Harry Potter and the Golden Legacy

Posted originally on the Archive of Our Own at http://archiveofourown.org/works/58435456.

Rating: Mature
Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Categories: F/M, Multi
Fandoms: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Hogwarts Legacy (Video Game)
Relationship: Harry/Multi
Characters: Harry Potter, Original Goblin Character(s), Percival Rackham, Charles
Rookwood, Original Male Character(s)
Additional Tags: Alchemy, Magically Powerful Harry Potter, Powerful Harry Potter,
Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, BAMF Gringotts Goblins (Harry
Potter), Harry Potter is Lord of Multiple Noble Houses, Slytherin Harry
Potter, Good Slytherins, Ron Weasley Bashing, Molly Weasley Bashing,
Misguided Albus Dumbledore, Parental Sirius Black, Harry Potter Gets
the Love He Deserves, Harry Potter Gets a Hug, Dark Harry Potter, How
Do I Tag
Language: English
Stats: Published: 2024-08-25 Updated: 2024-11-03 Words: 43,368 Chapters:
48/?
 Harry Potter and the Golden Legacy
by Quetzalcoatl101

Summary

After waking up in the infirmary, Harry Potter remembers his traumatic confrontation with
his parent's murders in a bid to protect the Philosopher's Stone. Then, a strange letter sets him
on a path he never would have expected. As Harry is awakened to both an ancient legacy and
alchemical abilities he somehow understands, he must come to grips with both his newfound
power and his own life as he tries to make it to the other side alive.

Notes

Howdy! To those who read this, this is my first fic. This was not edited by others, so if you
find anything that doesn't make sense, just comment down below. I already have the story
mapped out, so plot-wise things won't change. However grammar is always something that
can be improved.
 I

Harry felt horrible, it felt as if his entire body was on fire, yet cold at the same time. As he
woke up in the infirmary, he opened his eyes and noticed the sunlight filtering in. He looked
around and saw a small cart filled with cards and sweets. ‘What are these for’ he thought.
Then his memories came rushing back to him as if a dam had broken.

The corridor, the trials, and worst of all, Him .

==================================================================
========================

He remembered as he and his classmates Blaise Zabini and Theodore Nott, breached the
locked door on the third floor corridor. They had stumbled upon the corridor after trying to
save Neville, a Hufflepuff in their year, after he was goaded into a stupid duel by Ronald
Weasely in the trophy room past curfew.

The Slytherin trio had dragged Neville away and hid in the locked room on the floor as
Weasely was caught by Filch. Their joy was short lived however as they heard three distinct
growls behind them. The guard dog, a massive cerberus, that they later learned was named
Fluffy was the start of their mad adventure.

Then, on Halloween, the four boys noticed Professor Snape was wounded, his leg bleeding as
if something had taken a bite out of it. The boys determined something was in the corridor
worth protecting if Snape had to endure Fluffy's wrath to check if it was safe. Granted, that
wasn’t their first concern that night as Snape berated the four for taking on a mountain troll in
the girls bathroom. However, the look of gratitude on the face of Hermione Granger, a first
year Ravenclaw girl who had been crying in the bathroom, was worth it.

After the Halloween debacle, Hermione joined their little group and they pooled their
knowledge over the rest of the year. After many talks with Hagrid, the half-giant let slip
enough information. Nicholas Flamel had entrusted the Philosopher’s Stone with Headmaster
Dumbledore. They deduced that Professor Quirrell was acting strange their entire year after
learning that his stutter, signature purple turban, and irrational fear of vampires was new from
Terence Higgs, a third year Slytherin. Combined with the murders of the unicorns in the
Forbidden Forest, Harry believed they had him found out. He genuinely believed Quirrell
was dying after some horrendous encounter with vampires on his sabbatical that summer, and
he was desperate enough to drink unicorn blood and brave the corridor to steal the
Philosopher’s Stone to save his life.

Harry desperately wished he had been right.

The previous night the group made their way down the corridor, past a sleeping Fluffy was a
pit full of Devil’s Snare. Neville had proved instrumental as he coached everyone on how to
get past the plant. Blaise used an advanced charm, Accio , to catch the key in the next room,
while Theodore helped everyone win the lifesize chess match. Hermione had solved the
potions riddle and Harry had passed through the fire to go ahead and try to dissuade and stall
Professor Quirrell while everyone else got help.

But it wasn’t Quirrell in the next room, the old Muggle Studies professor was long gone,
instead, Harry was face to face with Him .

He revealed himself in front of the Mirror of Erised, the murderer of his parents, the reason
he was forced to live at the Dursley’s, the reason he was alone. After being forced to look in
the mirror, the Stone was magically placed in his pocket, and when he refused to hand it over,
He made Quirrell’s body attack him. Harry felt cold dead hands around his throat as the life
was being choked out of his body, but watched in horror and amazement as Quirrell’s body
disintegrated before his eyes. Harry had run to grab the Stone, and even though he tripped as
He puppeteered Quirrell’s body after him, he had it. Stone in hand he looked back and saw
Quirrell’s body reduced to dust, but He was there, a floating, living shadow. With a horrific,
inhuman scream He charged straight at him.

The last thing Harry remembered was excruciating pain as the shadow collided with him.

What Harry didn’t remember was the Stone dissolving in his hand as wisps of blue magic
spiraled around him.

==================================================================
========================
As the pain faded, Harry looked at the cart and began to read some of the cards. Pansy
Parkinson had sent a floral card decorated with hearts and signed Get Well Soon! Love, Pansy
and included a chocolate frog. Daphne Greengrass had also sent a card, although hers was
predictably more reserved and polite. Lavender Brown, despite being in Gryffindor, also sent
him a card with a box of Every Flavor Beans. Beside a plate of treacle tart was a massive
card signed by Hermione, Neville, Theodore and Blaise. Nearly all of his Slytherin year
mates, even Draco Malfoy , sent him some form of well wishes.

He was starting to get overwhelmed, he had never been given anything for free before the
Cloak at Christmas, and he began to panic like he did over the holidays. He was paralyzed as
he wracked his brain to deduce the hidden clauses and false promises. ‘Everything has a
price, everything’ he thought. However, he wasn’t thinking for long as a snowy white missile
collided with him.

“Hedwig! What are you doing here girl?” He exclaimed as he began to pet the snowy owl, a
gift from Hagrid, the only gift he had ever received without fear of restitution. His first true
friend. After a full minute of cuddling, Harry noticed a letter tied to Hedwig’s leg. As he
untied the letter, he looked at the symbol on the parchment, and the wax seal, ‘Gringotts? I
never knew the Goblins sent letters, but what do they want with me?’

Harry began to panic as he thought of every single thing he had done when he visited the
Goblins with Hagrid. He feared he had insulted them somehow if they were willing to contact
him for breaking some obscure law that deserved punishment. He didn’t notice as his finger
accidentally brushed the seal on the letter. The seal began to glow a faint blue, and Harry’s
world began to spin as he felt a harsh pull behind his navel.
 II
Chapter Notes

After reading a comment (or rather Google Translate, sorry, I can't read Portuguese) I've
decided to release some more chapters. Overall my chapters aren't long. I am of the
belief that shorter chapters make for a more digestible story. I find long chapters
oftentimes "lose the plot" if not written extremely well. I do not consider myself a good
enough writer to write long chapters well, so here's a bunch of shorter chapters. I'll try
and post twice a week, Saturday and Wednesday, and see how it goes.

Rannok, a goblin of some renown, stood in a secure private entrance underneath Gringotts
Wizarding Bank. Beside him was one of the Goblin Healer’s, Lifka and a Goblin Curse-
Breaker, Morgnob. He was told to wait here in a letter given to him by the Goblin Nation on
the behalf of a personal friend, a wizard who was also a good friend to his late father,
Lodgok. At the reading of the wizard’s will in 1932, he left a number of letters to the Goblin
Nation, each with a specific set of instructions to be carried out.

Normally such a request, especially by a wizard, would be laughed at. However, this
particular wizard, Jacob Lestrange Rookwood, was not only declared a Friend of the Goblin
Nation by King Helmud the Cunning himself, but was both a unique and powerful wizard in
his own right. His defeat of Rannok’s mad uncle, Ranrok, required him to utilize a rare and
powerful magic. This, combined with his impressive divination skills, led to these letters
being trusted implicitly once their veracity was confirmed.

One such letter, slated to be opened in 1990 and addressed to Rannok, told him to go to the
household of a wizarding family, the Lovegoods, and simply visit them. He distinctly
remembers being greeted at the door by Xenophilius Lovegood. Seconds later, his wife,
Pandora, entered from another room. Said room exploded nearly 5 seconds later, and while
there was damage to the property, nobody was harmed.

Another letter, slated to be opened in January of 1975 and addressed to the King, told him to
have the Goblin Nation invest in a non-magical company called “Microsoft”, which would be
founded that year on April 4th. This investment yielded nearly a billion Galleons in profit for
the Nation. A second letter addressed to the King in January of 1976 had the King invest in a
second company, called “Apple”, which would be founded that year on April 1st. This
investment yielded nearly 2 billion Galleons in profit by the next year alone.
It was safe to say that when a goblin received a letter addressed to them by Jacob Lestrange
Rookwood, they followed its contents religiously.

Rannok was told to wait in a secure private entrance underneath Gringotts alongside Lifka
and Morgnob on June 7th, 1992. A client of some importance would arrive at 10:00 A.M. via
a portkey. Said client would require a Magical Heritage Test from Rannok, a full cleansing
and healing by Lifka, and a “special service” from Morgnob. This client would arrive with a
letter addressed to them bearing Gringott’s seal. This letter was to be read by said client after
arrival. Then a section of that letter written in Runnak would be read by the goblins present.
After the letter was read by all parties, the heritage test would commence. After the
discussion of the test with the client was complete, the client would undergo a healing and
cleansing. Finally the “special service” would commence. What the “special service” actually
is was not stated. Apparently Morgnob was “supposed to know what to do.”

What confused Rannok was his presence in particular. Lifka and Morgnob provided more
common services to Wizards. He was the Potter Account Manager. He had been managing
the account to the best of his ability since the death of James Potter. Given the lack of
communication from James’ son, Harry Potter, and his Magical Guardian, he had little to do
for nearly 10 years. He had sent multiple letters through the official channels, but each and
every one was returned by the bird that carried it. He had suspected some foul play at work.
This was all but confirmed when Griphook, the now dead traitorous bastard, took Harry
Potter to his trust vault and did not inform Rannok of his presence in the Bank. Upon
interrogation, the Nation learned that Griphook was bribed by Albus Dumbeldore to keep Mr.
Potter away from Rannok, and to leave the boy in the dark regarding his inheritance until he
returned with the boy himself.

After Griphook’s execution, Rannok deduced that the meddling old goat had created a mail
ward to stop the Bank from contacting Mr. Potter. To remedy this he planned to have Mr.
Potter brought to his office immediately upon the boy’s next entry into the Bank, regardless
of who accompanied him. But that was nearly a year ago, and now he was standing here with
two other goblins with no idea of who he was supposed to meet and test. Normally he was
left to his own devices, as he only served the Ancient and Noble House of Potter. But when
the letter asked for him in particular, he couldn’t exactly refuse.

Then, as the clock struck 10:00 A.M. exactly, a portkey deposited the client into the room.
Rannok and the other goblins looked over and saw a young boy in a small patient’s gown
sitting on the floor with a snowy white owl.
‘A boy? Our mystery client is a child?’ Rannok thought as he began to examine the client.
Messy black hair and vibrant green eyes sat behind a pair of thick round glasses. His eyes
widened in realization when he saw a red lighting bolt scar on the boy’s forehead.

The client and the goblins stared at one another for a few seconds. The boy began to look
around and the telltale signs of a panic attack began to form. Rannok cleared his throat,
breaking the silence. He smiled to try to ease the boy’s growing panic and began to speak,
“My name is Rannok, next to me are Healer Lifka and Curse-Breaker Morgnob. I am your
account manager Mr. Potter, and I am pleased to finally meet you.”
 III

Harry felt as if his entire body was being twisted, pulled, and then summarily shoved through
a funnel as the world around him spun at impossible speeds. Then, as quick as it came, it
disappeared as his butt hit the floor. In front of him were three goblins, one of which looked
like a girl. ‘I didn’t know there were female goblins’ he thought. ‘However, I suppose
everyone has a mo - ‘ Harry froze when realized that he was no longer in the infirmary. He
began to panic and look around for exits when one of the male goblins cleared his throat and
smiled at him. “My name is Rannok, next to me are Healer Lifka and Curse-Breaker
Morgnob. I am your account manager Mr. Potter, and I am pleased to finally meet you.”

The now identified Rannok then offered his hand to him. Harry began to panic, but clamped
down hard on his emotions. ‘I can’t lose control, I can’t panic, I need to be calm’ he told
himself. He took a deep breath before he took the goblin’s hand and stood up, “Where am I?
How did I get here? What do you mean when you say you’re my account manager?” Harry
asked.

He then noticed that he was in some sort of lobby. After a short walk, Rannok led them to a
small parlor. The parlor’s floor was covered in a black and gold rug, there was a round table
off to one side with two chairs. A desk with two chairs on either side was against the wall
filled with strange items and parchment. The walls were decorated with mosaics and
tapestries of goblins in gleaming silver fighting all manner of beasts and creatures. Despite
the situation, Harry's eyes were wide with wonder as he took in the beautiful and cozy room.

“How about we take a seat Mr. Potter, we have a lot we need to go over with you.” Rannok
said as he motioned for Harry to sit in front of the desk. Harry carefully made his way to sit
down in the offered chair as the goblins took their seats. Rannok took the seat behind the
desk while the other two goblins, whom Harry deduced were Lifka and Morgnob, sat at the
table. Once everyone was seated, Hedwig flew up to Harry’s shoulder, nibbled his ear and
sat, seemingly content.

“To answer your questions, we are currently underneath Gringotts Wizarding Bank located at
the end of Diagon Alley. The letter in your hand was charmed to be a portkey, a magical
means of travel. It is what brought you here. I am your Account Manager, that means I help
manage your vaults and your property. We are all here due to a letter we had received. This
letter instructed us to meet you here. We were told you had received a letter as well.” Rannok
stated as he looked at Harry’s hand. Harry looked as well and noticed he still held the letter
he had received a few minutes ago in the infirmary. He placed the letter on the desk and then
asked, “What do you mean a letter told you to meet me here? Am I in trouble?”
“No Mr. Potter, you are not in any sort of trouble.” Rannok said. “We three,” he gestured to
himself and the other two goblins, “were given a letter that told us to meet in this room,
today, at 10:00 A.M. This letter also told us to prepare some services for a client who would
arrive.”

“And I am your client?” Harry asked.

“Yes, Mr. Potter, you are. We were also told to let you read your letter, which would have a
section addressed to you, and then to read a section of it addressed to ourselves.” As Rannok
finished speaking, he reached into a drawer in the desk and pulled out an ornate letter opener.
He passed it across the desk to Harry.

Taking the opener, Harry broke the seal. ‘Here goes nothing’ he thought and began to read
the ink on the page.

Harry Potter,

You’re probably more than a bit confused, so I’ll keep it simple and brief. My name is Jacob
Lestrange Rookwood. I am (was from your point of view) a wizard and was born in 1874. I
will pass away in 1932. I know this because I possess many magical gifts, including one
called divination. It means I can see the future. While it’s not a precise art, I was able to see
very accurate glimpses of the future. In short, I saw you Harry, and I am here to offer some
guidance.

I know that you don’t have the best home life, and I know that you go to Hogwarts. You are
like me, we were both sorted into Slytherin. You also possess the same gift that I do,
something that will be explained to you later. However, what you need to know is that this gift
has saved your life multiple times. Due to your… circumstances, your magic has been
keeping you healthy. However, three days ago your magic acted of its own accord and used
Nicholas Flamel’s Philosopher’s Stone to save your life.

The goblins will be able to explain it better, but you’re special Harry, you possess many
unique gifts that no one else will ever possess. I know it won’t make much sense now, but
after you’re done with the goblins, you’ll meet some people who will help you learn and
control these gifts.

Best of Luck,

Jacob Lestrange Rookwood

P.S. Hand this to the Rannok once you’re done, the next bit is in Runnak, the goblin language,
and you won’t be able to read it.

P.S.S. Don’t worry about Nicholas Flamel, the Stone that saved you was his best, but it’s not
his only one.
 IV

Once Harry had finished reading the letter, he passed it to Rannok, who began to read the
strange glyphs that were beneath the message addressed to him. Harry then began to organize
what he had learned.

This Jacob Lestrange Rookwood person was dead, and yet he was able to predict the future,
his future. Apparently he possessed a gift that they both share, and said gift was keeping him
alive. ‘Now that I think about it, magic keeping me healthy makes some sense.’ He thought.
There were many times where Uncle Vernon had disciplined him, and the bruises were
always fine after a few hours. Small cuts and scrapes would always heal quickly when he got
them. What he wasn’t sure about is if this gift also let him talk to snakes. Whenever he told
Aunt Petunia that he could talk to snakes, she had disciplined him and told him to ‘keep his
freakish imagination to himself.’

The sound of paper hitting the desk startled Harry out of his thoughts as he saw Rannok put
the letter on the desk. He smiled at him before he got up and handed the letter to Lifka and
Morgnob. The pair of goblins took the letter and then left the room. Rannok then turned to
him, “Now then Mr. Potter, now that that’s out of the way, we can get onto why we are here
today.”

The goblin then grabbed four of the strange items on the desk and placed them in front of
him. A silver bowl sat between a strange blue potion and a piece of parchment. On top of the
parchment he placed a silver needle. With everything seemingly in order, he spoke, “The
letter said that you would require a Magical Heritage Test, do you know what that is?”

“No sir.” Harry responded. “Why do I need a Magical Heritage Test?”

“The test is used by the Bank to determine who somebody is, what lordships they possess,
and what vaults and properties belong to them. It also provides a list of magical abilities and
ailments.”

“I don’t know what some of that means sir.” Harry said. Rannok pursed his lips, “That’s quite
alright Mr. Potter, I can go over any questions and explain them to you once you are finished
reading. Would you like to begin?”
Seeing no harm in doing the test, Harry nodded his head. Rannok then proceeded to pour the
blue potion into the silver bowl. He then handed him the silver needle and began to speak,
“Now, I need you to prick your finger with this needle and let seven drops of blood fall into
the bowl. The needle is enchanted so the wound will heal completely after 1 minute.”

Harry hesitated as he held the needle. Seeing this, Rannok continued, “Goblins take theft
very seriously. As such we use blood to determine who a person is. A person's blood always
carries a little bit of their magic in it. Using blood, we can always find out who someone is no
matter what they do to try and fool us.”

Satisfied with the answer, Harry pricked his finger, but dropped the needle in shock once he
did.

He was bleeding gold!

Both Harry and Rannok watched in awe as the blood that flowed from the small wound was
not red, but an opaque, gleaming gold. Harry was the first to speak. “This isn’t supposed to
happen is it?”

Rannok, still focusing on the blood, replied, “I can assure you Mr. Potter that this is what you
might call unusual . However, I do not see how it would affect the results of the test.”

After wiping his finger on his gown, Harry proceeded to hold his finger over the bowl and let
seven drops fall. As he watched the potion slowly turn from blue to gold. Rannok frowned
slightly but shrugged it off, Harry assumed the potion was supposed to turn red, the color of
normal blood.

Rannok picked up the needle and placed it off to the side. Once the potion was completely
gold, he picked up the parchment and placed it into the bowl. It began to absorb the potion
and Harry watched in amazement as golden letters began to dot the page.
Rannok then grabbed the parchment and began to read it. His eyes widened at a few parts,
especially at the end where he was scowling, but he remained deathly silent. After he was
done reading, he handed it to him so that he could read it.
 V

MAGICAL HERITAGE TEST

JUNE 7th 1992

Hadrian James Potter

Pureblood

July 31st, 1980

691 years

Father

James Charlus Potter

Pureblood

March 27th 1960 - October 31st 1981

21 years

Deceased

Mother

Lilian Vinda Potter née Evans

Pureblood (Squib Descendent)

January 30th 1960 - October 31st 1981

21 years

Deceased
 Godfather

Sirius Orion Black

Pureblood

November 3rd 1959

33 years

Alive

Indisposed via Unlawful Incarceration

Godmother

Alice Eliza Longbottom née Fawley

Pureblood

June 21st 1961

31 years

Alive

Indisposed via Clinical Incarceration

Titles

Paternal

Lord of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Peverell

Primogeniture
 Lord of the Ancient and Noble House of Potter

Primogeniture

Maternal

Lord of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Slytherin

Primogeniture

Contested by Tom Marvolo Riddle

Proved via Right of Conquest

Lord of the Ancient and Noble House of Gaunt

Primogeniture

Contested by Tom Marvolo Riddle

Proved via Right of Conquest

Lord of the Ancient and Noble House of Rosier

Primogeniture

Last Living Member

Lord of the Noble House of Sayre

Primogeniture

Last Living Member

Head of the House of Grindelwald

Primogeniture
 Last Eligible Member

Other

Lord of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Lestrange

Lex Conditionalis set by the Will of Jacob Lestrange

Lord of the Ancient of Noble House of Rookwood

Lex Conditionalis set by the Will of Jacob Lestrange

Heir of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black

Named Heir by Sirius Orion Black

Vaults

Peverell Family Vault

2,390,451 Galleons

4,576,232 Sickles

387,429 Knuts

All assorted magical and non-magical artifacts

Potter Family Vault

1,243,521 Galleons

288,432 Sickles

100,592 Knuts

All assorted magical and non-magical artifacts

 Potter Trust Vault

50,000 Galleons

To be refilled at the end of each year

All lower denomination coins to be transferred to Family Vault every year

Withdrawals monitored by current Lord Potter

Slytherin Family Vault

10,468,922 Galleons

5,385,182 Sickles

500,467 Knuts

All assorted magical and non-magical artifacts

Gaunt Family Vault

0 Galleons

23 Sickles

152 Knuts

All assorted magical and non-magical artifacts

Rosier Family Vault

542,802 Galleons

300,436 Sickles

123,987 Knuts

All assorted magical and non-magical artifacts

Sayre Family Vault

 174 Galleons

1,354 Sickles

5 Knuts

Gellert Grindelwald’s Personal Vault

1,541,200 Galleons

239,000 Sickles

43,567 Knuts

All assorted magical and non-magical artifacts

Access granted due to being Head of House

Lestrange Family Vault

7,784,128 Galleons

9,694,201 Sickles

1,385,400 Knuts

All assorted magical and non-magical artifacts

Rookwood Family Vault

800,143 Galleons

600,254 Sickles

1,456 Knuts

All assorted magical and non-magical artifacts

Black Family Heir Vault

150,000 Galleons

To be refilled at the end of each year

 All lower denomination coins to be transferred to Family Vault every year

Withdrawals monitored by current Lord Black

Vault 12

Contents Unknown

Properties

Peverell Castle - Italian Alps - Dilapidated

Potter Manor - Cheshire - Destroyed and Dilapidated

Potter Cottage - Godric’s Hollow - Destroyed and Dilapidated

Hogwarts Castle - Hogwarts Valley - ¼ Ownership, Residence of Hogwarts School of

Witchcraft and Wizardry

Gaunt Shack - Little Hangleton - Dilapidated, Illegal Wards placed by Tom Marvolo Riddle

Rosier Manor - Norfolk - Abandoned

Nurmengard Castle - Austria - Illegally seized by ICW, currently used to imprison for Gellert
Adrian Grindelwald

Lestrange Manor - Isle of Wight - Uninhabited

 Rookwood Castle - Feldcroft - Dilapidated

Rackham House - Scottish Highlands - Uninhabited

Magical Heritage

Magical Core:

Dark

Parseltongue

Parselmagic

Non-Verbal Proficiency

Elemental Magic Proficiency

Magical Hyperpolyglot

English

French

German

Russian

Spanish

Portuguese

Mandarin

Japanese
 Korean

Arabic

Hindi

Italian

Blessed by the Ancient Magic

Unknown Magical Condition

Effects:

Magical Core Increased

Eternal Youth: Extent Unknown

Regeneration

Alchemical Conduit

Alchemical Intuition

Magical Intuition

Magical Blood:

Contains massive amounts of gold

Contains significant amounts of iron, silver, tin, copper, lead, mercury, bismuth, antimony,
platinum, titanium, cobalt

Healing properties: Potency Unknown

Magical Ailments

Degrading Core Block - Active - 85%

Placed by A.P.W.B.D on October 31st 1981

Block expected to decay to 0% by January 1st 1998

 Curse of Perpetually Untamable Hair - Active - Hereditary

Placed on James Charlus Potter by Severus Julius Snape on November 5th 1972

Passed on to Hadrian James Potter on July 31st 1980

Horcrux - Attached to Magical Core

Created by Tom Marvolo Riddle on October 31st 1981

 VI

Harry put down the parchment and quickly reviewed everything he read. He had a few
questions, but he felt he got the gist of it.

“Now that you’ve read your Test, do you have any questions Mr. Potter?” Rannok said.

“I do, sir.” Harry replied. “What does it mean when it says I’m 691 years old? It also says I’m
a pureblood. Did I do the test wrong?” He asked.

“No Mr. Potter, you did not do the test wrong.” Rannok answered. “Your blood status is
because your mother was descended from two squibs. She was a pureblood because your
maternal grandparents were squibs from pureblood families. As for your age, that is slightly
more complicated. I will come back to that at the end.”

