts will be reclaimed…or we fall."