Rannok’s words felt like taking two steps forward and one step back. Harry spoke, “If that’s
what you think is best sir, it says my godparents are both indisposed. I understand why my
godmother isn’t available, but what about my godfather.”

Harry knew what had happened to Alice Longbottom. Neville had told him at Christmas
when he stayed behind with Harry after his grandmother had “urgent business” to attend to.
She was tortured along with Neville’s father into insanity and was stuck at St. Mungo’s. He
didn’t know who this Sirius Black was though.

“Your godfather is Sirius Orion Black. He was assumed to have betrayed your family and
was imprisoned in Azkaban. However, given Magic does not lie, it seems there is more to the
story.” Rannok said. “Unlawful Incarceration means that either he was innocent and
imprisoned unjustly, or he was never given a trial. It’s possible both are true as he is still the
current Heir Black.”

“Current Heir Black?” Harry asked. “Yes, the last Lord Black was Arcturus Sirius Black III.
His heir is your godfather, and you are your godfather’s heir.” Rannok replied. “Given he is
currently unlawfully imprisoned, your Godfather is still considered an Heir as he has not
claimed his Lordship. The Bank will do whatever it can to see that rectified. After all, an
imprisoned man cannot spend his gold.”

Harry nodded. He had magical family members that were still alive, but he put that thought
away for now and asked his next question. “It says here what the Lordships of Gaunt and
Slytherin were contested? Why is that? And what about the Houses of Lestrange, Rookwood
and Grindelwald?”

Rannok replied, “Ah good questions, at the time of your birth, there was another individual
who laid claim to the Houses of Gaunt and Slytherin. His name was Tom Marvolo Riddle, or
as you Wizards would call him, ‘He Who Must Not be Named’, or Lord Voldemort.”
 VII

Harry felt as if his heart stopped beating. He began to breathe heavily as his mind flashed
back to that night. He began to hear his mother’s scream and saw a violent flash of green
light. His vision had begun to go dark as he felt two red eyes bore into him. He felt as if he
was being suffocated.

It all stopped when he was unceremoniously head butted by Hedwig. The owl glared at him
and then began to tussle his hair in an attempt to calm him down. He then heard Rannok
speak.

“My apologies Mr. Potter, I forget how Wizards react when they hear that . Considering what
happened, and the last item on the list, I should have known better.”

“It’s alright sir. But what do you mean about the last item? Is this Horcrux really that bad?”
Harry asked. However, the minute he said “Horcrux” Rannok tensed and grimaced, “Yes, Mr.
Potter, it is.” He said.

“But what is a Horcrux, and why is it bad?” Harry asked.

“A Horcrux, and the process of making one, is a vile thing and the most evil of all magic.”
Rannok said. “A Horcrux is a soul container, it holds one’s soul so they cannot truly die. Rest
assured you will be free of it by the end of today.”

Harry paled. But before he could say anything, Rannok spoke, “The faster we get through
your questions, the faster it will be removed Mr. Potter.”

“Ok.” Harry responded quietly. Rannok looked sad, but steeled his resolve and continued.

“Now, He was the other claimant for these titles. However, given your blood status, you
technically usurped these titles. Upon your coming of age, you would have been able to claim
the lordships without issue. However, when he attempted to kill you, and after you killed
him, you demonstrated your magical superiority. As such, you proved your claims through
battle, thus the Right of Conquest.”

“The House of Grindelwald is named such because it does not possess any seats in your
Ministry’s Wizengamot. However, it still has both money, property, and most importantly, a
vault at Gringotts. As such, it is considered a House by the Goblin Nation.”

“Now, the Houses of Lestrange and Rookwood are yours due to a Lex Conditionalis set by
Jacob Lestrange Rookwood in his will. The condition was worded as such: ‘Should any
member of the Houses of Lestrange or Rookwood attempt to ally themselves or swear fealty
to the murderer of the son of Charlus Fleamont Potter, they will forfeit all titles, vaults and
properties to his heir, so mote it be.’ This condition was set in 1932, 28 years before your
father was born, and 48 before you were born.” Rannok finished.

Harry nodded along with Rannok as he spoke, but his mind was elsewhere as he stared holes
into the floor. ‘It’s all my fault. I’m the reason he’s still here, I’m the reason he won’t die.’ He
thought.

He was startled when a hand was placed on his shoulder. Harry looked up and saw that
Rannok had moved from behind the desk. He was now in front of him and held his shoulder.

“Harry, I knew both your grandfather and your father.” He said. “Considering how much you
look like them, I know what you look like when you are blaming yourself for something you
have no control over. You are not responsible for what he did. His crimes and his survival are
not your fault. Let’s table this for now and resume it later. I have a feeling once you see Lifka
and Morgnob, you’ll be feeling much better without a piece of old Moldyshorts inside of
you.”

Harry laughed at the end and Rannok smiled. He snapped his fingers and the door to the
parlor swung open and Lifka returned to the room.

“Mr. Potter, I am Healer Lifka.” She said, “If you’ll follow me, Curse-Breaker Morgnob and
myself will have you right as rain.”
Harry nodded and got up out of the chair. He followed Lifka out of the room and down a well
lit stone corridor into a new room. It was made of black marble and had a large black slab in
the middle. Lifka snapped her fingers and his white patient’s gown Madam Pomfrey gave
him was replaced with a black and gold gown. She then grabbed a small vial and handed it to
him. “Drink this and lay down on the table.” She said, “You’ll be asleep while we work, it
won't take long.”

Harry sat down on the table and looked at the vial. After his own thorough examination of
holding it to the light and sniffing it, he drank the vial and lay down. Once his head was
resting on the table, he closed his eyes as sleep took him.
 VIII

Harry’s head was dizzy. As he opened his eyes, he squinted at the bright light. As he sat up
noticed he was in a different room. Instead of the black marble slab and room, he was on a
small bed with red sheets. The walls were decorated with mosaics of glittering stones and a
mirror sat against the wall. Then he noticed the door. The door had frosted glass and letters
on the other side. He could make the reverse words even if they were fuz…

He froze.

He could read the words, and he wasn't wearing his glasses.

He practically slammed his hand into his face as he confirmed he wasn’t wearing his glasses.
‘They fixed my eyesight!’ He screamed in his head. His joyous revelation was interrupted
when the door opened as Lifka and Morgnob entered, “Hello again Mr. Potter, you were
asleep for around 1 hour. While you were asleep,I was able to perform a full medical scan
and healed your injuries and ailments.” Lifka stated. Morgnob then spoke, “While you were
under, I also removed the Core Block, the hair curse, and the Horcrux. You should find your
magic much more powerful, and your head much clearer when He is mentioned.”

Harry nodded and smiled as he got out of the bed. He took a look at himself in the mirror and
his mouth dropped. The usual scrawny 4’8” 11 year old boy was not what he saw. Instead he
saw a 5’1” boy with curly, but neat, black hair that hit the top of his ears. His eyes weren’t
just their usual green and they now had a slight gold tint to them. He was still skinny, but not
as skinny as before. He also noticed that the scar on his forehead was gone.

With that he turned back to look at the goblins and saw Lifka holding a small piece of
parchment. “Please give this to Professor Severus Snape. This is a prescription for some
potions to get you back to full health. Despite your new condition, your body still needs a bit
of help getting back to proper shape.”

Harry was confused, but remembered Rannok mentioned something changed about him.
“What exactly is this condition?” He asked. Lifka motioned for him to sit down in a chair.
Once he was settled, she began to speak.
“Last night, you unknowingly tapped into something we call Ancient Magic. A powerful and
very rare form of magic. Your letter stated that this magic was responsible for saving your
life during your childhood. It saved your life once again, but it did something unexpected. It
took the Philosopher's Stone and fused it with your body.”

Fused? What do you mean” Harry asked. He always knew he healed a little faster than
normal, so some special magic being responsible made sense. But this made no sense at all.

“It means that your body is now unique. You possess new gifts and abilities. During the
diagnosis and after reviewing your Magical Heritage Test we managed to glean a basic
amount of information.” Lifka said. “For starters, your blood is now gold and is filled with
other metals. It also possesses miraculous, yet unknown, healing properties similar to that of
a unicorn. From what we understand, if you freely give your blood to someone, it will be able
to heal them of curses and ailments among other things.”

“What if someone tries to take my blood by force?” Harry asked worriedly. “I’m not sure.”
Lifka replied. “Let’s hope we never have to find out.” She said as Harry nodded. She then
continued, “You are also now effectively immortal. This means that you will age normally
until you are physically around 25 to 30 years old. Then you will likely stop aging. It may be
possible that your blood acts similarly to the Elixir of Life created by Nicholas Flamel, but
we do not know for sure. You also possess what we can only call ‘regeneration’ alongside
heightened cognitive abilities. Your body heals unnaturally fast, healing cuts in seconds and
broken bones in minutes. It also seems to transmute harmful substances within your body.
This means any poisons or other negative items that enter your system will be rendered inert
and harmless. The cognitive abilities seem to be related to some form of intuition and inborn
ability related to magic.”

Harry sat in the chair and slowly absorbed the information that was just dumped on him. ‘I
am immortal? Am I going to live forever? What does this mean if I get married or have kids?
Will I outlive everyone?’ He thought. However, his thoughts were interrupted again by the
door reopening. Rannok stepped through with two large rectangular boxes. He placed one of
the boxes on a table and opened the other. Within were 9 rings made of some sort of black
metal. A circle was on each ring and each held a different symbol. “These are your Lordship
rings.” He said. “Each one represents a House. Once you put it on, Magic will accept you as
the it’s rightful lord and grant you access to the Family Magics and provide you with
protection.”
Harry then asked, “What are Family Magics? And what do you mean by protection?”
Morgnob then said in a gravelly voice, “Family Magic is composed of residual magic from
generations of magical beings. Older the family, the stronger the magic. The more powerful a
member of the family is, the more powerful residual magic they leave behind. Any member
of a family can tap into the Family Magic to power their magic.” He said. “You already
possess some of the Potter Family Magic, but by wearing these rings, you will gain the
Family Magic of all the houses you possess.”

Harry nodded in understanding. Rannok then spoke, “Family Magic also controls access to a
Grimoire. Some families possess a Grimoire, or a book of ancestral knowledge. That can
only be opened by those who possess the Family Magic. As a lord, you cannot lose your
Family Magic, but you can take it away from those in your House that possess it, cutting
them off by banishing them from the House itself.”

“That makes sense.” Harry said, “But what about the protections they offer.”

“The lordship rings each offer protection from mental attacks and compulsions. Since you
will have nine rings, they will stack and layer their protections. Suffice it to say, your mind
will become impenetrable.” Rannok said.

“Can you explain mental attacks and compulsions to me?.” Harry asked. Morgnob slowly
answered, “Mental attacks are related to the Art of Legilimency. Legilimency refers to the
magical art of entering another’s mind and seeing their memories. The counter art to this is
called Occlumency. Occlumency allows someone to defend against Legilimency and to order
their mind, making it easier to remember and absorb information. Compulsions are caused by
various spells and potions. They force someone to act contrary to their normal behavior,
compromising their free will. While your rings will not be able to resist the Imperius Curse, it
will resist all manner of love potions and behavior altering charms and potions. The rings will
also be able to defend against Obliviation, the art of altering memories.”

Harry nodded as he understood what was being said. He was more shocked however that
Morgnob never even took a breath during that entire speech! Rannok then brought the rings
forward. “Put each ring onto your ring finger on your right hand, they will all combine into
one ring. Whenever you want to use a specific ring for letters, for accessing your vaults, or
for paying using a Gringotts Bank Slip, just think of the House you wish to use, and the sigil
will appear.” He said.
Harry then proceeded to put on each ring. He first grabbed the Potter ring, which had the
symbol of a dragon on it. As he put it on, he felt a warm tingle travel through his hand. He
then put on the Peverell ring, which had a triangle containing a bisected circle on it. He
watched as it merged with the Potter ring. Next he took the Slytherin and Gaunt rings, which
were decorated with an emerald “S” and “G” respectively. The Sayre ring did not have a
symbol, but the Rosier and Rookwood rings both had a stylized “R” on them. The Lestrange
ring was decorated with two mirrored “L’s” back to back while the Grindelwald ring was the
same, except with “G’s”.

Once all the rings had merged, Harry saw that the ring on his finger lacked a sigil. Like
Rannok had mentioned earlier, he thought of the Slytherin ring and watched as the ring
formed the emerald “S” right before his eyes. He then thought of the Potter ring and saw it
change again to a dragon. Rannok smiled as he used the ring. “Well, now that that is done, it
is my pleasure to meet you My Lord.” Rannok said with a hint of pride as he performed a
small bow.

Harry quickly thought back to the etiquette lessons Draco Malfoy forced every first year in
Slytherin to attend and bowed his head in response. Rannok then grabbed the second box and
opened it up. Inside was a key. This key however was special. Unlike his own vault key,
which he didn’t own for whatever reason, the back of the key was spiral shaped. “This is a
key to Vault 12.” Rannok said.

“Why do I need the key for Vault 12? Can’t I use my ring to open it?” Harry asked.

“That is because Vault 12 is special. It was set up by a wizard named Percival Rackham. It
was then passed to Jacob Lestrange, and now it has passed to you.” Rannok said. “The letter
you received instructed me to give you the key once you were finished here. It said that
within Vault 12 would not only be a way to return to Hogwarts, but also access to a new
property you now own. It said you may prefer to live there over the summer.”

Harry practically jumped out of his seat when he heard this. But his mood was dampened
when he remembered what Professor Snape had told him.

“I’m not sure if I can live anywhere other than the Dursleys.” Harry said defeated. “Professor
Snape said that the Headmaster, my Magical Guardian, said that I would have to remain at
the Dursley’s ‘for my continued safety.’” Rannok, however, smiled and replied, “Harry, you
are now a Lord . Lord Peverell Slytherin Lestrange Gaunt Rosier Rookwood Potter Sayre
Grindelwald to be precise. Due to your fusion with the Philosopher’s Stone, you are now 691
years old. This meant you were old enough to claim your titles. By proxy you are old enough
to be considered an adult by your Ministry and do not require a Magical Guardian.”

Harry was once again stunned. He was an adult? More importantly however, he realized he
wasn’t forced to live with the Dursleys anymore . “So I can live in any property I own?”
Harry asked Rannok, he wanted to be sure he was understanding this correctly.

“Yes Lord Potter, you can live anywhere you want. However the letter did mention you may
prefer Rackham House.” Rannok replied. “Now if you follow me, Lord Potter, we can get
you on your way.”

Rannok stood and beckoned for him to follow. With the note from Lifka in hand Rannok led
them back to the parlor. Hedwig was patiently sitting on the edge of the desk next to his
Magical Heritage Test. Rannok then snapped his fingers and a copy of the test appeared in his
hand, he then put it into an envelope. “I recommend you give this only to people you trust
completely.” He said. “For whatever reason, Albus Dumbledore, your Headmaster, put a
block on your Core. This can be used as evidence.”

“Evidence?” Harry asked. “Yes, evidence. What Dumbledore did is considered highly illegal
without proper medical reasoning in the Wizarding world.” Rannok replied.

Harry immediately quashed the rising panic, he did not want to think about how Dumbledore
had violated his magic as an infant. “I’ll keep it in mind sir.” He said.

Rannok then snapped his fingers as Harry’s black and gold patient gown was replaced with a
stylish black and gold robe, complete with a white button down shirt, gold tie, and black
dragonhide boots. “These clothes are for you.” He said with a smile, “Consider it a gift from
the Bank. After all, we can't let a Lord leave without being properly dressed.”

“Thank you sir.” He said. Rannok put his hand up, “Please, call me Rannok, I am now your
personal account manager. Speaking of, would you accept an appointment on July 5th to go
over your vaults?” He said.
“Then please call me Hadrian.” He replied. “And July 5th sounds wonderful.”

As they finished, Rannok led him out the door down the corridor as Hedwig flew onto his
shoulder. They made their way down to a minecart and traveled down a ways, eventually they
made their way towards a steel door that sat alone on a stone platform. Rannok then took the
key, placed it into the door and turned. The door opened itself and Harry was handed the key.
“I believe this is where we part ways, Hadiran. Should you ever need to contact me, simply
send me an owl.” Rannok said as he held out his hand. Harry took it and shook, “Thank you
for everything Rannok. I’ll see you again in one month.” He replied. “Within the box should
be two Portkeys, one will take you to the Hogwarts infirmary, and then return to Rackham
House. The other will take you to Rackham House when you say the word Soulum . Safe
travels Hadrian.” Rannok said as he stepped back and handed him the key.

With that Harry took the key and stepped into the vault and saw the box on a pedestal. As he
approached the box, the door to the vault closed and locked itself. Opening the box, he saw
two silver rods with labels next to them. One was labeled Rackham House and the other was
labeled Hogwarts Infirmary . Making sure he had the envelope with his test and the
prescription slip for Professor Snape, he pocketed the portkey to Rackham House and
grabbed the other as he felt a familiar pull behind his navel.
 IX

There are many people who would call Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore a well
composed man. This is often because people think he has a steady mind and a plan for when
things went awry.

Currently, Albus Dumbledore was not very well composed. His mind was in disarray and
nothing had gone according to plan this morning.

It was 10:00 A.M. on June 7th. He had just finished a very fine tea and was pondering what
to do. Like he’d hoped, Tom had taken the bait and tried to steal the Stone from the Mirror of
Erised. His plan was for Tom to enter the room and get trapped as the wards he put in place
activated locked down the room. He would then confront him and destroy him, giving
Quirinus’ soul peace. However, what he didn’t expect was for young Harry and his friends to
follow Tom through the trials. The minute he detected 5 people go past the Key Room Filius
set up, he hurried as fast as he could. He managed to find the other children, Nott, Zabini,
Longbottom, and Granger, if he remembered correctly, who told him what had happened and
what they were doing. He burst into the final room and saw Tom nowhere to be seen, a pile of
dust inside Quirinus’ old clothes, and young Harry unconscious on the ground.

He had immediately rushed the boy to Poppy and once he was stable, retired to his chambers.
He was honestly surprised and proud the boy had put up a fight against Tom. Despite the boy
not going to Gryffindor like his parents, he seemed to be a fine young man in the making. His
grades were impeccable, although he was a bit stunted socially. He still wondered if placing
Harry with Petunia was the best course of action. He was going to go down in about an hour
to speak with him to see how he was doing, and to enquire about the Stone.

As Albus was absorbed in his thoughts, Poppy burst into his office at 10:05 A.M. and
practically shouted at him that Harry had gone missing.

Albus assumed Harry had walked off on his own, he had noticed the boy greatly valued his
privacy. He calmly stood up and informed Poppy he would check the wards for where Harry
was. With a wave of the Elder Wand he examined the wards for Harry’s magical signature.

It wasn’t there .
Albus checked a second time, ‘Surely I had just missed it.’ He thought. Again, nothing
appeared. He began to panic as he checked a third and fourth time. He practically ran down
the stairs and sent a Patronus to summon Severus. Surely he knew where the boy was.

To his dismay Severus hadn’t seen the boy, he immediately sent a Patronus to Minny, Filius
and Pomona to begin to patrol the castle for Harry’s whereabouts. He didn’t want to cause a
scene, panic wouldn’t do anyone good, but he was worried.

While the professors were searching, Albus went with Pomona to the infirmary and began to
check for any residual magic. Pomona detected nothing and began to search elsewhere. He
however stayed behind. Pomona might not have detected anything, but he did. He checked
again and found it. A small trace of a portkey. He couldn't tell where its destination was, but
he did detect it, whisking Harry and a bird, likely his owl, away.

Albus was now starting to panic. Hogwarts’ wards were second to none, not only were they
enchanted by goblins, but he had reinforced them with the Elder Wand. For a portkey to
bypass the wards entirely as if they weren’t even there was terrifying . He began to perform a
more in depth magical scan to see who had enchanted the portkey. He was coming up with
nothing when he finally felt it. A faint wisp of magic. He latched onto it with the Elder Wand
and began to expand and identify it.

He froze .

He nearly dropped his wand. The magical signature was unfamiliar. Whoever created the
portkey had died, that much he could tell. However the magic itself is what troubled him. It
was old . He had only known one person who could use magic like this, but it was simply
impossible.

Albus Dumbledore practically fled from the infirmary as calmly as he could. Mind plagued
with thoughts of Gellert Grindelwald and the Ancient Magic he could wield.
 X

Harry managed to land on his feet this time round as he appeared in the center of the
infirmary. Hedwig flew off of his shoulder, returning to the owlery, he presumed. He then
began to walk towards the door when Madam Pomfrey saw him. “MR. POTTER WHERE
HAVE YOU BEEN!” She shouted as she barreled towards him. Harry instinctively flinched
and she suddenly stopped. As Harry looked back at her she was calmly walking up to him.
“My apologies for shouting Mr. Potter but you’ve been missing for nearly three hours.” She
said, “And what are you wearing?”

“Goblin clothes.” Harry replied quickly and quietly, staring at the floor. She looked at him
confused and seemingly decided not to question it. “Well at any rate at least you’re here, now,
I need you to go back to the infirmary, running off like that while injur-” “I’m not injured
anymore, in fact I feel better than ever, the goblins took care of me.” Harry replied a little
more strongly. He then watched as Madam Pomfrey waved her wand and smiled. “Well it
seems your ‘goblin’ friends did take good care of you.” She said, “Now Headmaster
Dumbledore did say he wanted to see you when we found you.”

Harry froze. Dumbledore wanted to see him. The same Dumbledore who placed a block on
his core. The same Dumbledore who placed him with the Dursleys. He couldn’t meet him.
Not now, not alone . So, he ran, he ran as fast as he could towards the dungeons. He didn’t
stop until he had made it to an abandoned classroom. Once inside he bolted up the small set
of stairs and into an old professor's office and slammed the door.

This was his room. He had found it the second day of classes and always went here whenever
it became too much. After a bad day of Gryffindor’s teasing him or after being around people
for too long he came here. He had set up and repaired the furniture as best as he could over
the year, but now he was just sitting against the door, on the verge of tears.

He didn’t know how long he sat there, but eventually he heard a small knock on the door. On
the other side he heard a familiar voice, “Harry, can I come in? The unlocking charm doesn’t
work, so I think only you can open the door.”

Harry was a little confused, he didn’t lock the door, maybe this had to do with him owning a
fourth of the castle? Either way he slowly got up and opened the door. On the other side was
Pansy Parkinson. The minute the door was open enough she barreled into him and pulled him
into a hug. This broke the dam as Harry finally began to cry. He didn’t know why, but he just
did.

They were like this for a while, Pansy holding him the whole time. Once he was done she led
them both towards the small sofa, sat him down, and then began to hold him close. “I was
worried about you.” She said, “You disappeared two nights ago and Blaise told me you were
stuck in the infirmary. When we went to see you this morning you weren’t there.”

“The goblins wanted to talk about my lordships. I didn’t have a choice.” He replied quietly.
“Lordships?” She asked. Harry pulled out the envelope and showed it to her, “You can read
it.” He said. She then pulled out his test and began to read.

Harry didn’t really know why he trusted Pansy. She was easily the biggest gossiper in their
year, rivaled only by Lavender Brown, but she was always nice to him. He had made a fuss
whenever she first hugged him or held him close, but he was eventually forced to concede.
He didn’t know why, all he knew was that he liked it, and frankly, if letting Pansy hold him
made her happy, he was happy to let her.

After a while Pansy gripped him tightly and began to cry. He didn’t really know what to do,
so he just stayed where he was, and kept her company just like she often did him.
 XI

Severus Snape was sitting in his office when he heard a knock at his door. “You may enter.”
He said in his usual monotone voice. He watched as Pansy Parkinson entered, and his eyes
widened slightly when she dragged in Harry Potter as well. The boy looked different, he was
taller and his hair wasn’t as messy, his eyes were also different. Harry Potter had been seen
by Madam Pomfrey nearly 2 hours ago, and then promptly vanished again. He had checked
both the main common room and the private ones for boys and the girls and had found
nothing. Both children looked like they had been crying when Pansy whispered something to
Harry. He then placed an envelope and a small slip on his desk. “Is that all Mr. Potter?” He
said. “If you’re finished here, the Headmaster-” he hadn’t even finished when he saw Harry
flinch. Pansy immediately hugged the boy and he saw something in the boy's eyes.

He saw fear . A primal and horrid fear he knew all too well. Something he never wished to
see in any child, no matter how idiotic the dunderheads were sometimes. “Ms. Parkinson,
please take Mr. Potter to the girl's private common room and keep him company.” She left
with the boy immediately. He then proceeded to lock his door and set up privacy wards.

Once he was sure he wouldn’t be disturbed, he grabbed the small slip. It looked to be a
prescription for multiple heavy duty nutrient potions when it suddenly transformed before his
eyes. The small slip expanded into a letter addressed to himself.

Severus Julius Snape,

My name is Healer Lifka, I am a goblin in the employ of Gringotts. Today I performed a

medical diagnosis on Hadrian James Potter, and what I found was disturbing. The boy’s
magic has been keeping him alive for the past eight years. In short, his magic absorbed the
Philosopher's Stone and alchemically and magically healed a lot of body. However, there
were still remnants of multiple broken bones, all improperly healed using accidental magic,
alongside two skull fractures accompanied by severe malnutrition. I can only assume the boy
has been abused and starved for his entire life before attending Hogwarts. The boy is, by the
grace of Magic and Fate, considered an adult and legally emancipated. He has the ability to
live at one of his many properties, but leaving his abusers will likely not be enough. I am
begging you to help the boy, he has been through a hell worse than that of Azkaban.

-Lifka
P.S. Should you hurt the boy in any way shape or form, they will never find your body.

Severus was stunned. He quickly hid the secret letter and immediately opened the envelope.
Within he found Harry’s Magical Heritage Test. He skimmed through most of it, he could
unpack Lily being a pureblood later, as most of it was Harry’s extensive list of properties and
money. When he got to the Magical Heritage section he was dumbfounded, but when he got
to the Magical Ailments section, he froze.

Degrading Core Block - 85%

Placed by A.P.W.B.D on October 31st 1981

Block expected to decay to 0% by January 1st 1998

Removed June 7th 1992 by Curse-Breaker Morgnob

Curse of Perpetually Untamable Hair - Active - Hereditary

Placed on James Charlus Potter by Severus Julius Snape on November 5th 1972

Passed on to Harry James Potter on July 31st 1980

Cleansed June 7th 1992 by Curse-Breaker Morgnob

Horcrux - Attached to Magical Core

Created by Tom Marvolo Riddle on October 31st 1981

Removed June 7th 1992 by Curse-Breaker Morgnob

Incinerated by Fiendfyre on June 7th 1992 by Curse-Breaker William Weasely

Severus put the test back into the envelope and slumped into his chair. He was supposed to
protect the boy, and he already failed. And worst of all he didn’t just have to protect him from
the Dark Lord, he now had to protect him from Dumbledore. He was at a loss as to what to
do when it hit him. He skimmed back up the test until he found it.
Hogwarts Castle - Hogwarts Valley - ¼ Ownership, Residence of Hogwarts School of
Witchcraft and Wizardry

He knew the castle obeyed its master. Through slight things like locking doors and opening
passageways, to more extreme measures. The fourth of the castle Harry owned was likely the
dungeons along with everything under the water line, everything built by Salazar Slytherin.
So long as Harry stayed within the underbelly of the castle, it would keep Dumbledore away
from him. Severus, now with a plan in mind, disabled the wards and unlocked his door. He
grabbed the envelope and began to make his way to Harry. After he talked with the boy, he
would need to have a chat with Lucius. There were some muggles he needed to visit.
 XII
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes

Harry was sitting on a plush sofa in the girl’s private common room. Pansy was holding onto
him like he was going to vanish if she didn’t. Daphne was sitting across from him on another
sofa combing her blonde hair while Tracey Davis was reading a book. Millicent Bulstrode
was not-so-subtly watching the door while Gemma Farley, the seventh year prefect, was
standing guard outside said door. All of a sudden the door opened and Gemma, alongside
Professor Snape, came into the room. “Thank you Ms. Farley. Ms. Bulstrode, Ms. Davis, Ms.
Greengrass, Ms. Parkinson, thank you for keeping Mr. Potter company. Please return to your
dorms, I need to speak privately with him.” He said. The girls all began to leave, but not
before Pansy squeezed his hand in reassurance. Professor Snape then sat down opposite him
and handed him his envelope and his wand. “I believe these belong to you.” He said.

As Harry took the envelope and his wand, he noticed that the wand felt wrong . It no longer
felt comfortable to hold, and had lost its warmth. Professor Snape noticed this and said “Mr.
Potter, when a wizard or witch receives a wand with a block placed upon their core, and then
has it removed, the wand usually rejects them as it never truly bonded with them. Please cast
a Lumos .” Harry held up his wand and said Lumos . He watched as the tip lit up. Then the
wand began to get warm, extremely warm. When the wood became too hot to touch he
dropped it on the floor and watched as the wand cracked and burst into flames. After a few
seconds the wood became ash as a red phoenix feather lay there, untouched by the flames.

“Was that supposed to happen Professor?” Harry said quietly, looking down at the floor. “No,
it was not.” Professor Snape replied. “It seems as if your magic rejected the wand and
overloaded it, destroying it in the process. However I do not know what it means if a core
survives, you will have to seek a wandmaker to learn the specifics.” Harry nodded solemnly.
“Despite what happened, I have some information to tell you.” Snape continued. “I wanted to
thank you for trusting me with this information. I will endeavor to help you in whatever way
I can. So long as you stay within the dungeons and the underbelly of Hogwarts, Dumbledore
will not be able to reach you if you don’t want him to. You own a fourth of the castle, and it
will protect you.”

“Is that why a door locked itself when I closed it earlier?” Harry asked. “That is likely. I
would also like to discuss your summer housing arrangements. I know you are, somehow,
legally an adult. I would however like to know where you plan to stay so I can mail you your
prescribed potions.” He said. Harry tensed, but relaxed when he realized that Professor Snape
wasn’t sending him back to the Dursley’s. “I plan to stay at Rackham House, sir.” He replied,
“But what about my wand? If my magic overloaded it, will I be able to use another wand or
will it overload too?”

Just then Hedwig flew into the room through an owl chute and dropped a letter on his lap. On
the front was some script “ About your Wand, JLR.” Harry quickly opened the letter and read
it.

Harry,

Don’t worry about your wand, I, along with someone you’ll meet at Rackham House, have
got it covered. You can trust him, he's a special portrait who helped me in the past. Rackham
House has access to the floo network, but only you and those you want can enter or leave the
house that way. Also, the Over-dramatic Dungeon Bat can read this letter.

Best of Luck,

Jacob Lestrange Rookwood

P.S. Your portkey to the house works anywhere and everywhere. I don’t recommend you leave
before the year is over, but you can if you want.

P.S.S. The Bat uses a spell to make his robes billow. I believe you just point at your robes and
say ‘Ventus Stola Dramatica.’

Harry giggled at the last part and handed it to Professor Snape, who read it and sighed. “Well,
it seems my secrets have been revealed.” He said sarcastically. “Also, I am granting you
permission to be excused from the End-of-Term Feast. Should you not wish to eat in the great
hall, you need simply to ask for a house elf to bring you some food.”

“Thank you sir.” Harry replied. With that, Professor Snape led him out of the girl’s private
common room and deposited him at his dorm. Harry placed his old wand core onto his desk
and decided to ask for a house elf, and with a pop one appeared. “How can Mipsy help?”
 Surprised a bit by how fast Mipsy responded, he asked, “Could you bring me a sandwich
please, thank you?” The elf popped away and a second later a warm ham and cheese
sandwich magically appeared on his bedside table. Harry then dug in and began to think of
how to spend the remaining nine days until he could leave Hogwarts.

Chapter End Notes

Think I'll stick to two chapters every posting day, should keep things interesting.
 XIII

As it turned out, nine days could be a very long time. Later that same day, nearly everyone in
Harry’s year asked him what had happened. Draco had then pointed out his lordship ring and
immediately dragged all of the boys into an impromptu meeting about the Wizengamot.

It turned out Draco was a wealth of information when he wasn’t being annoying. Harry
hadn’t grown up in the Wizarding World, instead doing chores and being disciplined by Aunt
Petunia and Uncle Vernon. He learned that the Wizengamot was like a muggle jury which
voted on laws and trials. Depending on how old your house was, you got a different number
of votes. Most Ancient and Noble Houses got three votes. Ancient and Noble got two, and
Noble got one. If he did his math right, he had 18 votes currently, and 3 he could inherit.

Nearly three hours later the rest of the boys went to dinner. Harry stayed behind in the shared
bedroom and asked for some food from Mipsy. He then began to wonder about something
Draco had said earlier. “Within Wizarding society, family is extremely important. It is why
many old families vote together in the Wizengamot. Nearly all of the old families are related
in one way or another, and family doesn’t betray family.” He had said. Harry began to
wonder about his family, or at least what was left. He pulled out his test and found only three
names that were mentioned. Sirius Black, his godfather, Alice Longbottom, his godmother,
and lastly, Gellert Grindelwald.

He had heard the name Grindelwald before. Ronald Weasely had been obnoxiously shouting
about how Dumbledore was the greatest wizard to ever live because he defeated the dark lord
Grindelwald in a duel. He never really looked into who Grindelwald was, but if he was
family and didn’t like Dumbledore, he figured he might as well look into him. He decided to
try something, “Mipsy?” He asked into the air. With a pop Mipsy appeared, “How can Mipsy
help Lord Peverell Slytherin Lestrange Gaunt Rosier Rookwood Potter Sayre Grindelwald?”
She asked.

Harry panicked and asked, “How do you know my titles?” Mipsy looked at him confused and
replied, “Mipsy just does. Mipsy knew when you asked and it would be bad if Mipsy didn’t
call Lord Peverell Slytherin Lestrange Gaunt Rosier Rookwood Potter Sayre Grindelwald his
proper name when he’s also Mipsy’s ¼ master.” Harry slumped his shoulders, ‘of course
every house elf here has to know I’m their master now’ he complained to himself. “Well
could you tell the other house elves to just call me Mr. Potter? I don’t want anybody,
especially the Headmaster to know about my titles yet.” He politely asked the elf. “Mipsy
understands and will let the other house elves know. So how can Mipsy help Mr. Harry
Potter?” She responded. “Could you bring me every book the library has on Gellert
Grindelwald?” Harry asked. Mipsy nodded her head and popped away.

Around 10 minutes later, a stack of books nearly as tall as himself appeared in the room.
Harry immediately rushed over to stop the stack of books from falling and then began to sort
them into piles. On his left he put all of the propaganda books, it was by far the largest pile as
it held nearly all the books. On his right he placed two books. Both were old but had the titles
The Global Wizarding War: A History and The Greater Good: The Ideology of The Alliance .
Satisfied, he asked Mipsy to return the other books to the library. He then opened The Global
Wizarding War: A History and began to read.
 XIV

It took Harry nearly five days to completely read both of the books, and what he found was
interesting. No one knew how the Alliance was founded, only that it was led by Gellert
Grindelwald, and after the contentious election of Grindelwald to the position of Supreme
Mugwump in 1932 did the Global Wizarding War start.

The Alliance was founded on the ideas of blood equality and wizarding supremacy and
safety. After the First World War, many wizards were justifiably scared of what muggles
could do. Around 1922 Gellert Grindelwald began to speak at schools, ministry forums, balls,
etc. about the threat the muggles posed to Wizarding kind. He eventually got a group of
followers that was his “inner circle” and in 1926 they nearly broke the Statute of Secrecy in
New York trying to rescue a group of wizards from a mob of muggles. This officially labeled
the early Alliance as criminals by the MACUSA and many other magical countries followed
suit. In 1927, French and British Aurors, many of whom had ties to Albus Dumbledore,
attempted to raid an Alliance rally in Paris, where Grindelwald himself would be speaking.
This led to a confrontation where an Auror killed an innocent witch and a skirmish then
followed. Out of the 35 Aurors who started the raid, only 7 survived.

After this Grindelwald next appeared in Germany where he was pardoned by the ICW for any
alleged crimes. Grindelwald then ran in the 1932 Supreme Mugwump Election with his
motto “For the Greater Good.” After the votes were counted, Grindelwald had narrowly won,
however, Albus Dumbledore, who was at the time a teacher at Hogwarts, alongside other
wizards and witches who were aligned with him, declared the election illegitimate. This led
to the Global Wizarding War, which was between the Alliance and the countries loyal to
Supreme Mugwump Grindelwald against the countries loyal to another candidate, Vicência
Santos, alongside Albus Dumbledore. The war lasted until 1945 when Dumbledore defeated
Grindelwald in a duel. However, no one knows what actually happened during the duel. All
that is officially recorded was that Dumbledore arrived with an unconscious Grindelwald, and
that they threw him into Nurmengard Castle.

==================================================================
======================

Albus Dumbledore was stuck. For the past six days since Harry Potter’s return to Hogwarts,
he had tried everything for a chance to speak to the boy. He had arrived early to every meal,
and found that the boy never entered the Great Hall. After asking the house elves, he learned
that apparently Harry Potter held greater authority than him, and they would not tell him
anything.

He then resolved to ask Severus where the boy was, but every summons he sent to him never
arrived. Letters were rerouted to random places and even his Patronus message was
redirected into the lake. When he tried to walk down to the dungeons to find the boy he
somehow got lost and ended up in another part of the castle. He didn’t know how, and after
reviewing his own memories in his pensive, he had no idea what was happening.

Finally he resolved to check the wards for the boy’s location, and found him in the astronomy
tower. After going to the tower, he couldn’t find the boy, assuming he was using his father’s
invisibility cloak, he did another check of the wards to pinpoint his exact location. However,
the wards told him the boy was in the Forbidden Forest. He decided to check again and found
that the wards registered the boy inside his office’s private bathroom .

Albus Dumbledore was truly stumped, he didn’t know how, but somehow the very castle was
making sure Harry Potter would remain hidden from him, but that was a preposterous idea,
surely such a thing wasn’t true.
 XV
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes

Harry double checked his belongings as he packed away everything in his trunk. In one hour
he would be on the Hogwarts Express and away from Dumbledore for an entire summer. He
looked at his belongings again and felt his mood dampen significantly. Apart from his school
robes and his goblin made robes, the only thing he owned were Dudley’s old cast offs. They
were all two sizes too big for him and while he had been gaining weight after Professor
Snape gave him his first round of nutrient potions, he couldn’t ever hope to be as big as
Dudley.

Packing away everything except the invisibility cloak he received on Christmas, he began to
make his way towards the common room. He rarely ever used the cloak, as he didn’t know
who sent it to him. The gift was unlabeled and only said it belonged to his father and to “use
it well.” He only brought it out in case Dumbledore tried to find him. Once he made it to the
main common room, the first years all banded together and made their way towards the
carriages. Blaise, with his shoulder length black hair and Italian features, began to speak to
him in Italian, “Are you ready to go home for the summer Harry?”

It was discovered quickly that apparently Harry was what the goblins called a “Magical
Hyperpolyglot” and could speak a lot of languages perfectly. To Harry it sounded similar to
when he spoke in parseltongue, that is to say he still spoke English, but everyone else heard a
different language. Once the boys in Slytherin had learned about this, they began to speak to
Harry in different languages randomly. He wasn’t sure why some of them did it, some he
thought did it to tease him, while others like Blaise and Vincent Crabbe, who could speak
surprisingly good Russian, did it to help him recognize how to use the ability.

Much to his delight, they made it to the carriages without any interference from Dumbledore.
After a short ride, they arrived at the Hogwarts Express and got quickly loaded on. Harry
decided to find a quiet compartment in the back of the train and started to read quietly from
his potions textbook. Despite being good in many other subjects, potions was something he
struggled with, however, after his “fusion” with the Philosopher’s Stone, it seemed to make a
bit more sense. He was interrupted however when the compartment door slammed open.

“Why were you avoiding the Headmaster you slimy snake !” Harry didn’t even need to look
up to know that Ronald Weasely was shouting at him. “He asked me to look for you! You!
What could he want with you?!?” Harry retreated into his seat as much he could as Ronald,
 not caring how loud he was being, continued to shout, “You were supposed to be in
Gryffindor and we were supposed to be best mates, but no you had to be a dirty slimy snake!
Your parents are rolling in their grav-"

"Don’t talk about my parents!” Harry shouted at the redhead, surprising himself with his
outburst. “Why? You know it’s true, they would be horri-” The Weasley boy didn’t even
finish his sentence before Harry reacted. Without thinking, he held up his hand and a bolt of
lighting shot out of it and into the redhead! The boy went flying down the corridor and
landed hard on the carpeted floor. Harry looked both amazed and horrified at what happened
as a crowd had formed due to Weasely’s shouting. He immediately retreated into his
compartment and closed the door. He huddled as far from the door as possible, scared of what
discipline he would be forced to endure.

It was a little while later that the door opened, Harry looked up in fear, but relaxed slightly
when he saw Lavender Brown walk in. He had worked with her a lot in Herbology and
Charms, and she was the only Gryffindor that didn’t tease him. She closed the door and she
sat down next to him. “Harry, are you ok?” She asked, brown eyes trying to meet his green
and gold ones. When he

didn’t even look at her, she scooted closer and hugged him. He flinched, but after she didn’t
try to discipline him, he relaxed into her as silent tears fell from his eyes. She pulled him
closer and began to whisper in his ear, “Harry you didn’t do anything wrong, Ron was being
a prat and he got what he deserved. His brothers are giving him even worse than what you
gave him. You’re safe, nobody is going to hurt you.”

It was then that the door opened again and Pansy walked in, Harry didn’t see, but she was
ready to give Lavender a scolding worthy of a pureblood heiress when they locked eyes.
Then, almost as if an agreement had been made in the span of a second, Pansy sat on Harry’s
other side and hugged him as well.

Chapter End Notes

Three chapters today as XIII and XIV were a tad short, but needed for some background
lore.
 XVI

Harry didn’t know how long they sat like that, but eventually the train began to slow down as
they approached King’s Cross Station. Pansy and Lavender both looked at him and smiled.
“Will you make sure to write to us Harry?” Pansy asked. He nodded, Lavender then spoke
up, “It was nice to spend some time with you Harry, but we need to change, will you be fine
if we step out for a bit?” He realized then that he didn’t have to wait for the train to stop at
the station. He grabbed his trunk and pulled out his portkey. “I promise I’ll write to you this
summer, if your owls can’t find me, then send them to Rackham House.” He said. Pansy and
Lavender both looked a little confused and Pansy then asked, “Harry, what are you doing?”
He just smiled and said, “Look for my first letter this weekend, Soulum .” He then felt a
familiar tug behind his navel as the world spun around him.

Harry reappeared in a small stone brick room. Looking out, he saw the open sea behind a
stone fence. As he walked along a paved stone path built into the cliffface he noticed many
different stone rooms that seemed to act as greenhouses or storage rooms. Eventually, he
came to an elaborate stone bridge, and on the other side up a set of stairs stood a stone manor.
As he excitedly crossed the bridge with his trunk, he noticed that despite the heavy winds, all
he felt was light breeze. Once he went up the stairs and to the door of the manor, a loud pop
was heard as a house elf appeared before him.

“Welcome to your new home Mr. Harry Potter!” Shouted an excited Mipsy. “Mipsy? I
thought you worked at Hogwarts?” Harry asked, confused. “That would be because she is
now your personal elf.” An unknown voice said. Harry immediately looked up and saw an
old man dressed in a blue and green robe with a long grey beard and calm brown eyes. “My
name is Percival Rackham, I used to own this house, and now it is yours. As for Mipsy, when
you ordered her directly, as you are Lord Slytherin, you essentially took over her ‘contract’ so
to speak, please come inside before you catch a chill.”

Harry stepped inside and his trunk vanished as Mipsy popped it away. He began to look
around. The floor looked to be made of the same stone as the walls, but the center held a
massive circular mosaic. The wall immediately in front of him looked like a church, with
massive glass windows that filtered sunlight to control the brightness. The wall itself was
decorated with a stone carving of what appeared to be Hogwarts Castle and the surrounding
valley. To his right was a fireplace and a staircase set into the wall that led to what looked to
be rooms on the second floor inside the cliff itself. Past the base of the staircase was a
corridor that led to a massive two-story library with a spiral staircase made of stone in one
corner. Going back to the staircase he went up and saw each of the doors on the second floor
led to a different bedroom and accompanying bathroom, with the farthest one down being the
master bedroom with a view of the sea. Going back down the stairs he saw a statue of what
looked to be Mr. Rackham and beyond him was an archway that led to a corridor. The
corridor went along the outer edge of the manor and led to a workspace. Inside the workspace
was a large desk with some rectangular boxes on it. From the workspace he also found a
potions room with ingredients and a large stone wall of what looked like a clear gemstone or
glass.

Once he finished exploring Harry returned to the main hall and watched as Mr. Rackham
appeared from a blue spiral of magic. “How did you appear like that?” Mr. Rackham smiled,
“I was a portrait, but when a former student of mine surpassed me in his use of Ancient
Magic, he managed to allow our portraits to manifest in a mallet akin to ghosts or poltergeists
in our ancient places of residence.”

“Ancient Magic? That’s what fused the Philosopher’s Stone with me right?” Harry asked.
“Yes, through Alchemy your body and the Stone became one. Now, I shall teach you how to
harness your gifts,” Mr. Rackham said, Harry however frowned, “I don’t have a wand sir, my
last one overloaded, but I do have the core.”

Mr. Rackham just smiled again, “Then that is where we shall begin. The first thing we will do
is create your new wand.”
 XVII

Harry was led by Mr. Rackham towards the workshop that had the rectangular boxes on
them. “Now, what do you know about Alchemy Harry?” Harry began to think back to what
he read while researching the Philosopher’s Stone earlier in the year. He knew it involved the
transmutation of different substances, but other than that he knew little. “I don’t know much
sir, just that it involves transmutation.”

“Alchemy is the magical art of Transmuting, Transforming, and Translocation. Using

alchemy, one can transmute stone into silver and gold, transform a normal block of stone into
an elaborate statue, or move the mass of that stone from one location to another.”

“Is it like Transfiguration?” Harry asked, “Not Exactly,” Mr. Rackham replied.
“Transfiguration uses magic to transform one object into another object. Transfiguration
requires magic alone to summon or transfigure objects. Alchemy requires existing material to
work. You can transfigure gold using Transfiguration, but it will not be ‘real’ as it can always
be undone with the right spell. Summoned objects often disappear unless special care is taken
while casting. Alchemy on the other hand is permanent.”

Harry then had a thought, “What if you conjured iron and used alchemy to transmute it into
gold?” His teacher smiled widely and replied, “Now you’re thinking like an Alchemist!
Alchemy uses magic just like transfiguration does. A conjured object can be rendered
permanent if you transmute it, however it will require significantly more magic to perform
the transmutation.” Mr. Rackham then moved towards the table and pulled out a book, within
was a diagram of a heptagram. “This Harry is an alchemical ritual that we will use to create
your wand, however, something is missing, can you figure out what?”

Harry hurried over and began to look at the ritual itself, it consisted of a circle with a
heptagram, a seven pointed star, inside of it. He already knew the circle and star had to be
made using a special chalk made of gold, copper, and tin. ‘Wait, how do I know this?’ “Mr- or
rather Professor Rackham, I know how to do this ritual, but I don’t understand how I know.”
Professor Rackham chuckled, “It’s been some time since I was called a professor, but as to
your question, that would be because of your fusion with the Philosopher’s Stone.”

“How do you mean sir?”

“Ancient Magic acts like a well of power. When we perform magic, we draw from our
Magical Core. Ancient Magic acts like a well our Core can draw from, like a massive river
feeding into a lake. Using Ancient Magic, your body was completely transmuted and merged
with the Philosopher’s Stone. In essence, your body became the Philosopher’s Stone while at
the same time remaining completely normal. As such your body has special properties, like
your immortality and your blood’s newfound composition and healing properties. You also
received an inherent knowledge of Alchemy and some of its accompanying disciplines,
Transfiguration, Potions, Rune Craft, and Ritual Craft.”

Harry was stunned, he knew he received some “cognitive abilities” from the goblins’ test, but
this was incredible. He then continued to examine the ritual, “Well it says here that it requires
multiple materials, which in this case can be different wands. It also requires a small
Philosopher’s Stone.”

The older man then proposed a question, “We have the wands already, but tell me Harry, how
will we acquire a Philosopher’s Stone?”

Harry began to think, and then he had an idea. “Professor, I’m going to need some gold
chalk, a small ruby, and a knife.” Professor Rackham phased through a wall and came back
through the door carrying a small box of chalk, a bag of small gemstones, and a knife. Harry
grabbed the box and took the gold chalk and began to draw. He drew an equidistant triangle
and a square inside of it. Inside the square he drew a circle. He then grabbed a small ruby the
size of his thumb from the bag and placed it into the circle. He then grabbed the knife and cut
his hand. He let his golden blood fall onto the ruby and then instinctively pushed his magic
into the ruby. He watched as the gold chalk glowed a crimson red and began to flow into the
ruby. The ruby then absorbed the blood and the dust and began to emit a bright crimson light.
After seven seconds the gem stopped emitting light.

Before Harry’s eyes was a teardrop shaped red gem. Its surface was flawless and it had gold
swirls within it. Harry Potter was now the second person to ever create a Philosopher’s Stone.
 XVIII
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes

Professor Rackham began to clap as Harry began to pick up the stone. “Well done my boy!
Jacob had mentioned you would be a prodigy, but this is incredible!” Harry turned and smiled
at the praise, then he asked, “Jacob? As in Jacob Lestrange Rookwood? How did you know
him?”

The professor then sat down, “Jacob was the student I mentioned before, and he was the last
one me and my fellow Keepers had,” “Keepers?” Harry interjected. “Yes, myself and my
colleagues. We called ourselves the Keepers of Ancient Magic. We numbered a total of four
and while we were alive, we had one student.” His face then filled with regret, “Her name
was Isidora, Isidora Morganach. She was a wonderful witch, but she became obsessed with
using Ancient Magic to heal people. She began to take the pain and accidentally the emotions
of others in an attempt to heal them, but went too far when she experimented on children
without permission. She was regrettably killed in the resulting duel.”

He blinked away his spectral tears and continued, “After that, we set up some trials to test
one who would next possess the blessing of Ancient Magic, that person was Jacob. We taught
him through our portraits, and he surpassed us in the end. Not only did defeat the Goblin
Rebellion led by Ranrok, but he also pioneered new ways to harness and use Ancient Magic.
Near the end of his life, he used Ancient Magic to power a divination ritual to see into the
future. He saw you Harry, and he decided to act. He not only wrote many letters and sent
them out, but he also gathered together some of the wands that we will fuse into one using
Alchemy.”

Harry then looked over to the table and saw the rectangular boxes, there were five in total and
each had a small note on them.

The first box held a light brown wand and said Pine and Thunderbird Tail Feather, 13”. The
wood isn’t that important, but it likes creativity and non-verbal spells. The feather is one of
two I acquired after a vacation in America with my partners. Ithould be good for
Transfiguration.
The second box held a black wand and said Snakewood and Basilisk Fang, 11". The
Snakewood was acquired from Isolt Sayre’s tree at Ilvermorny. The tree grew from the wand
of Salazar Slytherin. The Basilisk Fang comes from his familiar. I awoke her with the help of
a friend named Ominis Gaunt. After some ‘talking’ I managed to get one of her fangs for
your wand. She eagerly awaits you in the Chamber of Secrets. You’ll find more info on it in
the big green book with an S on it in the Slytherin Vault.

The third box contained an elegant dark red wand and the note beside it said Redwood and
Thunderbird Tail Feather, 13”. This is a ‘twin wand’ of the pine wand, as it has a wand core
from the same animal. I managed to acquire wood for this wand from some really big tree in
the state of California, I was however banned from the country after the resulting scandal.
Turns out taking a tiny bit of a massive tree really makes some people mad.

The fourth box was special as when he opened it, he saw not one but two wands. The first
wand was a dark brown and possessed a natural looking handle decorated with silver rings
before coming to a clean point. The second wand was light yellow and had an almost claw-
like pommel that went into a handle. From the handle the wand branched into an elaborate
spiral before coming back together into the rest of the wand. The note, considerably longer
than the others, said,

Cedar and Snallygaster Heartstring, 12”. This wand belonged to my mentor, Eleazer Fig.

Willow and Snallygaster Heartstring, 10 ¼”. This wand belonged to Miriam Fig, Eleazer’s
wife.

These wands are special, in a way they are like twin wands. After tracking down the
wandmaker, he told me their story. One night the wandmaker was taking a stroll when she
found two dead Snallygasters. After some examination, she discovered them to be twins that
had been ambushed and killed by a Wampus Cat. She took the Heartstrings and managed to
create both wands. While they aren’t true “twin wands” they are pretty close. She did say that
no matter what, these wands would always find their way back to one another.

There was one last box left, and when Harry opened it he looked inside and saw a bone white
wand with an oddly shaped handle. There was a note with it like the others. Yew and Phoenix
Feather, 13 ½”. This wand is special. It belongs to you, but it used to belong to Tom Marvolo
Riddle, otherwise known as Lord Voldemort. As for how I got it, it took nearly five years to
create a ritual that would take the wand from your nursery and deposit it here. Considering I
wouldn’t be alive to enact the ritual, that was what people call a “fun challenge” using
Ancient Runes to delay my magic for nearly 60 years. The reason this wand is here is because
it belongs to you. As a baby, you defeated Riddle and as such, you gained the ownership and
allegiance of his wand. Your first wand was the twin wand of this one. There’s a reason I have
multiple pairs of twin wands here. They will all complement each other and help to channel
your magic. Nearly all of these wands will accept you, but this wand is truly yours. When you
perform the ritual, place your old phoenix feather core alongside this wand and they will
merge. The three sets of twin cores will be anchored by the basilisk fang, and will provide a
wand capable of handling any magic you decide to cast, no matter the scale or complexity.

Harry finished reading and sat down to collect his thoughts. After a few minutes, he was
ready. He took the tin, gold, and copper chalks and began to draw the heptagram inside a
circle. Once he was finished, he placed each wand inside a point of the star and placed his
original phoenix feather core into the last spot alongside Riddle’s wand. The Philosopher’s
Stone was placed in the middle. He then began to channel his magic into the alchemical
ritual.

He watched as the chalk began to glow an amber gold color, the Stone then floated up into
the air. Each of the wands then floated to their twin, the Fig’s wands combined in a flash of
light, followed by the Redwood and Pine, and finally he saw the wand that his attempted
killer used merge with the phoenix feather. The now three wands all looked as if they were
molten glass as they began to flow towards the Philosopher’s Stone. The amber gold chalk
then floated up and began to follow in a soft spiral.

One by one the wands began to touch the Philosopher’s Stone, and when they did, they
appeared to melt and flow around the stone. Eventually, the molten wands began to twist and
form themselves into one, and the chalk then bound itself to the wand’s handle, ending the
ritual.

The wand slowly floated to the ground where Harry picked it up. The wand was the color of
black charcoal, and was 13 ¾” long. The base of the wand was a flange that flowed up into
the handle. The handle was decorated with bronze and gold spiral engravings, the end result
of the chalk. At the top of the handle sat Harry’s Philosopher's Stone, a perfect crimson
teardrop with a gold spiral within it. The wand flowed around the Stone and continued
flowing out until the wand ended in a tip with swirls of gray decorating the black wand like
smoke against the night sky.

He gave it a swish and watched as the Stone glowed and golden sparks flew out of the wand.
Harry looked at the wand, admiring it one last time. This was something he made. He had
 help, but it was perfect. It felt like it wasn’t just him, but his past, his legacy, and most
importantly, his future all wrapped into one.

Chapter End Notes

Three chapters today for two reasons. One: 18 is an even number. Two: 18 is an
important chapter.
 XIX

On the morning of July the 5th, Harry was eating a breakfast prepared by Mipsy. Since he
had arrived at Rackham House, now his House, on June 16th, he had been training with his
new wand and learning from Professor Rackham.

The Professor, he learned, used to teach Divination at Hogwarts in the 15th Century. Despite
this, he was still an excellent teacher in other subjects. Harry had learned a whole slew of
new spells and techniques that easily put him just past his third year material. Not only was
he learning the usual Hogwarts curriculum, he had also been taught a lot about Alchemy,
Non-Verbal Casting, and Ancient Magic.

It turned out that the incantations that accompanied spells were unnecessary. Magic, as
Professor Rackham had put it, was based on intent. Putting words and wand movements to
intent made it easier, but ultimately, the true goal of any wizard should be to master non-
verbal intent based casting. Harry already had some magical preference for non-verbal
casting, so some of it came extremely easy to him. He could cast nearly every spell he knew
without the wand movements or the words.

Alchemy and Ancient Magic had been more difficult. Alchemy was easier, as he had magical
knowledge, but he still couldn’t perform it without using a ritual. He found that the
heptagram circle he used to make his wand was his preferred ritual circle. Nearly every
alchemical ritual was to be used on a wizard's preferred circle, the circle which worked best
for them. Harry had learned how to transmute base metals and minerals into other ones, and
also learned that with his wand he could perform basic transformations and translocation
because of the Philosopher’s Stone inside of it.

Ancient Magic had come a lot slower, but he had made some progress. He had learned how
to tap into his Ancient Magic and used it to manipulate lighting and fire. He had been able to
replicate the lighting bolt he had struck Ronald Weasley with and could even arc the lightning
between different targets. He could also create a very powerful Incendio spell and manipulate
the fire to reach around targets. He had started learning how to combine his Ancient Magic
with his Alchemy by using it to create spikes out of the ground by moving the mass of the
stone and transforming it.

After talking with Professor Rackham about his Magical Heritage Test, he went over it with
him. He learned that a Dark Magical Core meant he could cast “Dark” spells easier. He also
learned that “Dark” magic was simply magic that drew from his emotions and his wants
alongside his intent. He had learned the spell Inscius the previous night. It was a Dark version
of the Stunning Charm, and it worked better for him because of his core.

Once Harry had finished his breakfast, he thanked Mipsy and re-checked his gold and black
robes for any crumbs. Satisfied, he made his way to the fireplace and flooed to the Leaky
Cauldron. He arrived in a puff of green fire and made his way through Diagon Alley. The
alley itself was quiet, as most of the shops hadn’t opened yet, but luckily for him, Gringotts
was always open.

Nodding to the Goblin Guards, he entered and made his way towards a teller, “Good
Morning, may your enemies fall and your vault never empty, I am here for an appointment
with my account manager Rannok.” The teller, surprised by the formal Goblin greeting,
smiled, “May your gold always flow and your enemies flee before you Lord Lord Peverell
Slytherin Lestrange Gaunt Rosier Rookwood Potter Sayre Grindelwald, please follow me.”
 XX

Harry was led by the teller down a corridor and into a minecart. After a short ride down, he
arrived at a familiar corridor. The teller led him down to the parlor he arrived in nearly one
month ago. Inside, sitting at the desk, was Rannok, his account manager. “Hadrian! Let your
enemies' ranks shatter and your investments always be plentiful.” Rannok greeted him as he
stood up. “Rannok, may your blood never be spilled and your gold never run dry.” Harry said
in response. The teller made a bow and left the two of them alone.

Rannok sat down and motioned for him to sit as well. “Since we last spoke, I have performed
a full audit on all of your vaults, and I found something troubling. Albus Dumbledore had
been taking money out of your vaults.” Harry grimaced and Rannok continued, “It seems that
the funds were taken from the Potter Family Vault. He pulled 25 Galleons a month and gave
it to the Vernon and Petunia Dursley in the form of 500 British Pounds, this was listed as ‘For
the care of Harry Potter.’” Harry visibly shuddered and quietly whispered, “They never used
that money on me. They never used any money on me at all.”

The goblin smiled wickedly, “Would you like the Bank to repossess any debt owned in full
with interest?” Harry nodded, and Rannok quickly wrote down a message on a small slip and
snapped his fingers. The slip burned with a green flame and vanished. “You shall have any
debt owed to you be paid in full by midnight. Now, Albus Dumbledore also took 1000
Galleons every year for the past 12 years and donated it to a charity called the ‘British Fund
for the Care of Magical Avians.’ This charity is a front. It was used by Albus Dumbledore
during what your Ministry calls the ‘Wizarding War’ to fund his own private militant group
called the Order of the Phoenix. Your parents were recruited into this group once they
graduated from Hogwarts.”

“Can you repossess the debt at full interest as well?” Harry asked, Rannok smiled again,
pleased at how fast Harry was catching onto the Goblin ways of business. “The Bank can
indeed repossess the debt at full with interest as well. The interest will be 25% of the full
amount taken. For the Dursely’s this will be a total of 4000 Galleons, and for Dumbledore,
this will be 15,000 Galleons.”

Harry smiled and Rannok sent another slip away with a burst of green flame. “How has
progress on freeing Sirius Black gone,” Harry asked, “And is it possible for you to
investigate Gellert Grindelwald?” Rannok looked a little surprised, “The Bank has found
evidence that Sirius Black never received a trial. It also found that the Will of James Charlus
Potter and Lilian Vinda Potter née Evans was sealed by the order of the Chief Warlock Ablus
Dumbledore. As for Grindelwald, why do you wish to have the bank investigate his affairs?”
Harry practically snarled when he heard Dumbledore sealed his parent’s will, however he
composed himself, “I have reason to believe Gellert Grindelwald never received a trail from
the ICW, and I have a feeling this is true since Nurmemgard Castle is regarded by the Goblin
Nation as Illegally Seized.”

“Very well, I shall see what the Nation can find, would you like us to move forward with
getting Sirius Black his trial?” “Yes,” Harry responded, “Do I need to do anything?” Rannok
grabbed a piece of parchment written in English that called for the immediate seizure of
Bartemius Crouch Senior, Albus Dumbledore, and Cornelius Fudge for the unlawful
imprisonment of Sirius Orion Black IV. “We simply need each of your houses sigils here,”
Rannok said as he placed the parchment beside a vat of golden wax. Harry used his ring to
place each of his nine house sigils onto the parchment and watched as three copies were
made and immediately sent. “The Orders of Seizure and Summoning will arrive tonight.
There should be a special session of your Wizengamot two days from now. During this
session you can claim your seats, and your votes.”

“Thank you Rannok,” Harry said, “Now, can I draw some money from my vaults, I find
myself in need of some spending money.” Rannok snapped his fingers and a black pouch
appeared, “This is a bottomless pouch that can be tied to your vaults, it costs 5 Galleons,
which I can take from your vaults. Simply let three drops of blood fall onto the bag and it will
be yours.” Rannok then handed Harry the golden needle he used before and let three drops of
golden blood fall onto the bag. He watched as the blood then formed into the nine sigils of
his houses. “Simply think of which vault you wish to draw from like your ring, and you will
be able to access the money in it. I will also remind you that for large purchases you can use
your ring to sign a Gringotts Bank Receipt, most business have them.” Rannok said as he
stood up, “Now, were there any artifacts you wished to retrieve from your vaults?”

“Yes, I would like to examine the Rookwood, Rosier, Grindelwald, and Slytherin Vaults,”
Harry said as he also stood up. Rannok led Harry back to the minecart and they visited each
of the vaults.

From the Rookwood vault, he grabbed the Rookwood Grimoire and the Personal Journal of
Charles Rookwood. From the Rosier Vault, he grabbed the Diary of Vinda Rosier alongside a
book called Spells and Rituals of the Alliance . From Grindelwald’s Personal Vault he
grabbed the private spell book of Gellert Grindelwald, and from the Slytherin Vault he
grabbed the big green book with an “S” on it, which turned out to be the Slytherin Grimoire.
He also found a trunk in the Slytherin Vault that had an expanded interior. The interior
resembled the Slytherin Common Room to an extent, with green couches alongside a desk, a
table, chairs, a master bedroom with a bathroom, and a decent sized library that was empty.
He placed his new found books into the library and took the trunk with him, which was
equipped with both a feather-light charm and a shrinking charm.
Finished with his business at the bank, Rannok led Harry to the lobby where he gave him a
traditional Goblin farewell, “May your gold flow as easily as the blood of your enemies
Rannok.” Rannok likewise responded, “And may your Vaults fill with gold as your fill your
enemies with despair Hadrian. You should get a letter from your Ministry regarding the
emergency session about to take place.” With that Harry exited through the two large doors
and entered Diagon Alley for the second time that morning.
 XXI

Standing right outside Gringotts Wizarding Bank, Harry began to make his way down the
stairs when he heard something to his right, three something’s.

“Quiet, we jusssst esssscaped. Do you want to get caught?”

“But think of the fresssh ratsssss to eat!”

“Thissss is jussst as I planned. We sssshall be fine.”

Harry turned left into Knockturn Alley and saw something move along the ground. A small
three headed snake with black and orange stripes and a light yellow underbelly.

“Hello, are you okay?” Harry asked in parseltongue.

“A sssspeaker!”

“Ssssspeaker has come to save usssss!”

“Or maybe ssspeaker will betray ussss!”

“It’s alright,” he said, “ I won’t hurt you, do you have a name?”

“We were called Runesssspoor by the man who had usssss.”

“He wasssss a bad to ussss, wanted ussss for eggsssss.”

“You do not sssseem bad.”

Harry pondered for a moment, “Are you a boy or a girl?”

“We are a ‘girl.’”

“Why doesssss sssspeaker wissssh to know? Will you name ussssss!”

“If he namesssss ussss it better be a good name.”

Harry began to think of a name when the Runespoor suddenly recoiled as a ragged wizard
appeared from a side street. “Back away boy! That’s not yours!” The wizard began to draw
his wand when Harry stepped in front of the young snake. “Move boy!” Harry stood firm and
drew his wand, “You would dare to attack a Lord of the Wizengamot?” He said nonchalantly.

The ragged wizard paused, before he moved his wand “Diff-” But before he could finish
casting the severing charm, Harry had flicked his wand and sent a lighting bolt into the man’s
chest. He flew down the alley and fell at the foot of Borgin and Burkes. Harry then picked up
the young Runespoor, “How do you like the Nemea? It’s the name of a lion, but I think it suits
you.” Harry heard a trio of approval as Nemea curled around his left hand. He then heard a
door open as two heads of platinum blond hair exited Borgin and Burkes. As he looked up he
saw Draco Malfoy and what he presumed to be his father.

“Lord Malfoy, Heir Malfoy.” Harry said as the pair walked towards him. Draco seemed to
preen as he saw his etiquette lessons being put to use. His father smiled, “Hello there Mr.
Potter, however the proper greeting is to bow to a lord as you greet them.” He said politely,
trying to catch him off guard. Harry only smiled, “That would be customary for someone of
lower status Lord Malfoy, but as you can see, I too am a Lord.” He showed his right hand and
mentally commanded the Potter and Peverell sigils to show. Draco’s mouth gaped and Lord
Malfoy looked shocked for a brief moment, but his face quickly set into a polite smile. “Well
played Lord Potter, it seems you took my sons lessons to heart. Now, if you don’t mind my
asking, what brings you to Knockturn Alley today?”
“I was rescuing Nemea here from that wizard over there, I just came out of a meet with my
account manager to manage my vaults. Might I ask what you two are doing here?” Harry
motioned to the snake in his hand and looked at Lord Malfoy expectantly. “Your vaults? Well
it seems the rumors that you were emancipated are true. As to why we are here…” he paused,
as if trying to decide how much to reveal, “we were at Borgin and Burkes to discuss possible
sales the Malfoy Family may be forced to make in the coming months.”

Harry deduced that they he was likely referring to a new bill put forth by Arthur Weasley
regarding an expanded list of items that “pose a danger to muggles” should be reclassified as
Dark, and thus be requisitioned by the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. It just so
happens that many items on said list are items many old and prominent pureblood families
may own.

Harry had lessons with Professor Rackham on the Wizengamot. Currently it was comprised
of three factions, the Progressives, the light faction who held the 45% votes, led by Albus
Dumbledore, the Gray, neutral faction who held 25% of the vote, led by Lord Cyrus
Greengrass, and the Traditionalists, the dark faction who held the remaining 30% of the vote,
led by Lord Lucius Malfoy. Harry had decided o n joining the Gray, but figured it would be
wise if he made friends on both sides of the spectrum. “I wouldn’t be too worried about that
Lord Malfoy, I doubt the bill will pass. Perhaps we can talk more about it over lunch?”
Lucius Malfoy discretely looked to his son, who nodded, “That sounds like a wonderful idea
Lord Potter, my wife is waiting for us at a restaurant, I don’t think she’ll mind a guest for
lunch.” With that Lucius Malfoy led both his son and Harry out of Knockturn and into
Diagon Alley.
 XXII
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes

As Harry made his way with Lucius Malfoy and Draco towards this restaurant, Draco fell
beside him and whispered, “Potter! I didn’t know you were emancipated! Why didn’t you say
anything!” Harry smiled, “Because you would have given everyone, especially me, extra
etiquette lessons.” Draco paused and looked like he had been slapped, “My etiquette lessons
have been useful for everyone in our year.” Harry’s smile grew even wider, “Useful doesn’t
mean ‘not boring’ Malfoy.” Lucius, giving the pureblood equivalent of grinning ear to ear at
the boys banter, opens the door to the restaurant, Dante’s Grill, a Italian restaurant along
Ventris Street, a street coming right off of Diagon Alley that contained many restaurants and
cafes.

Sitting at a table was a graceful woman who looked to be in her early thirties. She had
striking black hair with a small blonde strand in the front. She stood up as Lucius
approached. “Narcissa, might I introduce one of Draco’s friends from school,” he said as he
motioned for Harry to introduce himself. “Lord Hadrian James Peverell Slytherin Lestrange
Gaunt Rosier Rookwood Potter Sayre Grindelwald, It’s a pleasure to meet you my lady.”

Narcissa, alongside Lucius and Draco, seemed at a loss for words when he revealed all of his
titles. Narcissa however, being the first to recover, replied, “A pleasure my lord. I am
Narcissa Druella Malfoy née Black.”

Harry smiled and then recognized her maiden name, “Black? As in Sirius Orion Black?”
Narcissa tensed at the name, as did Lucius. “Yes,” she responded curtly, “why?” Harry,
noticing the tension on her face (he knew that face intimately whenever he accidentally made
Pansy mad) he quickly replied, “He’s my Godfather, he named me his heir and was
unlawfully imprisoned.” Lucius then spoke up, “Unlawful?” “Yes, the Goblins have found he
was unlawfully imprisoned by Albus Dumbledore, Cornelius Fudge, and Bartemius Crouch
Senior. As such the Goblin Nation is demanding their seizure and an immediate session of the
Wizengamot to rectify this error. The session should take place in two days.” Harry
responded.

Noticing he had regained the conversation, he politely asked, “Shall we sit down and talk?”
Everyone then found their seat and began to talk. Narcissa began to ask questions about
Harry and Draco’s time at Hogwarts while Lucius started to think back to last night. ‘What
kind of mess have I gotten myself into’
==================================================================
======================

July 4th, 10:00 P.M.

Lucius stood under a disillusionment charm in a muggle park. Severus had sent him a letter
asking him to be here. He heard a crack as Severus apparated into view. He quickly canceled
his disillusionment charm and walked towards him. “Severus!” He hissed, “What are we
doing here?” Severus looked at him grimly, “We are paying some horrible muggles a visit.
But first, some ground rules, we cannot leave lasting damage, and we cannot kill them. I need
to extract their memories.”

Lucius was confused, “Memories? Why do we need some filthy muggles memories!”
Severus immediately silenced him with a flick of his wand, “Because they abused and
mistreated a magical child. I need you to make a vow of secrecy to never discuss what you
learn tonight with anyone, not even the Dark Lord.” Lucius was stunned, Severus never cared
this much for anyone, especially a child ! But his demeanor showed everything, his shoulders
were poised to fire a spell at any moment and his eyes were a blazing inferno, he was furious
. “Fine, I Lucius Abraxas Malfoy do swear to Severus Julius Snape that I shall not reveal
what I learn of this night, so mote it be.” Lucius felt the magic take affect and Severus
relaxed slightly, “Grab my arm, I’ll apparate us there.”

One crack later and the pair were in front of a house. The muggle mailbox read No. 4 Privet
Drive . Severus then cast a ward over the entire house, no one would be able to see or hear
what the did. He then donned his Death Eater mask, and Lucius did the same. Lucius checked
for any wards on the house and found a blood ward that was barely clinging to the house, no
longer having enough energy to keep it up without a magical child here to recharge it. With a
point of his wand he fired a shield piercer and destroyed the feeble blood ward in a flash of
bright red light. Severus then cast a knockback jinx and blew open the door. Inside was a
horse-faced woman and a walrus of a man next to a pudgy boy on a couch, looking at some
weird box on a table.

The woman began to scream when the walrus stood up, “YOU DARE ENTER MY HOUSE
YOU FREAKS !” He bellowed as he grabbed a fire poker and began to charge. Lucius flicked
his wand and with a Flagrante he forced the muggle to drop his weapon as it burned his
hand. He then used Levicorpus , Severus’ spell, and lifted the man and his son into the air
before silencing them both, taking pleasure as their mouths moved and no sound came out.
 He turned to Severus who had the crying muggle woman cornered. “I know that wand, why
are you here Severus! Are you here to kill us like you killed that freak bitc-” she didn’t finish
her insult as Severus cast Crucio with a malice Lucius rarely ever saw. “You will not insult
her memory!” He shouted. He then shouted Legilimens and delved into her mind. Lucius
decided to do the same to the walrus.

He saw the Walrus abuse a boy, called him “Freak” so much that he though it was his name.
He saw him force the boy to live in a cupboard and beat the boy whenever he did anything
the Walrus or his own son didn’t like. He watched as the horse-faced woman forced the boy
to cook and then refused the boy to eat any of the food he made and locked him in his
cupboard when he was done. He saw the boy return bloody and bruised after “playing” with
his cousin. He saw the Walrus lie to others about the boy, degrading the boy and making his
life miserable. He saw the satisfaction the Walrus took in beating the “Freakishness” out of
the boy. Lucius was horrified, he didn’t want to kill these muggles, he wanted them to suffer .
They abused and enslaved a young boy in an attempt to get rid of the gift of Magic, and worst
of all, he knew who the boy was. He saw the scar, those eyes. These worthless muggles
abused Harry bloody Potter and he couldn’t do a damn thing to them .

Chapter End Notes

If you feel this was posted a little late, that's cause it was. Turns out cleansing Tyranids
and Heretics in the Light of the Emperor is pretty fun. Space Marine 2 is pretty good
y'all, Gadriel is fucking awesome.
 XXIII

Harry returned to Rackham House after a productful day of shopping. During his lunch with
the Malfoy’s, he learned that Narcissa, as a Black, is technically his distant cousin, which
makes Draco his cousin as well. After that revelation, Draco practically dragged him through
three different robe shops “because a Lord nine times over can’t afford to look anything but
his best.” After he had been taken through the largest shopping spree of his life, Harry picked
up a wand holster enchanted with anti-summoning and invisibility chamrs alongside some
treats and products for Nemea, his new Runespoor.

It turned out, Nemea was his familiar. Apparently saving her from that poor excuse of a
wizard formed an unbreakable bond. As such Nemea now shared some of her magical power
with him, and he with her. According to the shopkeeper, he may be resistant to poisons, but
said not to try and test it without proper supervision. Nemea on the other hand likely gained
some of his regeneration, immortality, and some alchemical properties. Her scales now
shined in the light like copper or bronze.

Stepping out of the floo, he immediately packed away his new clothes and the books he took
from his vaults. He would go through the books later, but he first needed to write some
letters. He had been writing letters to Pansy and Lavender every week, but something Draco
had said made him want to write more. “Harry, ever since Pansy managed to get you out of
your shell, you’ve been different. I remember you barely acknowledged me or anyone else for
the first week. But once Pansy got through you managed to become Blaise and Theo’s friends.
You even made friends with that Granger girl and Longbottom.” Friends. Draco said Harry
had friends. He never really knew what friends were like, and it seems he needed someone
else to tell him for him to see it.

He had friends, and he never wanted to lose them.

==================================================================
======================

Severus Snape was reviewing the memories he and Lucius had recovered from the Dursley’s.
The fact that Lucius agreed that he would help make the muggles pay today surprised him.
What surprised him even more was that Lucius meet Harry today. He had nothing but good
things to say about the boy and said he sounded like he would make a good Lord. Severus
was simply worried. The boy had been getting better and by the end of the summer he would
be able to stop taking nutrient potions. However, the trauma would still be there. While Harry
seemed to have friends in Parkinson, Nott, Zabini, Granger and Longbottom, he was afraid
the boy would try and bottle up his pain. He should see if he could find a mind healer and
“recommend” the boy see them.

==================================================================
======================

Cornelius Fudge was having a dreadful day. Apparently, a dragon had escaped from the
Hebrides Dragon Reserve. The Obliviators had been working overtime for the whole day, and
as a former member, he volunteered to help to improve his public image. He forgot how truly
exhausting the work could be. He had just sat down in his office when he heard a commotion
outside. Suddenly three armored goblins burst down his door, “Cornelius Fudge, on the
orders of the Goblin Nation your are to be seized and await Wizarding Justice for the
Unlawful Imprisonment of Sirius Orion Black IV according to Section 17b subsection 34f of
the Treaty of 1342.”

==================================================================
======================

Vernon had a terrible day. Last night the door had fallen off of its hinges and he had to repair
it, then he had to work through some idiotic nonsense at work. When he finally got home he
was about to find his dear Tuney when he was knocked onto his knees and a knife was placed
at his throat. He then saw a horrific thing with pointed teeth and pitch black eyes look at him
and smiled a wicked smile. Then he felt a sharp pain in his neck and everything went black.
 XXIV

Hadrian James Peverell Slytherin Lestrange Gaunt Rosier Rookwood Potter Sayre
Grindelwald stood outside of the doors to the Wizengamot’s main chamber on the morning of
July 7th. Rannok was by his side as this emergency session was at the behest of the Goblin
Nation, they could bring their own lawyer and representative. As his Account Manager, it
was logical that Rannok be chosen as it was at Harry’s request that this session was taking
place.

“Hadrian,” Rannok said in a hushed tone, “should you wish me to, I can level charges of
child endangerment, child neglect, and magical child abuse against Dumbledore for blocking
your core, and placing you with the Dursley’s. The evidence I provide today will make sure
he is punished.”

Harry thought to himself, “Do it, I want you to make him pay for what he did.” Rannok
smiled his wicked smile once more, “Gladly.” The doors to the main chamber then opened,
all the assembled lords and ladies then entered and began to take their seats. The chamber
itself was decorated with blue walls and had a wooden floor. The seats were made of Walnut
and were painted a lustrous black. The seats themselves were arranged as if the chamber were
an amphitheater, with the Chief Warlock’s seat being where the stage would be. In front of
the Chief Warlock’s seat was a podium where witnesses would be questioned, and two tables,
one for the Plaintiff and the Defendants.

Harry took a seat on the floor, as he had yet to be formally introduced to the Wizengamot yet.
Rannok to his seat at the Plaintiff's desk when Madam Amelia Bones, the head of the DMLE,
entered and sat in the Chief Warlock’s seat. She then brought the gavel down three times, “As
the current Chief Warlock and the Minister are two of the three subjects of today’s emergency
session, I, Amelia Bones, will be taking the role of Chief Warlock as per the order of
succession.” As she finished, the doors to the side opened as Chief Warlock and Supreme
Mugwump Albus Dumbledore, Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge, and the former head of
the DMLE and current head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation. Crouch
sneered at Rannok as he sat down at the Defendants table. Fudge looked to be on the verge of
a panic attack, veiled through confusion, while Dumbledore practically froze when he saw
Harry, but otherwise made his way to the table.

“Now, before we begin we have a new member to add to our chamber,” Amelia said. At this
Harry stood up to the murmuring of everyone present. He took a stand and put his wand to
his throat and cast a Sonorous . He then held his wand and pointed it into the air, “I Hadrian
James Peverell Slytherin Lestrange Gaunt Rosier Rookwood Potter Sayre Grindelwald do
accept my seats in this Chamber so mote it be.” His wand glowed a pleasant blue as Magic
accepted him, and he took his seat amongst the Gray.

Dumbledore then stood up, his eyes relaying some sense of worry and a great deal of shock
as to his title, “Harry my boy why are you here, you’re too young to be dealing with such
political nonsense.” He said in a genial tone. “

Harry said nothing, he simply looked at Rannok, who stood up, “I am Representative
Rannok, and I am here on behalf of Lord Potter and the Goblin Nation regarding the
Unlawful Imprisonment of Sirius Orion Black IV and to levy charges of Child
Endangerment, Child Negelct, and Magical Child Abuse against Albus Percival Wulfric
Brian Dumbledore for blocking Lord Potter’s Core as an infant, and forcing him to live in an
abusive muggle household.”

The entire chamber was silent. Some members of the Light, alongside the entirety of the
Gray and many of the Traditionalists had looks of shock and horror on their faces. There
were a few members of the Light who looked like they wanted to kill Rannok for disparaging
their beloved leader, but nobody made a move. Dumbledore himself looked horrified as he
looked at Harry. Madam Bones then spoke up, “Well then, first we shall handle the Unlawful
Imprisonment charges, then we’ll get onto that. How would the Goblin Nation like to
proceed?”

Rannok smiled his wicked smile once more, “The Goblin Nation would like to question each
target under Veritaserum.”
 XXV

There was an uproar amongst many of the members of the Chamber. However, Madam
Bones slammed the gavel down three times, “ORDER! The use of Veritaserum is well within
the rights of the Goblin Nation. Representative Rannok, will we be using Wizarding or
Goblin Veritaserum?” Rannok smiled, “Wizarding Veritaserum for the Unlawful
Imprisonment Charge, and Goblin Veritaserum for the charges against Albus Dumbledore.
All affected are to be questioned by myself.”

While there wasn’t much of a difference, Goblin Veritaserum had one key difference when
compared to its Wizarding counterpart. Goblin Veritaserum could not be mitigated through
the use of Occlumency, while Wizarding Veritaserum could. The different ingredients the
Goblins used made it impossible. While extremely difficult to do in the first place, Rannok
was taking no chances with Dumbledore when it came to his client.

With the Veritaserum order specified, the Wizarding Veritaserum was brought forth. It was
verified by Auror Rufus Scrimgeour, who then administered it to Fudge.

Madam Bones then tested the serum, “Is your name Cornelius Fudge?”

“Yes.”

“Were you born June 26th 1935?”

“Yes.”

Amelia Bones then nodded to Rannok, letting him start his questioning,

“Were you a Junior Minister for the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes on
October 31st 1981?”
“Yes.”

“Were you present for the trial of Sirius Orion Black IV?”

“No.”

“Was Sirius Orion Black IV ever questioned by Bartemius Crouch Senior, Albus
Dumbledore, and yourself during the acting Tribunal established in 1978 according to War
Time Powers under section 5 of the Ministerial Charter?”

“No.”

“Did you sign an order as a member of the Tribunal sentencing Sirius Black to a period of 30
days holding in Azkaban until a trial could be scheduled?”

“Yes.”

“That will be all.”

Fudge was then given the antidote by Scrimgeour and was escorted out of the Chamber. The
members of the Progressive Party looked horrified while the Gray and the Traditionalist Party
were slightly more composed.

“Bring forward Albus Dumbledore.” Rannok’s voice thundered through the quiet chamber as
the old man shanked forward and stood at the podium. He was administered the serum and
tested by Madam Bones just like Fudge was.

“Is your name Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore?”

“Yes.”

“Were you born August 16 1881?”

“Yes.”

She once more nodded to Rannok who began his questioning.

“Were you Chief Warlock on October 31st 1981?”

“Yes.”

“Did you consider Sirius Orion Black IV the secret keeper of the Fidileus Charm cast by
Lilian Vinda Potter née Evans to the best of your knowledge?”

“Yes.”

“Did you seal the will of James Charles Potter and Lilian Vinda Potter née Evans on October
31st 1981 using your powers as Chief Warlock and the Tribunal?”

“Yes.”

Did you ever think to check the will for the identity of the secret keeper, or Sirius Black’s
relation to the Potter Family?”

“No.”
“Did you sign an order as a member of the Tribunal sentencing Sirius Orion Black IV to a
period of 30 days holding in Azkaban until a trial could be scheduled?”

“Yes.”

“That will be all.”

Dumbledore was given the antidote and looked at Harry as he left the room. Harry couldn’t
tell what was going on in his mind, but all he saw was regret and sadness.

“Bring forward Bartemius Crouch Senior.” Rannok said, but unlike the previous two, Crouch
struggled, “I demand that you remove this Goblin from my prescience, I refuse to be
questioned!” He shouted. He then attempted to draw his wand. Immediately Scrimgeour and
Bones cast Stunning charms at the man. He crumpled against the ground and Scrimgeour
collected his wand and casted an Incarcerous to bind the man in rope. He was renneverated
and forcefully given the serum.

“Is your name Bartemius Crouch?”

“Yes.”

“Were you born on August 23rd 1936?”

“Yes.”

Amelia Bones motioned for Rannok to commence with the final round of questions.

“Were you head of the Deparment of Magical Law Enforcement on October 31st 1981?”
“Yes.”

“Did you sign an order as a member of the Tribunal sentencing Sirius Orion Black IV to a
period of 30 days holding in Azkaban until a trial could be scheduled?”

“Yes.”

“Did Sirius Black ever receive a trial?”

“No.”

“Did anyone sent to Azkaban, including but not limited to Bellatrix Polaria Lestrange née
Black, Rodolphus Leatrange, Rabastan Lestrange, and Bartemius Crouch Junior ever receive
a trial?”

“No.”

“Were you complicit in the deaths of Rodolphus Leatrange, Rabastan Lestrange, and
Bartemius Crouch Junior due to their stay in Azkaban?”

“No.”

There were murmurs among the Chamber and Rannok then asked, “Acting Chief Warlock
Bones, permission to individualize the question?”

“Permission granted, Representative Rannok, please proceed with the questions.” Rannok
then turned back to Barry Crouch Senior, who now had fear in his eyes.

“Were you complicit in the death of Rodolphus Lestrange due to their stay in Azkaban?”
“Yes.”

“Were you complicit in the death of Rabastan Lestrange due to their stay in Azkaban?”

“Yes.”

“Were you complicit in the death of Bartemius Crouch Junior due to their stay in Azkaban?”

“No.”

There were a few shouts from the Traditionalists and the Gray when Madam Bones spoke,
“As Acting Chief Warlock, I am exercising my right to question the accused.”

Madam Bones then cleared her throat and questioned Crouch directly, “Is Bartemius Crouch
Junior alive?”

“Yes.”

There was an uproar in the chamber that was silenced with the gavel. Madam Bones then
turned to Crouch and asked,

“Where is your son Barty?”

“In my basement under the Imperius Curse.”

 Chapter 26
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes

Orders were shouted across the Chamber as Aurors were scrambled by Madam Bones to
Crouch Manor to retrieve Barry Crouch Junior. Barty Crouch Senior was given the antidote
for the serum as Fudge and Dumbledore were hurried inside the chamber once more.

After a period of deliberation with members from each party in a separate room, Madam
Bones returned began to hand out the sentences,

“In light of what has been revealed, Bartemius Crouch Senior will require a separate trial and
sentencing for his crimes.” Madam Bones said as she eyed each of the accused. “Minister
Fudge, given your position at the time, you are to be fined 50,000 Galleons to Sirius Orion
Black IV pending his release from Azkaban. While you will maintain your position as
Minister of Magic, this session will be on your permanent record.. Chief Warlock Albus
Dumbledore will be charged 25,000 Galleons to be paid to Sirius Orion Black IV pending his
release from Azkaban. His trial for the charges of Child Endangerment, Child Negelct, and
Magical Child Abuse shall occur after a brief recess of 20 minutes. After the trial of Chief
Warlock Albus Dumbledore has concluded, Sirius Orion Black IV will be present to be
questioned under Veritaserum. This Chamber is now adjourned for the 20 minute recess.”

Harry decided to take a quick walk during the recess. Everything had gone well so far, apart
from the revelation that Barty Crouch Senior somehow smuggled his son out of Azkaban or
however sent him in the first place. Once he returned to the Chamber, he noticed everyone
was more on edge than usual. A handful of the Progressives were practically frothing at the
mouth as they glared at him. On the other hand, many Traditionalists and members of the
Gray looked smug as they watched Dumbledore stew in discomfort. He looked over at
Dumbledore and noticed he hadn’t moved from his seat. His face was gravely still as if he
was contemplating everything and nothing all at once. Madam Bones then returned to the
Chamber and brought the Wizengamot out of recess.

“Chief Warlock Dumbledore, given the charges leveled against you, and the immediacy of
this session, you will have to represent yourself in this case, do you understand?” Ms. Bones
said sternly, Dumbledore simply nodded his head. “Representative Rannok, you may
administer your Goblin Veritaserum.”
Rannok brought out a small crystal vial and walked over to Dumbledore. The old man
offered no resistance and held out his tongue and let three drops hit it. Madam Bones then
began the test,

“Is your name Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore?”

“Yes.”

“Were you born on August 16 1881?”

“Yes.”

Determining the Goblin made serum to be true, Ms. Bones gave the floor to Rannok,
“Representative Rannok, you may begin your questioning.”

Rannok then pulled out a piece of parchment and began to read off of it.

“Did you use your powers as Chief Warlock to name yourself Magical Guardian of Hadrian
James Peverell Slytherin Lestrange Gaunt Rosier Rookwood Potter Sayre Grindelwald on
November 1st 1981?”

“Yes.”

“Did you leave Lord Potter on the doorstep of No. 4 Privet Drive, the former residence of
Vernon and Petunia Dursley?

“Yes, and former?” Rannok smiled wickedly at the question, “The Goblin Nation repossessed
the household and the lives of the Dursley’s after they were both unable and unwilling to
repay their debt to Lord Potter. Vernon and Petunia Dursley await execution after evidence of
their crimes was found, their son is serving as an indentured worker for the Goblin Nation.”
Dumbledore’s face paled as Rannok spoke, his eyes then lit with a sudden fury as he shouted,
“What right does the Goblin Nation have to execute two innocent muggles and enslave their
child!” Harry flinched violently as he heard the Dursley’s described as innocent. “Innocent?
You would call an excuse of a father, a jealous squib and a snobbish child guilty of Child
Abuse, Neglect, and Attempted Murder innocent!” Rannok roared as Dumbledore physically
recoiled at the crimes described.

Harry sank into his seat as everyone began to shout, only with three gavel strikes from Ms.
Bones brought silence to the chamber once more. “Representative Rannok, Dumbledore, if
we are done with the interruptions, will you please continue the questioning?” Madam Bones
said as she glared at the pair.

“Of course,” Rannok said as he turned to the old man, “Did you ever personally check on the
wellbeing of Lord Potter as per your duties as his named Magical Guardian?”

“No.” Dumbledore responded.

“Did you ever educate Lord Potter on his upcoming role in magical society as a Lord of the
Wizengamot?”

“No.”

“Did you ever educate Lord Potter on the workings of magical society and on magic itself?”

“No.”

“Did you place a Degrading Block on Lord Potter on October 31st 1981?”

“Yes.”
“That is all Madam Bones.” Rannok said as he finished.

“As Acting Chief Warlock I am exercising my right to question the accused.” Madam Bones
said, “Did you know of any abuse being done to Lord Potter by his family?”

“No.”

“Would you have acted in Lord Potter's defense should you have discovered or suspected any
abuse being done to him?”

“Yes.”

“Did you believe you had valid reasoning and were of sound mind when you placed a
Degrading Core Block on Lord Potter?”

“Yes.”

“Have you made a conscious effort to harm Lord Potter within your role as Headmaster of
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry?”

“No.”

“That will be all, please administer the antidote Representative Rannok.” Madam Bones said
as she finished her questions. Rannok stepped forward with a green vile and handed it to
Dumbledore, who drank it in one gulp. Madam Bones then spoke up once again, “Chief
Warlock Dumbledore, do you have anything to say in your defense?”

Dumbledore stood up and looked at Harry, “I’m sorry I failed you my boy. I hope you can
forgive me.” With that, he sat down and patiently awaited his judgment.
Chapter End Notes

Comment if the trial didn't make sense to you. I attempted to use the spaces in the
dialogue to show a change speaker, switching between the questioner and the
questioned. Hopefully it made sense.
 XXVII

The deliberation took nearly an hour. During that hour, the entire Chamber was tense as
Harry sat silently, eyes glued to the floor. The fact that Dumbledore didn’t even defend
himself weighed heavily on his mind. ‘Did he truly not know? Did he really have a good
reason for placing a block on my core? He couldn’t lie, so he had to believe it.’

Madam Bones and the members responsible for the sentencing returned, all of them tense. As
Madam Bones sat down, she took in a deep breath and began to speak, “After much
deliberation, we have reached a consensus on the proper sentencing. Albus Percival Wulfric
Brian Dumbledore, in light of the charges levied against you, you are hereby relinquished of
your seat as Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot. You are also to pay Hadrian James Peverell
Slytherin Lestrange Gaunt Rosier Rookwood Potter Sayre Grindelwald a total of 100,000
Galleons for any damages and trauma received during his time as a resident of an abusive
muggle household. This Chamber cannot remove your position as Supreme Mugwump or as
Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. However, this Chamber can and
will recommend removal or suspension from both of these positions to both the International
Confederation of Wizards and the Board of Governors of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and
Wizardry. In regards to the illegal blocking of Lord Potter’s Core, this Chamber cannot come
to a satisfactory sentence due to the heartfelt belief that it was necessary at the time. As such
a fine of 250,000 Galleons will be paid to Lord Potter by the Ministry as recompense.”

With that Madam Bones struck her gavel, bringing the trial of Albus Dumbledore to a close.
The old man then stood up and walked toward Harry, “Harry, I am sorry I failed you, should
you wish to know my reasons, please talk to me on your 14th birthday. I cannot tell you now,
but once you are old enough, I will tell you everything.” With that said, he then left the room,
leaving Harry to think on his words.

Madam Bones then sighed tiredly, “Now, please bring in Sirius Orion Black IV for
questioning under Veritaserum.” Auror Scrimgeour left the room and returned nearly 30
seconds later with a skinny man with ragged black hair that fell onto his shoulders. There
were murmurs as he was sat down, with many leaning forward intently. Auror Scrimgeour
tested, and then administered the Veritaserum to Black as he slowly looked up at Madam
Bones. “Hello Amy,” he said hoarsely.

“Is your name Sirius Orion Black IV?” Madam Bones said as her stern demeanor began to
crack slightly.
“Yes.”

“Were you born on November 3rd 1959?”

“Yes.”

With the test complete, Madam Bones started with the questions, “Were you the Secret
Keeper for the Fidelius Charm cast by Lilian Vinda Potter née Evans?”

“No.”

“Did you know who the Secret Keeper was?”

“Yes, it was Peter Pettigrew.”

“Did you kill Peter Pettigrew on October 31st 1981?”

“No.”

There were gasps from the Wizengamot, specifically the Progressives, as Black uttered his
answer. Madam Bones hit the gavel once and continued, “Will you tell us what happened
when you confronted Peter Pettigrew?”

“I had just been forced to give Harry over to Hagrid when I tracked down Pettigrew on a
muggle street. When he saw me, he shouted I had betrayed James and Lily and then cut off
his finger. He then cast a Blasting Curse and escaped as Wormtail.”

“Wormtail?”
“His animagus form, that of a brown rat. It should be missing a finger or a toe now. We were
all animagus.” Black said as Madam Bones raised an eyebrow, “You and Peter Pettigrew
were unregistered animagi?”

“Yes, we were going to register after the war was over, but I never got the chance.” Black
retorted quickly before he then looked around the room. His eyes hardened as he saw the
sneering faces of many of the Progressives when he stopped and looked into a set of green-
gold eyes.

Everybody was then brought back when a loud thud echoed throughout the room. On the
floor was Arthur Weasley who had just fainted after saying something Harry couldn’t hear.
“Acting Chief Warlock Bones,” said a woman with light brown curly hair, “Mr. Weasley
passed out after saying ‘I have a Death Eater in my son’s bed.’”
 XXVIII
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes

For the second time that day aurors were dispatched as Madam Bones shouted orders from
the seat of the Chief Warlock. Sirius Black had been given the antidote by Scrimgeour, before
the auror promptly left for the Weasley household. Nearly 10 minutes later, Scrimgeour
returned alongside a dark skinned auror and an auror with a peg-leg and cane. Levitating in
front of him was an overweight man with large front teeth bound head to toe in silver chains
twitching like a madman. His eyes darted around the room and froze when he saw Sirius
sitting there. “Traitor!” Black shouted as he struggled against his chains. Auror Scrimgeour
then spoke, “We apprehended Pettigrew at the Weasley homestead. He was disguised as a
brown rat missing a front toe. He was apparently acting as the family pet for nearly 10 years.
After using Legilimency on the man, with Aurors Shacklebolt and Moody as witnesses, I can
safely corroborate Sirius Black’s version of events.”

Madam Bones gave Sirius a hard look, as he was cackling like a madman as the rat squirmed.
Once Sirius had quieted down, she spoke, “All who vote Sirius Orion Black IV innocent of
all charges raise their wands.”

Everyone, including Harry, raised their wand at this, Madam Bones gave a tiny smile, “All
who vote Peter Pettigrew guilty of all crimes attributed to Sirius Orion Black IV raise their
wands.” Again, the vote was unanimous, “All in favor of Peter Pettigrew being given the
Kiss immediately, raise their wands.” For a third and final time, the Wizengamot was united.

Pettigrew was taken out of the room screaming by Scrimgeour when Rannok stood up and
gave Harry a warm smile.

“With that finished, Sirius Orion Black IV, this Chamber has found you innocent of all
accused crimes. Your unjust imprisonment in Azkaban is officially over. You will be paid a
total of 12,000 Galleons for your time spent imprisoned. After this session, you will be
escorted to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement to register your animagus form,
then you will be turned over to Lord Hadrian James Peverell Slytherin Lestrange Gaunt
Rosier Rookwood Potter Sayre Grindelwald for some much needed rest and respite.” She
then slammed her gavel, ending the session. Sirius immediately stood up and walked,
shambled really, toward Harry, who got up and met him halfway.
 “Hello Pup.” Sirius said. Harry looked into his eyes and memories began to flood his mind,
plushies of a black dog, a toy broom, and a distinct barking laughter. He immediately lunged
forward, bringing the man into a long overdue hug.

Chapter End Notes

28 is a little short, but I felt that everything from the Wizengamot needed a nice
conclusion.
 XXIX

Harry was back at Rackham House alongside his godfather. Sirius was in awe of the ancient
manor house. After Harry had walked with Sirius to the DMLE, he asked if he would like to
come to his house. He had never had family, and inviting family over to one’s house seemed
like something he should do. After all, while Professor Rackham was a nice man, he was still
a moving portrait, he couldn’t interact with the world beyond moving small objects and
books.

After he had let Sirius look around a bit, he asked Mipsy to prepare a late lunch, the
emergency session had taken place that morning, and nobody had anything to eat for nearly 4
hours. Once Sirius returned he spoke with awe, “This place is yours pup?” It was then that
Professor Rackham made his appearance. “It used to be mine, but then old age made it
Hadrian’s here.”

Sirius jumped at the sudden appearance of the ghostly portrait. “He’s a portrait that was
enchanted to interact like a ghost,” Harry said, “His name is Percival Rackham, and he’s been
teaching me how to use my magic.” Professor Rackham smiled as he introduced himself to
his godfather.

While they were introducing themselves, he went and grabbed a small cup he had made
earlier in the month while practicing Alchemy. They were around the size of what Professor
Rackham had called a “shot glass” and were made of pure platinum. He brought the cup and
placed them before his godfather.

“Pup, it’s a little early to be drinking…” Sirius said with a small grin. “Ah, I see you want to
test it finally.” Professor Rackham said, leaving Sirius confused. “Test what exactly?” He
asked.

Harry then cast a non-verbal Secare , a dark cutting charm he learned, and let his golden
blood fall into the cups. As the wound naturally closed on its own, Sirius was in awe, “Pup,
blood isn’t supposed to be gold.”

“I know, but mine is.” Harry responded, he then offered the cup to the man, “My blood is
supposed to heal people, but we don’t know the extent of it, could you drink it?”
Sirius was shocked, but before he could say anything Harry spoke, “I’ve offered it freely, so
nothing bad will happen, but since you've been locked up, I think it should help you a lot.”
After he said that, Sirius then grabbed the cup and after a thorough and foolproof sniff test, he
drank the golden blood in one swig.

Harry watched as Sirius’ eyes shot wide. His hair darkened as he began de-age. His face and
body began to regain their color. His muscles began to fill out some and his eyes dilated as if
they were readjusting to the light.

“Well, that’s something.” He said. Professor Rackham then looked at him quizzically, “How
do you feel, can you describe it?” Sirius thought for a moment before responding, “It’s as if
my body was both hot and cold at the same time. My eyes seem sharper and my hearing is
better, I feel younger as my joints don’t ache. I feel stronger too, but also very tired.”

Harry pondered, “So it seems like your body has undergone an Alchemical Transformation.
Old wounds were healed as biological impurities were purged or transmuted into
enchantments. Your age seemed to regress, though not by a significant margin. Perhaps if I
refined the blood…”

Harry began to ramble without knowing as Sirius turned to Rackham, “Should I be worried
or proud he knows this much?” Rackham smiled, “I would be a bit of both, come with me,
I’ll explain a bit about Harry’s condition.”
 XXX

It was now the middle of August and Harry was now back in his familiar rhythm. He woke
up at 7:00 A.M. and ate breakfast. He then trained with Sirius, who had moved in with him,
until 9:30 A.M. on dueling and different simple dark charms that work better for him then the
standard equivalents Hogwarts taught. He would then take a quick break until 10:00 A.M.
where he would go to the library and learn with Professor Rackham. They would work until
1:00 P.M. when Harry had lunch. He would then work from after lunch to dinner on his
Ancient Magic or Alchemy.

Overall Harry didn’t mind this routine, Sirius was worried for a bit, but Professor Rackham
explained that he was teaching a great deal so that his comrades' portraits could then continue
Harry’s education. The current plan was for Harry to learn with Professor Rackham over the
summer, and during the school year, he was supposed to find two rooms, the Map Chamber,
and the Chamber of Secrets.

The Map Chamber, from what Harry had been told, was a chamber beneath the Hogwarts
Library’s Restricted Section. It contained a magical map of Hogwarts Valley that showed
population centers, magical creatures, and dormant Ancient Magic. These dormant pieces of
Ancient Magic were dotted around the world, and could be claimed by anyone who knew
how to use it. Once claimed, they would increase the claimants' magical core. Hogwarts
Valley had and has so many for unknown reasons, but was likely the reason Hogwarts Castle
was built there in the first place.

The Chamber of Secrets on the other hand was a bit mysterious. Jacob Lestrange Rookwood
had found it with some help from a parselmouth, but other than knowing a Basilisk was in it,
he didn’t say anything else. Slytherin’s Grimoire, the big book with the green “S” he picked
up from the Slytherin Vault, contained much more information. Slytherin himself wrote down
that in his eyes, those without magic were a threat to Hogwarts, and due to the persecution
magicals faced, he built the Chamber as a failsafe. Should Hogwarts Castle come under
attack, the Chamber would open and Slytherin’s Familiar, a basilisk named Carpathia, would
awaken from her slumber and defend the school.

Harry also discovered multiple spells within each of the books he collected from his vaults.
The Slytherin Grimoire contained a great deal of Parselmagic, magic tied to parseltongue, but
it was still beyond him currently. The Diary of Vinda Rosier detailed not only many events of
the Global Wizarding War, but also her own relationship with Gellert Grindelwald. It turns
out that she was his great grandmother! He hadn’t touched the book Spells and Rituals of the
Alliance . But he had glanced through the Rookwood Grimoire and the Personal Journal of
Charles Rookwood, another of the Keepers. He had found not only extremely advanced
Transfiguration spells inside, but also tips and notes that made his current Transfiguration
more efficient. The Rookwood Grimoire also contained a few curses created by Victor
Rookwood, a smuggler and a gang leader who died in 1891.

The book Harry read the most however was the personal spellbook of Gellert Grindelwald.
Within it were multiple charms, dark charms, and best of all, some charms that used Ancient
Magic! It had spells like the Inermi charm, a dark disarming charm that stunned the
opponent’s hand so they couldn’t pick up their wand, to an advanced spell called Protego
Diabolica, that created a ring of blue fire that protected those inside it from anything and
anyone that meant them harm. He had also found two spells that channeled Ancient Magic,
Fulgris Umbra and Tempet Amica after briefly reading the book. The first spell created a very
painful arc of lighting with Ancient Magic that could cause immense pain, and could be
lethal if used maliciously. The second could only be used in a thunderstorm, but utilized
Ancient Magic to redirect and control the storm’s lighting.

Today however was a bit different, today was August 15th and Harry still woke up at 7:00
A.M. However after breakfast he would go back to Gringotts to go over “pertinent business”
that Rannok mentioned in a letter. After his business at the bank, Harry was going to meet up
with his year mates to go and shop for school supplies. The rumor was that the new Defense
Against the Dark Arts teacher would be in Diagon Alley for a book signing. Harry and the
other Slytherins thought it useful to try and meet them before the school year began.

As Harry went down for breakfast, he saw Sirius sitting at the table reading that morning’s
Daily Prophet and scowling before he looked up, “Pup, take a look at this, but be warned, it’s
not all good news.” Harry took the paper and began to read.

HEADMASTER OF HOGWARTS TO REMAIN IN OFFICE!

After the very tumultuous emergency Wizengaot session of July 7th, many within the magical
community wondered what would become of the iconic “Leader of the Light” after it was
revealed he unintentionally allowed the Boy-Who-Lived to be placed in an abusive muggle
household. While many decry it as Goblin lies, a greater majority took the grievous matter
seriously.

After being ousted as Chief Warlock, Lord Albus Dumbledore declared to the International
Confederation of Wizard that he intends to step down and refuses to run for reelection once
 his five year term as Supreme Mugwump ends in December. However, this has left many
wondering if the Hero of the Global Wizarding War would step down from his position as
Hogwarts’ Headmaster.

After Lord Dumbledore told the Prophet that the decision laid with the Board of Governors.
After a vote on the matter this morning, the Board has declared that Lord Dumbledore will
remain as the Headmaster of Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. However, it has
been stated that certain restrictions will be placed on the position.

Harry scowled at the news when Sirius told him to read page 4 as well.

CROUCH SENIOR SENT TO AZKABAN! JUNIOR AND LESTRANGE DECLARED

INNOCENT!

In a shocking turn of events, the trial of Lord Bartemius Crouch Senior yesterday on August
14th resulted in the imprisonment of the former head of the DMLE and the innocence of both
his son, Bartemius Crouch Junior, and Bellatrix Lestrange née Black.

At the trial, Crouch Senior was found guilty of indirect manslaughter and abuse of office in
sending many to Azkaban without a trial. Said trials of Crouch Junior and Lestrange
happened at the behest of the Goblin Nation that day who “Wanted to get some of the
stagnant gold moving.” It was revealed after extensive tests after both Wizarding and Goblin
Veritaserum failed that both targets were under heavy mind-altering potions and compulsions
created by You-Know-Who and the late twins Rabastan and Rodolphus Lestrange. Once
magically cleansed, both individuals were questioned again, and it was revealed that many of
the actions both took during the Wizarding War were not of their own volition.

After numerous tests from both Goblin Healers and the Unspeakables, it was determined that
both Crouch Junior and Lestrange were telling the truth. As such, in a majority decision,
both were exonerated by the Wizengamot.

Harry was disappointed, he knew the old man would get punished. He had hoped for some
form of prison or Azkaban, instead he now has to deal with the man for the next 5 and a half
years. What was intresting was the second article, for both Bellatrix and Barth Crouch Junior
to be innocent was shocking. He immediately thought of Neville and how worried and
shocked the boy would be today. He hoped Neville’s grandmother wouldn’t be present,
because if she was, then the entirety of Diagon Alley would go deaf.

He finished eating breakfast and proceeded to put on his wand holster and placed his wand
inside it. Professor Rackham had mentioned that the crystal wall was enchanted using
Ancient Magic to take anyone in the reflection to Gringotts. Harry simply needed to touch the
wall and let his magic connect to it. Ever since he heard of it, Harry was dying to try it out.

With everything prepared, Harry and Sirius both met up at the workshop next to the crystal
wall. Sirius looked confused but before he could say anything Harry grabbed his hand and
touched the wall, transporting them through the reflection to Gringotts.
 XXXI

Harry arrived gracefully through the reflection, appearing facing the wall on his feet. Sirius
on the other hand stumbled and nearly fell over. They had arrived in his private entrance to
the Bank. Sirius followed Harry’s lead as he led them to the familiar parlor. Inside was
Rannok, but also surprisingly Healer Lifka and Bellatrix Lestrange née Black, both of whom
were sitting at the small table next to a small cane.

“I think I understand what you meant by ‘pertinent.’” Harry said as he sat down. Sirius stood
stock still as he looked at Bellatrix. His eyes were a swirl of confusion, hatred, pity, and love
when she spoke, “Hello Siri.” With that Sirius lunged at Bellatrix and held her tightly as she
silently cried into his shoulder. Both Harry and Rannok decided to give the pair of cousins
some time, at least until Lifka snapped her fingers. Immediately Sirius stood straight as if he
had been spanked extremely hard and then some.

“How are you so healthy Mr. Black? Neither Bellatrix nor Crouch are healthy enough to be
walking unaided yet, and yet here you are fit as a fiddle almost one month out.” She
remarked as she looked him up and down. Sirius began to visibly struggle to find an answer
until Harry cleared his throat. Lifka looked at him with a surprised, but knowing look, “So
that’s what happened, I see, well it’s nice to know you’re using your family as test subjects
dear.” Harry cracked a smile as Sirius made a mocked, but joking expression. Bellatrix
however was clearly confused, so Harry drew his wand, conjured a cup, and cut his palm to
let a his golden blood fall into a cup and offered it to Bellatrix.

“Pup, you really shouldn’t do this too often.” Sirius said concerned. “I know, but she deserves
to be healed after everything.” Harry left his reply vague, as he could clearly see that the time
spent without free will left Bellatrix scarred. Bellatrix took the cup and after a nod of
affination from Lifka, she drank.

Everyone watched as Bellatrix’s body began to change. The slight gray in her hair from the
stress of living in Azkaban vanished as she visibly regressed in age. Unlike Sirius, who only
became around five years younger, essentially becoming 27, Bellatrix de-aged rapidly. Horror
and awe struck everyone’s faces as the woman became younger. 40 became 35, and 35
became 25. Eventually Bellatrix’s body stopped and the room was left stunned. Before them
all was a 20 year old girl with the mind of a 40 year old woman.
“Fuck.” Harry swore. Sirius didn’t even question his godson’s use of an American swear
word, instead agreeing with him, “Fuck indeed.”

“What?” Bellatrix said, but the instant she heard her own voice she brought her hands to her
mouth. Lifka snapped her fingers and summoned a hand mirror. Bellatrix looked in shock as
she saw her younger features, she then began to look at her arms. She rolled up her sleeves
and nearly cried when she saw her bare arms. She began to cry even more when she looked
down her robes. She then immediately ran to Harry and hugged him with all her might,
muttering “thank you” a mile a minute.

Harry froze but eventually returned the hug when Lifka gave him a big smile. She whispered
something to Sirius, but from the angry, and then relieved look on his face, he could only
assume what was said. He began to try and piece together what had happened. Bellatrix’s
body reacted strongly to his blood. ‘Was this because of the Lestrange Family Magic? She’s
still technically a Lestrange, so did the magic amplify the effect my blood had on her body?’

Harry was brought out of his thoughts when Bellatrix stopped hugging him and sat back
down. Rannok then spoke up, “That wasn’t what I expected to happen, but it has happened,
so no use crying over lost blood. I wanted to talk to you today about both a quick update with
the Grindelwald Situation and about Bellatrix here.” Harry sat down, “Please tell me about
the update.” He said nervously, still a little shocked at what his blood had done.

“The progress on re-acquiring Nurmengard Castle has made some headway, and we expect to
have the castle fully repaired and back into your possession by Yule next year.” Rannok said
confidently, “However, there is one snag…”

“Grindelwald.” Harry finished. “Precisely, Gellert Grindelwald is our main hiccup. Even if
we removed him and the ICW forcibly from the castle, it still doesn’t change the fact he was
imprisoned without a trial. The Nation’s investigation made it clear no trial was ever
conducted, so it is currently working its influence to try and make it happen. With
Dumbledore leaving this December, the ICW should be more receptive to our efforts.”
Rannok finished.

“Thank you for the update Rannok, now, about…” Harry struggled to say her name, still
somewhat guilty for what he believed would upend her entire life. “Harry, it’s fine.” Bellatrix
said. “Being 20 feels… odd, but I’d take it any day over being stuck in Azkaban. Plus, don’t
you want me to thank you? ” She finished in a tone Harry was unfamiliar with. Sirius then hit
Bellatrix on the back of her head, “Bella what are you doing!” He shouted as Harry looked
confused. “I don’t know! It just happened! But did you have to hit me!” She shouted back.

Lifka looked to be on the verge of tears as she laughed as Rannok looked at Harry with pity.
‘Ah, to be young.’ The goblin thought.
 XXXII

It took everyone nearly 10 minutes to completely calm down. Harry didn’t really understand
Lifka’s explanation, it had something to do with repressed urges and emotions combining
with a hormone imbalance or something. In any case he was relieved as Bellatrix wasn’t mad
at him, she said that this was a “second chance” at living her life.

Rannok then cleared his throat, “Now, onto the business at hand. Bellatrix Lestrange is here
as she requires both Hadrian and Sirius to use their powers as Lord Lestrange and Black for
an annulment.” The goblin then brought a small box out and opened it. Inside was a black
metal lordship ring with a stylized “B” on it. Sirius looked shocked, “How can I be lord? I
thought I was disowned by my mother after I left?” Rannok simply smiled, “That is not true,
if it were, we would have been notified, put on the ring and you’ll see it will accept you.”
Sirius grabbed the ring and slipped it onto his right hand. He shuddered as the magic began to
flow into him and then relaxed.

“Welcome Lord Black, now I need you to both place your sigils here.” Rannok said as he
brought out a piece of parchment alongside a tub of magical wax. It was Bellatrix’s Marriage
Contract. After Harry and Sirius both put their sigils on the required spots, the contract
heated up and immediately burned into a crisp. Sirius then went and hugged Bellatrix once
again, “Welcome home Bellatrix Black.” She returned the hug once again and after another
small exchange of tears Sirius spoke to Rannok, “Could you escort me to the Black Account
Manager? There are some things I and Bellatrix need to do regarding other members of the
family.” As he finished, Rannok snapped his fingers as a younger looking goblin entered the
room. Before Sirius and Bellatrix followed the goblin out, he spoke to Harry, “We’ll probably
be a while Pup, after you’re done here you can go shopping with your friends.” He then
turned and looked to an empty spot in the parlor and shouted “Kreacher!”

With a pop a decrepit looking house elf appeared, “How can the nasty blood traitor summon
Kreacher!” The elf shouted, but he nearly keeled over when he saw the ring on Sirius’ finger.
But when he saw Bellatrix, he practically revivified himself. “Hello Kreacher, could you
prepare Grimmuald Place for a family gathering? We’re going to bring back Andi and Cissy
and everyone else.” Bellatrix said, Kreacher hung to her every word as he then popped away.
With that Sirius and Bellatrix followed the newly arrived goblin out and Lifka followed them.
Harry was left alone with Rannok.

The goblin grimaced before he spoke, “While we were doing a quarterly check of your
vaults, we discovered something.” He snapped his fingers as an ornate cup appeared on the
desk. It was made of gold and decorated with badgers and a stylized “H”. “This cup belonged
to Helga Hufflepuff, it was discovered inside of the Lestrange Vault. It was turned into a
Horcrux by Tom Marvolo Riddle, but has since been purified.” Harry nodded as Rannok
relayed the information. “So he made multiple? Do we know how many?” He asked, Rannok
shook his head, “We can’t be sure of how many he made, but my guess is that he tried to tie
his Horcruxes to objects of importance. We have not searched the properties yet, but with the
wards placed around the Gaunt Shack, it’s likely one is there as well.”

Harry nodded as he and Rannok discussed the best approach. They had readily agreed that
they could dismantle the wards by December for a small sum of 1000 Galleons. The
operation would be overseen by both Morgnob and William Weasely, one of Ronald’s many
siblings. Harry did grimace at the name Weasley, but Rannok assured him that William was
nothing like the “psychopathic hag.” Satisfied, Harry said his goodbyes to Rannok as he
made his way out of the Bank.
 XXXIII

Harry made his way through the main doors of Gringotts and out into Dragon Alley. He
began to make his way towards Knockturn Alley, and specifically towards Borgin and
Burkes. Knockturn Alley had an undeserved reputation for being full of “Dark” artifacts.
Unknown to those who shun the alley, it was home to many small shops that offered very
competitive prices to many of the shops on the main alley. Borgin and Burkes was by far the
largest shop, but small curio stores and small family run potions and enchanting businesses
flourished here.

Entering the shop, he saw everyone had already arrived. Draco was looking at some withered
hand with Vincent and Gregory while Theodore was talking to Hermione by the bookshelves.
Pansy was talking with both Neville and Blaise while Daphne and a younger girl with brown
hair were standing next to who he assumed was their parents. He had only seen Lord and
Lady Greengrass in passing, mainly at the Wizengamot, but both the adults smiled warmly at
him as Lucius Malfoy walked in from the back room with Mr. Burke. “Hello Lord Potter, I’m
glad you could make it today.” Lord Greengrass said as he shook Harry’s hand.

At this, Daphne stepped forward and dragged the younger girl with her, “Harry, I’d like you
to meet Astoria, my younger sister, she’ll be starting Hogwarts this year.” Harry smiled at
Astoria, “Hello Astoria, it’s nice to meet you.” Astoria herself only smiled shyly and nodded,
she never got the chance to respond as nearly everyone else moved forward to greet Harry.
Pansy gave him a hug while Blaise clapped his shoulder, Draco along with Vincent and
Gregory nodded while Neville, Theo, and Hermione smiled at him. With that they all, minus
Lucius Malfoy, began to make their way out of Mr. Burke’s shop and into the Alley.

They managed to find all of their potion supplies, as well as some extras, for a very
reasonable price. Harry also decided to stock up on some ingredients for some experiments
he had planned, grabbing a great quantity of powdered stone and some gemstones. Once they
had bought their potion supplies, the group made their way towards a small wand shop by the
name of Melflian Wands. The Melflian family had split from the Ollivander’s over 100 years
prior due to “creative differences” over how wands should be made. While the current
Garrick Ollivander chose to work with what he believed to be “supreme” wand cores, the
Melfian family made custom wands suited for a particular witch or wizard instead of making
multiple pre-made wands. Harry, alongside Blaise, Theo and Hermione, had gathered enough
money, around 10 Galleons, for Neville to get a wand of his own. His grandmother had
forced him to use his father’s wand, and it never truly worked for him, especially because it
was made of Ash.
Harry and the others watched as Neville was taken by the wandmaker, Romildabeth Melflian,
towards a set of woods and then a set of cores. Nearly 20 minutes later Neville had walked
out with a new wand suited to him, Cherry and Wampus Cat Hair, 12”.

With Neville’s new wand acquired, the group made their way out of Knockturn Alley and
towards Diagon Alley to get to Flourish and Blotts. They noticed a short line out the front
door alongside a sign that read BOOK SIGNING TODAY . As they stood in line to enter the
bookstore, a massive amount of people exited the Leaky Cauldron and immediately made the
currently short line massive. Among the newcomers was a gaggle of familiar redheads.
Arthur Weasley led his family alongside his wife into the line. Among the redheads was an
unfamiliar face. A young girl who looked to be starting Hogwarts that year stared at Harry
and his friends with a look of determination. That look vanished however when Molly
Weasley immediately barged forward and gave Harry a death glare alongside her youngest
son. “Is it true you assaulted my darling Ronald on the Hogwarts Express!” She shouted as
she pointed her finger at Harry.

Harry was startled at the sudden outburst when Arthur came up and tried to pull his wife
away, “I’m sorry, Ronald likes to exaggerate things-” “Don’t you try it Arthur, he nearly
killed my boy!” Molly screamed while Ron looked on smugly, holding his cauldron and his
wand lazily. Harry was still at a loss for words when Lord Greengrass spoke up, “Mrs.
Weasley, you do realize that Lord Potter here has every right to defend himself when he is
attacked?” Arthur paled as the Weasley Twins then spoke up,

“We’ve been trying to tell our dear mother that,”

“Young Ronniekins here was very much in the wrong for

assaulting Lord Potter.”

“We witnessed the very event with our own eyes,”

“and ears,”

“and noses, turns out Ronnikins getting zapped down the train”
“did nothing to help his stench.”

The young Weasley girl was trying, and failing, to suppress her giggles while Percy tried to
hide his small smile. Arthur finally managed to drag his fuming wife away from Harry while
he looked stunned at everything that had just happened. All of his friends were laughing at
Ron Weasley’s humiliation by his own brothers when the redhead idiotically drew his wand.
Before he could do anything however a red light hit the boy’s hand as his wand sailed over
everyone’s heads.

As everyone turned around, they saw a blond haired man dressed in lilac robes. In his right
hand he held two wands, his own and Ronald’s. His left hand was clutching a cane that
looked to be made of gold and bronze with a handle made from a giant tooth of some kind.
He flashed Harry a smile, “Drawing your wand for a small insult is truly saddening. 20 points
from Gryffindor for attacking a fellow student.”

Everyone in the room was stunned before Ronald defiantly spoke to the man, “You can’t do
that, we aren’t in school and you’re not a professor.” The man simply laughed as he threw the
boy his wand back, “Oh but I can and I am Mr. Weasley, my name is Gilderoy Lockhart, and
I am your new Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor.”
 XXXIV
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes

Everyone was silent for nearly a full second before there was a deluge of claps and cheers.
Lockhart flashed everyone a smile as he limped back over to a desk. On it was a new book, A
Duelist’s Legacy, the Life and Career of Gerard Delacour . He then waved his hand to quiet
the crowd.

“As I just announced to young Mr. Weasely, I have indeed taken up the position of Professor
at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I planned to announce this later today,
preferably after a nice lunch, but after certain circumstances forced my hand, you’re hearing
it here first!”

Reporters began to swarm forward with questions, some even tried to go for Harry before
they changed their minds and went for Lockhart instead. The man kept a perfect smile as he
answered any questions before making a grand gesture.

As Lockhart then began to draw the crowd in with a story about how he was approached by
the Board of Governors, Harry noticed a small note floating into his hand. He looked at it in
surprise as he opened it,

I’ll keep the reporters busy, get your books and have a wonderful day.

G.L.

Harry looked over at the man and Lockhart sent him a sly wink as he kept the audience
enraptured with his tale. Understanding the message, he and his friends quickly scoured the
book shop for all of their required books, and within 5 minutes, they had paid and gotten out
the door. Lucius Malfoy was waiting outside, finally finished with his business with Mr.
Burke.

After that ordeal the rest of their school shopping went extremely well. They had decided to
split up into girls and boys as they went robe shopping before lunch. Unsurprisingly, the girls
were waiting for the boys to finish as they all walked out of Twilfitt and Tattings glaring at
Draco. Lord Greengrass chuckled as the girls began to tease Draco, no matter that the boy
looked like a younger Lucius, he inherited his mother’s love for fashion.

Once they were all finished, Harry relaxed as they finally left Diagon Alley for Veridian
Lane. The atmosphere was completely different as the multicolored and noisy Alley gave
way to restaurants, markets, and leafy canopies. Trees rose out of the cobblestone and wood
street, forming the corners and foundations for many buildings. Their leaves formed a
brilliant roof of orange, red, gold as the Autumn colors dappled everything below.

They all settled into outdoor seats as they entered Carmine’s, a small, but wonderful Italian
restaurant. Once they had placed their orders, the children all immediately began to talk.

“Draco! Why didn’t you tell us the Gilderoy Lockhart was going to be our new teacher!”
Pansy said as Draco looked back flushed,

“Father wouldn’t say anything when I asked him. He simply said ‘Patience is a virtue young
man’ and left it at that!”

Everyone laughed as the conversation continued from there. Eventually Harry asked the
question that had been on his mind, “So who exactly is Gilderoy Lockhart? Draco mentioned
him in passing once or twice, but I still don’t know what he does other than write books.”

“He’s a retired duelist.” Blaise said, “He took the dueling world by storm around five years
ago. He was the youngest person to ever win the International Dueling World Cup in 1987.
However, apparently he was forced to retire after a Chimera got loose in Rome last year.”

“Forced to retire?” Harry asked.

“Yes, apparently he and 5 other wizards had to fight a Chimera, two died and everyone else
was injured! Didn’t you see the cane? Apparently it’s made from the Chimera Tooth that got
stuck in his leg!” Theo exclaimed. Everyone looked surprised as the normally quiet boy
looked down sheepishly, “I really like dueling.”
Everyone laughed at their friend's outburst. After that their food arrived and they began to dig
in.

==================================================================
======================

Lucius Malfoy was in quite a situation. On the one hand, his son’s friendship with Harry was
quite beneficial. Not only was the boy a genuinely good friend, but he was also powerful as
well. While he didn’t think he realized it yet, Lucius knew Harry would own the Wizengamot
in the future, especially once he started getting marriage contracts.

On the other hand, he was already being pressured by the more… fanatical Traditionalists to
cut ties and harm the boy, something he couldn’t, wouldn’t do.

As he exited Borgin and Burkes, he quickly disillusioned himself as he heard that screeching
bat Arthur Weasley had for a wife scream at Harry about something or another. After
watching everything play out, he realized something.

In the long run, the Weasely’s would be problematic. Not only did the screeching bat keep the
family staunchly Progressive, but she practically ran that family into the ground. Witches
weren’t encouraged to have more than three children, it was economically difficult for many
families, and it was magically taxing on the witch herself. Despite this, the woman had seven,
and Arthur was worse for wear, the man was practically a ghost of his former self, and it
made her control over him that much more complete.

Lucius could acknowledge the genius of the woman, at the cost of some of her magical core,
she practically demolished the Ancient and Noble House of Weasley. However, there was one
problem with her little strategy, her children practically loathed her. He could see it now, as
she coddled Ronald, every one of her children looked on in disgust. It was no wonder the two
eldest Weasley boys had left home and never returned. If something were to happen to her
darling Ronald… she might just finally crack.

With a flick of his wand he silenced his footsteps as he moved. The twins provided him with
a distraction as they insulted their younger brother. And it was done. Lucius immediately
retreated and canceled his disillusionment. None were any wiser that he had slipped that
infernal book into Ronald Weasely’s cauldron.
 After settling his face he greeted the children as they came out with their books. He smiled as
they began to head toward Twilfitt and Tattings, after this year Ronald Weasley wouldn’t
bully them any longer.

Chapter End Notes

Sorry for the late post, I may have taken a nap that extended into a true eight hour
slumber.
 XXXV

Harry worked his way through all of his stuff one last time. There were robes for not only
school, but also for other occasions should he require them. He had all of his textbooks next
to multiple ink pots and quills. He had potions supplies alongside his alchemical equipment,
and next to all of that he had Nemea’s small terrarium, filled with a perpetually self-heating
rock and small plants she enjoyed.

Satisfied with his packing preparations, he was about to leave his trunk when he heard a
cough from behind him. He turned around to see Sirius holding something behind his back
with a smirk plastered across his face.

“One more thing you need to pack Pup.” Sirius pulled his hands from behind his back. He
was holding a plain looking blank parchment. As Harry took it, he could practically feel the
magic thrumming between its fibers. As he held it, he could feel something from the
parchment, a desire to be used, but more than that he felt a hollow space, a hole in its magic.

“I managed to convince Rackham to help me with this. It’s based off of something your
father and I helped make when we were students. All it needs is a small drop of your blood
and a password.” Sirius said as he looked at him. Harry grabbed one of his knives from his
alchemical supplies and pricked his finger, letting one golden globule fall onto the
parchment. The golden blood was immediately absorbed into the page as black lettering
slowly formed on the parchment.

Welcome Prongslet

What do you desire your password to be?

Harry looked up at Sirius and smiled, he had heard stories of Moony, Padfoot, and Prongs,
and he knew what this might be. However, just to be safe, he decided to make his password
something only he could speak.
Sirius’ eyes widened as he heard incomprehensible hissing exit his godson’s mouth. He then
watched as the parchment answered Harry, transforming itself once more.

Padfoot and Yule Roast Ham present to Prongslet

THE MARAUDER'S SECOND MAP

Harry watched in amazement as the parchment transformed into a map of not only Hogwarts,
but of lands surrounding it as well. While it didn’t cover the entire valley, it did encompass
the Black Lake, the Quidditch Pitch, the Forbidden Forest, and Hogsmeade. He watched as
he saw footsteps dance across the page, each one labeled with a name. He saw Professor
McGonagall and Professor Flitwick both taking a late breakfast while Professor Severus
“Snivellus” Snape was making potions alongside Madam Pomfrey. He looked up at Sirius,
who had a massive smile on his face.

“I wanted to give this to you before you disappeared for a full year. I have a feeling it should
help you in whatever you want to do.”

Harry was at a loss for words, so he decided to forego them entirely. He barreled into Sirius,
giving him the biggest hug he could physically manage. He felt the hug return and Harry
simply sank into it.

===========================================
=============================================

With a burst of green flame Harry emerged from the fireplace with Sirius by his side. Before
them was the black and red locomotive that would take him to Hogwarts. As he made his
way forward, he gave Sirius a smile as he boarded the train. Any goodbyes were unnecessary,
as whatever needed to be said was conveyed already in that earth shattering hug.

As Harry sat down in a compartment, he opened his robes and let Nemea slither out. He had
decided it wise to keep her hidden from the people outside the train, and now she coiled up in
his lap, bathing in the sun that filtered through the window.
As he sat there, Harry began to order everything he needed to accomplish that year in his
mind. At the top of his list, he needed to find not only the Map Chamber, but the Chamber of
Secrets. Both hidden sanctum's lay within Hogwarts, and both had resources he could use.
The Map Chamber, from what Professor Rackham had told him, would allow him to train his
Ancient Magic to a greater degree than he could do at home. The Chamber of Secrets lay
somewhere underneath Hogwarts, and while he knew of at least two entrances, he didn't
know much of the original chamber was left. Jacob Lestrange-Rookwood had confirmed that
the Basilisk, Carpathia, was likely still alive. However, Harry could only imagine what over
1000 years could do to the private library and chambers of Salazar Slytherin. While

magic could preserve objects, even the best spells needed to be “recharged” else they fail.

He was brought out of his thoughts by the door to his cabin opening. He looked up to see
Daphne alongside Astoria. Both girls smiled as they sat down across from him. Eventually
the calm was broken when Pansy found them, and she immediately sidled up next to him. It
was at this moment when Nemea decided to wake, and the questions began. Everything from
what her name was to how he got her. Harry answered each question as they came up, and
practically rolled his eyes at the three headed serpent preening at all of the attention.
Eventually Nemea began to make a round around the cabin, flicking her tongues and begging
for gentle pets from the three girls. He noticed that for whatever reason, she stopped and
inspected Astoria more than either Pansy or Daphne, but wasn’t sure why.

Minutes turned to hours as the sun moved across the sky in tandem with the Hogwarts
Express, and before he knew it, Harry was boarding a carriage alongside Daphne and Pansy
as they made their way towards the castle. It was a relatively quiet ride, as for whatever
reason, Pansy was avoiding looking at the front of the carriage, and Daphne was looking out
towards the lake where her sister was. Eventually they made it to the massive outer courtyard
where Mr. Filch was stationed with a lantern. Harry noticed as the old man gave a hateful
glare to each and every student as they went by, but froze when he saw him with Nemea.
Before he could say anything g however, Mrs. Norris began to purr as she rubbed against his
leg. Filch stood there, mouth agape as Harry conjured a small treat for the feline, using a
quick alchemical charm to make the small treat permanent. He then made his way forward
towards the great hall, unaware of the dozens of whispers that followed in his wake.
 XXXVI
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes

Finally seated at the table, Harry watched alongside the other Slytherin’s as the first years
were ushered in by Professor McGonagal. As the Sorting Hat finished its song, the sorting
began in earnest.

“Carrow, Flora!” As McGonagal called out the first name on the list, Harry watched as the
first of a pair of twins made her way forward, after about a minute under the Hat, it shouted
“Slytherin!”

After some polite clapping from the green-decked table, her twin, Hestia Carrow, quickly
joined her sister. The next person called was one Colin Creevey, who ended up going to
Ravenclaw. Astoria ended up in Slytherin, and he sent her a smile as she happily sat next to
the Carrow twins. Soon after this names began to blur as students were called forward and
sorted into their houses. Eventually, Harry began to slowly pet Nemea as he looked at the
high table. He could see the Headmaster watching the proceedings, pointedly not looking at
the Slytherin table. He noticed both Professor Flitwick and Professor Snape watching the
Headmaster, sending him discrete glances every now and then. He noticed Professor
Lockhart as well, who actually noticed him and sent him a smile and a wink.

“Lovegood, Luna!” McGonagal’s voice shattered Harry from his thoughts as he looked back
to the sorting. He saw a girl with blonde hair practically skip towards the hat before she
greeted it. The Sorting Hat seemed to smile before it was placed onto her head. After nearly
five whole minutes the Hat finally chuckled before shouting “Slytherin!” The table began to
clap politely as Luna Lovegood gave the hat a small curtsy before she made her way over.
Harry noticed that there were sidelong glances between some of the older members of their
house, but he felt Pansy squeeze his hand reassuringly. At least the girl, despite her oddities,
would be safe in Slytherin.

Eventually, there was only one first-year left to be sorted, a girl with fiery red hair. “Weasley,
Ginerva!” As she was called, Draco tried to snigger before being slapped lightly by Blaise.
Eventually the girl sat down and the Sorting Hat was placed on her head. Everyone watched
as they expected the girl to follow her brothers into Gryffindor, except the Hat remained
silent. One minute became two, and two quickly turned to ten. Everyone was watching with
bated breath, or rather, loud groans from a certain Weasley, until after nearly 15 whole
minutes, the longest Hatstall for nearly ten years, the Hat finally spoke.
“Such a fascinating mind in here, while I don’t speak that often, I think you'd best be suited
to SLYTHERIN!”

The great hall was silent as the ancient bat was taken off her head. It was broken by a shout
from the Gryffindor table, “Ginny have you gone mental?!? Put the bloody hat back on and
get over here!” Ronald Weasley practically barked his words at his sister, and everyone
watched as she visibly recoiled before quickly making her way to the Slytherin table. Before
he could say anything else, his tongue was immediately glued to the roof of his mouth as both
Fred and George were upon him. After a Jellylegs jinx was cast, the Weasley twins dragged
their younger brother out of the Great Hall. Professor McGonagal looked stunned, but simply
sighed as she left the room with the Sorting Hat.

Harry looked down the table and noticed a shaken Ginny Weasley sitting next to Luna, Flora,
Hestia, and Astoria. The girls, despite not knowing each other that well, had all rallied around
their newest housemate. A clear ringing was then heard as the Headmaster stood up.

“It’s good to see you all here once again for another year at Hogwarts! Before we begin
however, there are three announcements I must make. Firstly, I would like to introduce our
new teacher for Defense Against the Dark Arts, Professor Gilderoy Lockhart!” Compared to
the silence before, the great hall was now filled with cheers and clapping as Professor
Lockhart briefly struggled up, and gave a quick bow before sitting down once again.

“Secondly, I am proud to announce that Professor Lockhart and Professor Flitwick are
restarting the Duelling Club! Should you wish to know more, please talk to them after the
first week of classes has passed. Finally, I would like to announce that the Hogwarts Floo
Network has been repaired!”

There was a verifiable silence and confusion that spread throughout the room before the
Headmaster gestured towards the doors of the great hall. Everyone turned and saw a small
green flame set against the wall in a tiny brazier. With a burst of green flame, Professor
McGonagal reappeared before she made her way to her seat at the high table.

“As you can see, the Floo Network that has sat unused for nearly 60 years is now finally in
working order, by next year, we expect the Network to be restored to the entire Hogwarts
Valley. However, after everything, I feel everyone would like something to eat!” With that
 Headmaster Dumbledore clapped his hands as food appeared onto the tables. The feast then
began in earnest as any excitement and questions were drowned out with pumpkin juice and
treacle tart.

Chapter End Notes

Holy shit there over 100 people who actually want to read my work. This is honestly
more than I thought I would get, so thank you! Bookmarks and Kudos fuel my desire to
keep writing and I can happily say were are finally in Second Year!
 XXXVII

Everyone was eagerly waiting for their first Defense Against the Dark Arts Class to begin as
they all sat on a few couches just across from the classroom itself. This year's second year
schedules put Slytherin and Ravenclaw together for Defense Against the Dark Arts, Charms,
and Herbology. The snakes were put with the badgers for Transfiguration, and were sadly
stuck with the lions for Potions and Flying. As such Harry was currently sitting with
Hermione and Theo as they eagerly awaited for Professor Lockhart to open his door. They
had decided to come a bit early to try and get a head start on whatever the professor had
planned today. However, it seemed the excitement from the previous night's feast carried
over, as when the trio had arrived, everyone was already here.

As they sat, Harry overheard the discussions and gossip that was flying around him. Pansy
had taught him that information was power, and the information he was getting was useful.
Everything from rumors of Professor Lockhart’s newest book to who tried to kiss who after
the feast. These little tidbits were useless taken apart, but once they were combined with
similar rumors, a mosaic would form. Harry had watched Pansy weave mosaics beautiful
enough to start arguments and ruin friendships between those that would try to bully him, and
ever since then, Harry had promised himself he would learn to weave them as well. Not just
for himself, but for his friends too.

Everyone was startled as a very loud lock was turned, and the door to the classroom swung
open dramatically. Everyone hurried inside where they saw the room was changed from the
previous year. Gone was the constant smell of garlic, replaced with a few nice bouquets that
dotted the room, providing a nice floral scent. The heavy drapes were gone, revealing three
wondrous windows that let plenty of light enter into the room. Standing at the front of the
classroom was Professor Lockhart himself, dressed in a lilac ensemble. He shot everyone a
smile as they entered the classroom and took their seats.

“Welcome to your 2nd year of Defense Against the Dark Arts! As I hope you are all aware,
my name is Gilderoy Lockhart, and I shall be your professor for this illustrious class. Now, to
begin, how about a little test of your knowledge?” Professor Lockhart finished his
introductory speech by flicking his wand, sending a small piece of parchment to everyone in
the room. On it was a set of five questions. Once everyone had a parchment, the Professor
spoke once more, “Now, you shall have 10 minutes to complete this little test, and don’t be
afraid if you don’t know everything, this is just to see how much you know.” With that, he
tapped his cane against the ground, and everyone pulled out their inks and quills to write.

Harry looked over the test itself, and read the questions.
 1. What is the incantation for the spell commonly known as the Knockback Jinx?
2. Suppose you encountered a rogue dubog set upon violently taking your lunch, what’s
the first spell that comes to mind to defend yourself?
3. What do you call the skill to cast a spell without using an incantation?
4. When approaching an opponent who has conjured a shield, what’s the best way to
circumvent it?
5. What’s Professor Lockhart’s favorite color?

As he inspected the questions, he realized the purpose of it. Questions 1 and 3 could be
answered from a textbook, the others however required one to think, and could have multiple
answers that were all correct. As Harry wrote his answers, he put down his quill and waited.
As the ten minutes ended, all of the tests were collected and placed onto a small table.
Professor Lockhart then pointed his cane at Hermione.

“Ms. Granger, what did you write for question two?”

Hermione looked a little flustered as she was called upon out of the blue. She steadied herself
and clearly spoke.

“I wrote the Full Body Bind Curse, sir, Petrificus Totalus .”

“Good, Ms. Patil?”

“I wrote the Fire Making Charm, Incendio , sir.”

“Excellent, Mr. Potter?”

Harry looked at the Professor before answering, “ Levare , sir.”

Professor Lockhart raised an eyebrow before smiling, “ Levare ? Intriguing, let me ask you
this, why not use a regular Levioso , presuming your goal is to levitate the vicious Dubog?”

“It’s easier for me to cast sir.” Harry responded. Professor Lockhart smiled, “5 points to
Slytherin for showcasing such an alternate spell.”

Professor Lockhart then turned to the entire class, “Now, Mr. Potter says that it is easier for
him to cast Levare compared to Levioso , does anybody know what that is?” He was met with
silence as everyone looked around, “Alright, tell me, what type of spell is Levare ?” Again,
he was met with an awkward silence.

“Well, this is why we’re here, it seems your previous professor neglected to tell you about
how Magical Cores interact with Spells, then again, I think he wasn’t exactly sane ,
considering the amount of garlic he kept in here.”

Everyone laughed at the joke before Professor Lockhart pulled out one of the moving
chalkboards, and he began to draw three circles.

“Now, there are three types of Magical Cores: Light, Dark, and Gray. A Core’s inclination is
meaningless when it comes to many things, can anyone tell me why it’s still important?”

Daphne raised her hand, “Is it because certain spells work with different Cores?”

“Correct!” Professor Lockhart then wrote out from left to write inside each of the circles,
Levitar , Levioso , and Levare . “Now, each of these three Charms accomplish the same thing.
Mr. Potter said he could cast Levare easier than he could Levioso . Knowing this, we can
safely assume Mr. Potter possesses a Dark Magical Core, as Levare is the “Dark” version of a
Levioso . Now, a new question, if Mr. Potter has a Dark Core, does this mean he is incapable
of casting Levioso ?”

Theo raised his hand, “No, Harry specifically said it was easier to cast Levare , which means
he had cast Levioso , at least once before and could compare the two.”
“Excellent answer Mr. Nott! Just because you possess one shade of Core does not mean you
cannot cast a spell that doesn’t match. My own Core is Light. I can cast Levitar much easier
and much more powerfully than I can a Levioso , and whenever I cast Levare , it is weak and
very draining to maintain.”

Harry watched as Professor Lockhart conjured up an anvil in the center of the room. “Now
then class, form a line, it’s time to find out what types of spells you should learn.”
 XXXVIII
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes

Harry walked out of Defense Against the Dark Arts feeling both refreshed and excited for
future classes. Once they had formed the line, everyone had tried to lift the anvil using the
three spells. It turned out that of his friends, Hermione and Draco both had Light Cores.
Blaise and Daphne had Gray Cores, while Pansy and Theo had Dark Cores. As they were all
heading towards their next class, he noticed Draco looking off . Harry wasn’t sure if he was
sad or angry or something else, but something was wrong. He slowed down to fall in line
with him.

“Draco, is something bothering you?”

Draco looked at him with a bit of surprise, “It’s nothing, Harry, just surprised about my Core
being Light.”

“Why are you upset though? It’s just your Core, it only means that some spells are easier and
some are harder.”

Draco looked at him as if he had just spoken gibberish before sighing, “I don’t know, I just
didn’t expect it I guess.”

Harry decided to drop the subject as they made their way along, perhaps he could ask
Professor Lockhart why people cared about what shade of Core they possessed. He decided
to pack it away for later though, they still had more classes today.

==================================================================
======================

As Harry was walking out of the bathroom, he felt his legs give way beneath him. He felt two
pairs of hands grab him and pull him towards an abandoned classroom. Before he could draw
his wand, he heard two voices.
“Sorry your Lordship,”

“But we really needed to talk,”

“Specifically with you,”

“About important matters.”

Harry was then plopped down into a chair as Fred and George Weasley sat themselves onto a
desk. Both twins looked at him with smiles on their faces, but despite them, Harry could see
the worry in their eyes.

“You see Harry, we expected our darling little sister was going to be a bit of a rebel. We were
both expecting her to do something,”

“But we didn’t expect her to join Slytherin.”

“Not that Slytherin’s bad mind you. It’s only that our Mother,”

“We’re still sorry you had to meet her,”

“She isn’t exactly a fan of Slytherin,”

“Or anything green, for that matter.”

“As such, we were wondering if you could do us a favor and look after our darling Ginny.”
“In exchange, we’ll even make sure the house of snakes is spared of our experiments,”

“Except for Snape,”

“Definitely not gonna stop pranking Snape.”

Harry put up his hands to stop the Twin Terrors of Hogwarts so that he could respond.

“I promise I’ll look after your sister, I just need one favor from you.”

The twins looked elated and relieved at his response, “Name your price.” They both said in
unison.

“I need help getting into the Restricted Section, there’s a secret room I need to look for down
there.”

Both the twins looked at him with puzzled glances.

“There isn’t a secret room in the Restricted Section,”

“And we would know, we have intimate knowledge of the secret rooms.”

Harry gave them both a coy smile and they both looked at each other.

“Is he implying,”
“I think he is O brother mine.”

They both smiled before turning back to him.

“We’ll help you break into the Restricted Section,”

“If you make sure Ginny isn’t bullied by the snakes,”

“And if you tell us what you find,”

“Perhaps our little partnership can continue.”

With that both the twins hopped off of the desk and gave him a dramatic bow before leaving
the classroom. Harry decided to leave the classroom as well, while he was finished with class
that day, there was something he needed to do. He quickly found a nearby Floo Scone and
touched the green flame. In a literal flash of green fire he was quickly sent through the
network, and emerged back outside the Slytherin Common Room. He went to his new
singular bedroom, a privilege for everyone other than the first years, and looked for his
expanded trunk. He was grateful their common room was in the dungeons, as this meant the
common room could be expanded. This privacy was extremely useful, as he could enter his
trunk without anyone questioning him.

Once he was back inside his trunk, Harry immediately went to his small alchemy setup. He
had multiple books and ingredients set out on a table. One of his goals that he had set for
himself was to expand his alchemical knowledge. He knew he had a great deal of knowledge
already, but what he needed was practice and practical results. Knowing how to transmute
carbon into diamonds if you couldn’t find a use for the diamonds. He was currently
experimenting with how Alchemical processes interacted with Potions, specifically the
Wiggenweld Potion.

The potion itself was used in the present day to purge poisons and other magical ailments
from the body. However, the Rookwood Grimoire had multiple passages from Victor
Rookwood about how the potion was able to mend wounds, both physical and magical. For
 there to be such a massive change in how a potion was used and its effects, in under a
century, was intriguing.

As he applied one of the ingredients, he noticed something interesting. As he applied Dittany

Leaves and Horklump Juice, he could feel his magic wanting to leave his body. As he let
some of his magic flow into the cauldron, he saw the telltale spirals of Ancient Magic as the
potion began to stir itself rapidly. Nearly 15 seconds later, the potion shone with a brilliant
green hue. He bottled the potion into five small vials, Professor Snape would likely be able to
test these and determine their efficacy.

With that experiment completed, he began to do some research on one of his long term ideas,
distilling his blood into a Panacea. One of the goals of Alchemy was the creation of a
Philosopher’s Stone, a focus for transmutation. Through it, one could create the Elixir of
Life, and stall death. Harry knew his blood could function as a potent version of this Elixir,
but he wondered if it could be refined. The drastic difference between Sirius and Bellatrix’s
reactions to his blood meant something else was at play, a variable that was unaccounted for
that changed how much youth they regained. His hope was that if he could refine his blood
and combine it with something, he could create an Elixir of Life never before seen, a Panacea
against all known diseases and aging. He knew it was a lofty goal, but it was still something
he wanted to try, if not for himself, then for his friends and family. Harry therefore pulled out
multiple ancient books published by Nicholas Flamel that he had bought, and began to
research how he initially created his first Elixir of Life.

Chapter End Notes

Holy Shit my sleep schedule is out of wack, sorry for the late post.
 XXXIX

Ginny couldn’t really believe it. Even nearly a week in, and she was in Slytherin . She knew
she wanted to be different, she knew she wanted to break away, but whatever she was
expecting, the house of snakes wasn’t it. It wasn’t bad, she had Luna, and the Carrow’s were
nice. Astoria was a little too shy for her own good, but all in all, Ginny had friends, or at least
the beginnings of them, it had been only a week after all.

It was Saturday, which meant no more boring classes. No more odd looks from Professor
McGonagal, or weird glares from Snape when she made a passable potion. She was finally
able to relax for the first time since she had gotten here. As she got dressed, she noticed that
only the Carrow’s were still here, both of them still asleep. She quietly left the room so as to
not disturb them, and made her way to the Great Hall. When she arrived, she saw Astoria
sitting with her older sister, Daphne. Next to her was Luna, who smiled as she walked
towards them.

“Good morning Ginny, toast?” Luna proceeded to hold up a plate of toast towards her, one
that had much too much butter and jam. Despite this, she took the offered breakfast and
began to eat. Luna began to talk about something as she ate, but she wasn’t focused on her, as
she had caught his gaze from across the hall. Ronald had given her a positively evil smirk,
and her stomach dropped. Just as she realized what was about to happen, the owls began to
fly into the hall. Today was mail day.

She watched as Errol swooped towards her before dropping a red envelope right in front of
her. Errol hurriedly flew away, he had sadly delivered enough of those envelopes that he was
half deaf already. As Ginny looked at the envelope, it very quickly animated and flew up into
the air.

“GINVERVA WEASLEY HOW DARE YOU! OF ALL THE PLACES YOU COULD
HAVE GONE! I SWEAR THAT IF YOU TURN INTO A SLIMY PIECE OF FIL…”
Ginny‘s horrified eyes watched as the Howler was suddenly enveloped in a bright light as it
turned into a very plump mouse. She then shrieked as a three headed snake lunged forward
from out of nowhere and devoured the mouse whole. She watched as the middle of the three
heads looked satisfied as the other two looked at it crossly. She then watched as the snake
slithered back up the table and right into the hand of Harry, Lord of too many houses, Potter.
He smiled meekly as he began to hiss at the snake, who hissed back. He then turned to her.
“Sorry Ginny, Nemea was hungry, she didn’t mean to frighten you.”

She just nodded and looked back at her half eaten toast. She completely missed the fact that
Ronald was being dragged out of the Great Hall by all three of her older brothers as
something else was on her mind. Not only had Harry Potter just saved her from any more
embarrassment, he even knew her name!

==================================================================
======================

Harry was waiting in the library, standing with Nemea in his robes as he waited for his
opening. The Weasley Twins had notified him that his opening would be today, and so he had
prepared everything he believed he would need. He had several of his Wiggenweld potions at
the ready, in case his own regeneration should be hampered in any way. Nemea was by his
side, and despite her appearance, she was very much ready to defend him, especially after he
gave her a very tasty breakfast.

He watched as everyone in the Library was quietly studying away. He noticed Hermione and
Theo looking over a book on Transfiguration. Daphne was currently helping Astoria, Ginny,
and the Carrow twins with their homework. As expected, Blaise and Draco were nowhere
near the library, both of them being “allergic to old books” and the fact that they were
practicing for the Quidditch tryouts. As he watched the twin doors to the library, he saw what
he was looking for. Silently, the two doors opened simultaneously, and chaos ensued when
purple smoke began to flow into the Library. In under a few seconds, the entirety of the first
floor was covered in a thick purple smog that left everyone coughing. Harry moved quickly,
and within a few moments, he was within the Restricted Section.

Harry quickly made his way through the smallest section of the library. After going down a
set of stairs, the walls turned from wood to stone as he neared his objective. He stopped
however when he felt a hand grab his arm. He spun around and saw a head of blonde hair and
piercing blue eyes looking up at him.

“Hello! I wanted to thank you earlier for helping our Ginny, also did you know you make
really nice spirally swirls with your magic?”
 XL

Harry was taken aback, there were so many questions to ask, and now was not exactly the
best time. He quickly dragged Luna down into the depths of the Restricted Section with him.
Once they were down far enough where he was sure nobody would hear them, he turned to
face her directly.

“You’re one of Ginny’s friends, why did you follow me, and what do you mean my magic is
pretty?”

“I’m Luna Lovegood, I’ve been meaning to talk to you for a few days, but it wasn’t the right
time.”

“Is now the right time?”

Harry was perplexed as she simply nodded her head before she continued.

“I see you don’t have any Wrackspurts, but your veins look pretty.”

“My veins?”

“Yes, they have the same swirls, just like your spells and your wand and Miss Nemea. The
swirls from your spells are a nice purpley color, and your wand is red like a rose. But your
veins are yellow, like gold or a daffodil, they swirl and swirl around!”

Harry watched as she twirled and laughed, he wondered if she was like him, able to see
Ancient Magic. Once she finished spinning, he looked at an old piece of armor, a helmet, that
was lying on the ground. He pointed his wand at it and tapped into the Ancient Magic. He let
it flow out and he saw blue spirals transformed and transmuted the helmet into a tall and
ornate silver goblet.
“Luna, did you see any blue spirals when I made the cup?”

Luna’s eyes lit up like fireworks, “You can see the swirls too?!? But they weren’t blue, they
were purple, your wand is also still swirling in crimson reds.”

Harry looked at his wand, but he couldn’t see any traces of Ancient Magic. He could feel the
magic of his wand, the seven cores working in harmony with each other and the
Philosopher’s Stone, but he couldn’t see it.

“Luna, you can see something special called Ancient Magic. I can see it too, but I think we
see it differently. I actually came down here to help train my Ancient Magic, do you want to
come along?”

Luna practically jumped with joy when he responded. He was somewhat forced to bring her
along, but besides that, he could feel something very familiar in her reactions. She was
lonely. She had only been here a week, and while Pansy had hexed the first boy who tried to
prank the first year girls, he knew Luna hadn’t likely made many friends yet, true ones at
least.

Harry managed to get them moving forward where they came upon a massive archway in the
middle of an ancient chamber. Despite its age, it looked to have been repaired somewhat. He
felt a pull towards the archway, and it seemed Luna did as well. He could see swirls of
Ancient Magic rise violently upward from the center of the archway. He instinctively moved
his wand and caught the spiral with its tip and let the magic flow. He watched as the Ancient
Magic spread from his wand and into the archway, and like a drop on a still pond, the view
before them changed. Where once was a solitary archway was now a gateway to another
room entirely.

Harry eyed the new gateway with awe and a good amount of suspicion. These were not
things that seemed to affect Luna however, as she immediately walked through, and dragged
him along by his arm. It felt as if he was being thrust through a wall of water. A singular
moment of cold sensation hit his entire body as he passed the threshold. As quick as it had
come it was gone, and now he was standing in a completely different room. The architecture
was spectacular, with blue marble like stone being accented with gold and brass. As he and
Luna walked around, he could see small nooks filled with artifacts and books. When he
inspected one of them, he found the books and artifacts to be centuries old and in perfect
condition. He made a mental note to return and collect as much as he possibly could into his
trunk before he continued onward.

As they made their way forward, they eventually came upon a massive hallway that led to an
ornate set of doors. There were multiple statues holding maces and swords that decorated the
hall. As they neared the halfway point, Harry froze and pulled Luna behind him. He
immediately conjured a Protego and not a second later a massive mace rebounded off the
shield. Harry’s eyes darted to the statues as they began to hum with magic, coming to life.
Eventually one larger statue dropped from above 15 feet in front of them and magically
created a new mace. They were surrounded by nearly a dozen statues.

Luna was frozen to her spot, and that left Harry few options. He immediately summoned
forth a bolt of lighting and using Ancient Magic, sent it hurtling towards four of his soulless
opponents. The lighting impacted and with loud cracks the four statues fell over, inert and
broken. He immediately whirled to his left and transformed the ground beneath him into a
barrier, raising marble into a wall to defend him and Luna. With Secare he sliced another two
golems in half before he had to cast a second Protego to block a strike from the largest
statue.

He heard a pained cry from behind him and saw Luna sprawled out on the ground, one of the
statues had broken through his wall and had struck her with a mace. Harry felt something
surge from within him as he flicked his wand at the offender. He watched as they
disintegrated into purple dust before his very eyes. Nemea then kept from his arm and he
watched as she immediately grew to a monstrous height to engage two of the statues. He
turned back to the last three statues and began his assault. He immobilized one with Levare ,
leaving it dangling in the air as he sent an Inermi to disarm the other. He immediately used
Wingardium Leviosa to grab its weapon and flung it into the immobilized statue, leaving it
broken. Harry then sent forth another lighting bolt, shattering the second.

The final golem, taller than the rest, stood before Harry with its sword raised high. He
dodged to his right and with a glance, saw that Nemea had thoroughly destroyed the other
two golems. He hissed out a command, and immediately a Depulso to try and knock his
adversary off balance. As it started to tumble, Harry felt triumph as Nemea lunged at it,
wrapping her body around its limbs, constricting it before ultimately shattering it.

As the final magical automaton crumbled, Harry immediately ran to Luna and force fed her
one of the Wiggenweld potions. There wasn’t any blood, but he needed to be sure she wasn’t
hurt. As she slowly woke up, she looked at the destruction around them with teary eyes.
Without saying a word, Harry hugged her and held her close. Soon enough he heard sobbing
come from his chest, and felt as Nemea, now shrunk to her normal size, curled protectively
around Luna. Harry simply held her and looked around at the debris, the door to what he
presumed was the Map Chamber lay before them, and he would have words with whoever
nearly killed an innocent girl.
 XLI

Harry stayed with Luna until she had fully calmed down. As they waited, he took a look at
the statues that attacked them more closely. He could see the traces of Ancient Magic evident
in their design. Each one had defenses against most regular Magic, and were excellently
constructed. For them to come alive once they had gotten close to the door was odd however.
Professor Rackham had mentioned that Jacob Lestrange-Rookwood had scrapped a lot of the
“trials” the original Keepers had designed. They were each life-threatening in their own way,
and were scrapped in favor of a proper education. For the statues to attempt to kill him,
something must have gone wrong.

Luna eventually looked up at him, and he smiled down at her before he slowly brought the
both of them to their feet. They slowly made their way across the rubble and Harry watched
as the debris from the fight slowly melted into the ground. Even his transformed wall melted
away and rejoined with the blue marble.

Eventually, they made their way to the door and Harry pushed them open. They watched as
the door gave way to a a massive room. It was shaped like a large circle, and on the far end
there were four massive portraits. The floor itself was like starlight on a calm pool. As they
made their way down the stairs, their steps on the “floor” created ripples that had Luna
laughing and twirling once again. Eventually, the portraits seemed to shift as Professor
Rackham made an appearance.

“It’s good to see you again— oh! Now who have we here?”

“Professor Rackham looked stunned to see Luna who had stopped and now looked up at the
massive portrait.

“This is Luna Lovegood Professor, she can see Ancient Magic as we can. We were attacked
by the statues outside this room, why?!?”

Harry lost his temper at the end, and Luna gave out a small gasp. Professor Rackham looked
at both of them inquisitively before answering.
“Most strange. The Sentinels were designed to do two things, to protect what they are
assigned to guard, and to follow the orders of those who can command Ancient Magic. For
them to attack you, they must have viewed Ms. Lovegood as a threat, but why?”

As Professor Rackham pondered, Harry waited as his mentor muttered. Luna came up to
him.

“Harry, when you’re angry, I see red wash off of you like waves in the ocean. I don’t like red,
I’m sorry I made you angry.”

Harry was about to try and comfort her when Professor Rackham spoke up.

“My dead, did you say you could see his anger?”

Luna nodded her head and Professor Rackham was shedding a tear.

“I cannot believe it, and yet it must be true. Ms. Lovegood, you possess a rare gift, one even
rarer than simply seeing Ancient Magic like I and Harry do. I have only ever known one
other woman who can see what you see. You my dear can see how Magic itself interacts with
our very minds.”

Luna was dumbfounded and was speechless. Harry took the initiative, “Professor, what does
that mean exactly?”

“It means Ms. Lovegood can see many things. She can see emotion, such as anger, love, joy,
and sadness. She can see how magic interacts and affects such things. It is related to Ancient
Magic, and is exceptionally rare.”

“That doesn’t explain why those Sentinels attacked!”

Professor Rackham sighed before sadness overtook his face once more.
“That is because the last person like Ms. Lovegood was Isidora.”

“Oh.”

Harry’s response was short. Luna moved over to him and looked up at the massive portrait.

“Who’s Isidora sir? It makes you very sad, It’s like mud staining your clothes.”

“Isidora was an old student who lost her way my dear. Do not worry yourself with it, the
Sentinels thought you were her, and for that I apologize. Harry, if you will listen closely, I
shall teach you how to command the Sentinels. This should help you avoid any such
incidents in the future.”

Harry listened and learned. He learned how the Sentinels were constructed, and how Ancient
Magic acted as a spark to fuel them. To manipulate the spark was to manipulate the Sentinel.
He could see how they made their weapons and armor out of nothing, or rather, how they
created them from pure Magic. As he learned, Luna sat and listened in as well. While Harry
couldn’t exactly tell if she was “learning” per se, she still watched with avid attention.
 XLII

As Harry finished his impromptu session with Professor Rackham, another portrait came to
life. Harry and Luna both watched as a portly man dressed in Tudor-era garb appeared. He
seemed bald, and as such wore a cap, and his clothes held a bronze and gold color scheme to
it.

“Well, it seems I have more pupils than usual! My name is Charles Rookwood, a former
Professor of Hogwarts, and one of the so-called Keepers. I see Percival has just finished
teaching hou, and looking at the time, it’s best you make your way back.”

Harry panicked when he heard Professor Rookwood mention the time. He quickly cast a
Tempus and discovered that lunch was nearly an hour and a half ago. With a start he stood up
and immediately grabbed Luna.

“Thank you for reminding us of the time Professor. I’ll make sure to return to continue my
studies.”

Professor Rackham then held up his hand, silencing Harry.

“Ms. Lovegood, I would be delighted if you would return as well. You have a wonderful gift
my dear, and it would be an honor to help you nourish it.”

Luna looked at the Professor with a mystified expression before she gave a nod of
affirmation. With that done, she began to skip towards the exit.

“Are you coming, Harry? I’m quite hungry and I would like to eat some lunch.”

Harry was flustered by her response, and quickly gave his goodbyes to the two Professors. As
he went back up the stairs, he went and opened the door and was met with the hallway from
before. However, at its end was a new door. As he opened the new door, he was greeted with
the familiar brickwork of the Hogwarts Dungeons. As he and Luna stepped out, they watched
as the door closed behind them. The door then glowed with a rune of Ancient Magic before
melting into the wall, becoming invisible.

From there it was a very quick journey to the kitchens, and with food in hand, Harry decided
to take Luna to the old classroom he had appropriated. Once they were sat down, they ate
their lunch in relative silence. Only once they were both finished did Harry ask a question
that had been on his mind.

“Luna, are you okay?”

Luna looked at him quizzically, turning her head slightly.

“Yes, why? Is something wrong?”

“Well, it’s just that you were hurt earlier. I wanted to make sure you were alright. You cried,
but after that it was like it never happened.”

“It’s alright Harry. I was scared, but you made me feel better. Mother always says that it’s not
good to let feelings stew. They get all fuzzy and muddled when they do.”

With that said, Luna stood up and gave Harry a hug before she left the room to go about the
rest of her day. Harry was left somewhat stunned, but ultimately accepting, of Luna and her
eccentricity. He decided to try and make his way to his trunk to continue his research. He
nearly made it to the door to the Slytherin Common Room when he felt two pairs of arms
grab his own. He looked and saw Blaise to his left, and Neville to his right. They both began
to drag him away from the Common Room.

“Harry, we know you like to go off and do things but we both think it would be good if you
came outside.”

Neville’s words held some truth, but much to Harry’s surprise, a bit of fear in them.
“While Nev is right, it’s more the fact that Pansy ‘asked’ us to find you…”

Blaise’s subsequent comment made Neville sigh as Harry resigned himself to his fate. Within
short order, they were outside in the courtyard, where Pansy was sitting with Daphne. Pansy’s
eyes raked up and down his clothes before she spoke.

“What happened? I’m not dumb and I’m not blind. Daphne told me what happened in the
library, and nobody can find you. Then you come back after nearly three hours with ripped
and dirty robes.”

Harry looked down at his own clothes and realized that they were in fact dirty, and that there
was a large cut near the bottom. He wasn’t sure where the cut had come from, he didn’t
remember if a Sentinel had cut him or not, and that was concerning.

Before he could continue thinking about his combat perception, Pansy snapped her fingers at
him to get his attention. Harry needed to come up with something to say, and so he said a half
truth.

“I was exploring and I ran into some enchanted statues.”

Blaise was intrigued, while Neville and Daphne looked shocked. Pansy however was still not
satisfied, but much to his surprise, she didn’t pet further. She simply sighed before
continuing.

“Well, you’re done exploring today. C‘mon, let’s go do something fun.”

Pansy then got up and grabbed Harry and began to drag him along. As he looked back at
Blaise and Neville, they both smiled before tagging along. Daphne was the last to rise, but
followed as well with a small smile. As Harry looked back at Pansy, he noticed her smiling as
well, and finally, he smiled as well.
 XLIII

Harry walked through the dark corridor, wand alight as he made his way towards his
destination. After his outing to the Map Chamber, he resolved to make sure nothing went
wrong with his next adventure, locating the Chamber of Secrets. He had ensured everyone
was asleep before he had made his way into the shared common room donned in his
Invisibility Cloak. He made it to the main fireplace, and with a parseltongue password he had
found in Slytherin’s Grimoire, the fireplace extinguished and revealed a stone door.

It had been nearly an hour since Harry had entered that door, and he was still trying to make
his way to the Chamber. The simple corridor he thought he would find did not exist, instead
he had found a maze. The Maruader’s Map Sirius and Professor Rackham had made was of
no help here, and so Harry was forced to do this the old fashioned way. As he went, he
discovered the maze itself seemed to connect to multiple different points within the Castle.
He had found one entrance that led to the Kitchen, and another that led to the Main Hall. He
had also discovered multiple separate passageways that seemed to house the plumbing of the
Castle. The plumbing passageways seemed to be completely separate from the maze he was
in, but they intersected at multiple points, often where a secret exit or entrance was. These
intersections gave Harry reliable landmarks he could work around.

The plumbing only went from areas where water or waste was needed or taken, so Harry built
himself a mental map. He knew where the kitchens were, as the intersection between the
plumbing and the maze led to the hidden entrance. From there he managed to track his way to
the Main Hall, and eventually made his way upwards. He had now mapped nearly 10 separate
hidden passageways from the maze that led to different parts of the Castle. By his current
estimation, he figured he was currently underneath the girls bathroom on the second floor. As
he took a step forward, he nearly fell over as he saw a staircase leading down. What didn’t
make sense was that there shouldn’t be a path downward. From everything he had seen, the
plumbing and the maze intersected, and as such, should have created an entrance outside the
bathrooms. Instead, he was under the bathroom, and only going deeper.

As Harry made his way down, he could slowly see the corridor around him change. Where
the walls had been made of regular stone before, they now transitioned into a gray marble.
Eventually he hit the bottom of the stairs, and as he looked around at what looked to be a
massive hall, he could feel the Ancient Magic in the air. As he took a few steps forwards,
hidden scones on the wall lit up of their own accord, and Harry could see everything. He
could see the gray marble transform into beautiful snake motifs and sculptures that all led
towards a massive circular room. At the end, stood a statue of Salazar Slytherin himself.
As Harry walked toward the statue, he noticed even more. Around the room were multiple
doors. Where each one led, he did not know, but first, he needed to meet someone. Harry
cleared his throat before he spoke in parseltongue.

“Carpathia! I ask you to rise and greet the Heir of Slytherin!”

His words reverberated around the chamber, and Harry watched as the statue of Slytherin
began to move. Its mouth opened wide and out of it came a massive snake. He watched as
slowly, the snake slithered out and touched the ground. It began to coil slowly around him
until Harry was face to face with the massive Basilisk.

“Greetings True Heir of Slytherin. It seems you are the one I was waiting for, not the other.”

Harry was shocked by a few things. The first was the fact that Carpathia lacked the “accent”
he had noticed in other snakes. The second was more alarming however.

“What do you mean? Has someone else tried to meet you?”

“Yes little, yet old, one. A boy came many years ago. He proclaimed himself Heir, but his
blood was thin and his soul wicked. I banished him from these Chambers.”

“Banished? What was his name, was it Tom Riddle?”

Carpathia seemed to chuckle, as much as a Basilisk can chuckle, before she nudged him.

“Humans… focused too much on the past and the future, and never on the present. Come, I
have much to show you.”

With that, Harry watched as Carpathia began to uncoil around him before she hissed. He
watched as the entire Chamber shifted, doors became larger and corridors expanded. The
hallway he had come in from was now gone, and before him was a massive passageway. At
Carpathia’s insistence, he followed the ancient Basilisk, curious to see exactly what she had
in store for him.
 XLIV

Ginny sat in her bed as everyone slept around her. She didn’t know why, but everytime she
thought of the past few days, something didn’t add up. Luna had missed lunch on Saturday,
and now it was Tuesday night and she still had no idea what had happened. Despite Luna
saying everything was fine, she noticed there was some dried blood inside her robes. When
she asked Flora and Hestia, they said they saw the same. When the three of them cornered
her, they couldn’t get an answer out of her, and when they tried again with Astoria, she
simply smiled and said she’d tell them later.

Ginny had been scared since Luna told them that, and she didn’t know why. Did Luna not
trust them? Luna had always been… different, but she never lied to her before. She had
known Luna for years, and she was her best friend for a long time. She stopped seeing her
after her mother said so when she was 7. When she asked her mother why Luna couldn’t
come over anymore, she had said her parents were “dark” and couldn’t be trusted. When she
asked her father what being “dark” was, he sighed and refused to answer her. She never knew
what being “dark” was until Bill had told her.

She didn’t know why her mother didn’t like Luna’s parents because of their beliefs, but it was
stupid. So what, they liked old wizarding traditions, how did that affect Luna, her only friend!
When she saw Luna on the train again she nearly cried. Since then things had been better,
almost amazing, but she was scared. Her mother had made it clear she likely couldn’t go
home for Christmas, or rather, Yule. She realized that outside of her family and a few others
in the so-called “light”, nearly everyone else practiced the old wizarding holidays.

Ginny was startled out of her thoughts by a head poking through the curtains around her bed.
She looked and saw Flora looking at her. Nearly a second later, Hestia also poked her head
through.

“Something in your mind?”

“We promise not to tell.”

Both the twins spoke one after the other sometimes, and Ginny felt comforted by it
sometimes. She was reminded of Fred and George.
“I’m just worried is all.” Ginny could already see her response didn’t really satisfy them, as
they immediately climbed through the curtains and sat down on either side of her bed. Flora
was behind her and immediately put her head on her shoulder.

“Ginny, we know something is wrong, is it your mother?”

“No, it’s not her, at least not this time, it’s…”

“Is it Harry?”

Ginny blushed as Hestia leaned forward in front of her. Ever since Saturday, the girls had
been teasing her whenever she looked at Harry. It wasn’t that she liked him… she was just
grateful!

“Hestia! Look, it's Luna alright, I’m just worried. We all saw the blood, but she still hasn’t
said anything to us.”

“That’s because it’s not my secret to tell silly!”

Everyone looked over to see Luna now poking her head through the curtain before she
quickly got onto the bed as well.

“I know you all have questions, but it’s not my secret to tell. I’ll tell you guys when I’m sure
I can, but not before.”

“What’s going on? Why are you guys up?”

Astoria proceeded to poke her head through the curtain as well, her hair was currently a mess,
as she had seemingly been the only one of them to have been asleep.
“Sorry Astoria.”

Astoria sighed as Ginny apologized before she climbed into the bed as well. It was now a bit
cramped, but everyone fit.

“We might as well talk about things, so, how has Harry been Ginny?”

All the girls proceeded to tease Ginny once more, and now with no classes or other people to
intervene, she was completely at their mercy. Despite that, she was happy. She wasn’t stuck
at home with her mother, or with Ronald beating down on her door. She was at Hogwarts,
with friends, in Slytherin of all places, and she was having fun.
 XLV

Harry walked along the corridor that Carpathia had opened. The walls seemed to move
alongside him, new scones and statues being melded out of stone as he walked. He could
catch glimpses of rooms full of beds, tables, and even dormant kitchens. The Chamber truly
was a haven in case of a siege. He soon saw what Carpathia was leading him to however. In
front of him he saw a massive light ahead of him and once he got up close, he was amazed.

Inside a circular room a massive sphere of light floated in the air, surrounding it was multiple
rings of silver. The rings reflected light everywhere around the room, and Harry watched as
the light fell upon a wide pool of water. There was a short stone bridge in front of him that
led to a small circular platform. As he crossed it, he could feel Carpathia stop at the edge of
the water.

“Welcome to the True Chamber of Secrets, meant only for the Heir of Slytherin and those
they trust.”

Carpathia’s words echoed throughout the Chamber as Harry looked around. As he thought of
how such a thing could be possible, he felt a pull towards the water. As he neared the edge of
the platform, the water floated upward in a spiral. Before he knew what he was doing, the
water engulfed him.

Harry was immediately back on the stone platform, his head completely soaked. As he tried
to recall what had occurred, he realized he couldn’t . Yet when he looked at the room once
more, he knew of the runic circuits and the enchantments that helped to create this room. He
could see how dimensions were layered on top of each other, and folded and bent using
complex spells to create a near infinite space.

As he looked around him once more, he noticed the water had small wisps of light seemingly
swimming within it. As he looked ever closer, he noticed a wisp rise up with the water in a
spiral. This time he was prepared, and he let it calmly engulf him. He was met once again
with a lapse of memory, but he knew that those wisps were secrets . Pieces of knowledge
grasped from the forgotten corners of people’s minds. All things deemed secret for one
reason or another made their way here to this pool. Before he could try to learn more, he was
stopped as he felt his body halt against his own will.
“Come little one, it is late, and you will need to return to your bed soon. The Chamber is
intoxicating, and you have yet to learn to use it. I have the power to create a more direct
entrance for you, so hurry along, I shall teach you more soon.”

Carpathia hissed once more and Harry watched as the bridge reformed and across from it, a
new door. Harry was amazed and had to ask. “How can you do this Carpathia? Are you
casting magic?”

The Basilisk smiled once more, “In a way. I have an intrinsic connection to the magic of this
castle, similar to one you possess towards the Old Magic. My power is derived from my
position as Seneschal.”

“Seneschal?”

“Yes little one, who do you think organizes the House Elves and manages the relations with
the Merpeople?”

With that Carpathia nudged him towards the door, and when he opened it, he saw his room .
He was then pushed through the door and when he turned around, the door was gone. In its
place was his usual door to the common room. Then, when he turned around once more,
there was another door on the opposite wall with a note on it.

Get some sleep little one, I can answer your questions once you’ve gotten some rest.

Harry did feel tired, he cast a quick Tempus and saw that it was 2:00 A.M. Realizing for the
first time how long he truly wandered in the maze within the castle, he quickly laid down and
before he knew it, he was fast asleep.
 XLVI
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes

The end of September had come and gone, and now, on October 1st, nearly half of the second
year was waiting outside of the Great Hall alongside multiple other students from higher
years. Today was the first official day of the Duelling Club. The notice board had gone out at
the start of the third week of classes, and Harry, alongside most of his friends, had signed up.
The crowd was abuzz with excitement as Harry stood next to Blaise and Theo.

He felt a light headache whenever he tried to think about something for too long. He thought
this was from his time in the Chamber of Secrets nearly two weeks ago, so he was
particularly excited to be able to unwind. He found he enjoyed dueling with Sirius over the
summer, so he was thrilled to potentially learn from Professor Lockhart.

“Harry? Harry! Cmon!” Theo yelled at him. He looked and saw the doors had opened and
everyone was shuffling inside the Great Hall. He hurried up to his friends and saw that the
whole hall had been transformed. Gone were the four large tables. In their place, two slightly
raised dueling platforms had been set up in the hall. Each one was decorated with a royal
purple carpet that ran lengthwise down the platform. Gold embroidery stitched in showed the
exact center of the platform alongside the proper distance between each duelist.

In the middle of the room stood both Professors Lockhart and Flitwick. Both professors wore
a blue vest over a white shirt. As everyone grouped up in the center of the room. Professor
Lockhart gave a wide smile before he spoke up. “Welcome to the First Meeting of the
Revived Dueling Club of Hogwarts, Crossed Wands! Today will be an introductory session,
but every two weeks, we will meet to not only teach dueling, but to sharpen our skills.”

Professor Flitwick spoke up next. “As such, you will be tutored in not only proper dueling,
but also in proper spellwork. A badly cast spell can be the end of a duel, and in dueling, every
second you waste is one second closer to defeat.”

With that said the two professors began by teaching them Scuder, a basic shield charm
designed for dueling practice. Once everyone had created an adequate shield, they taught
them Strei, a basic offensive spell that sent forth a bolt of red magic.
Once the teaching was concluded, both professors took their place at each of the platforms
and sorted the students between themselves. Harry had managed to get sorted into Lockhart’s
group, but sadly his friends weren’t here with him. Once everyone was sorted, the duels
commenced in full force.

Harry watched as spells went flying as students went up and down the platform. Professor
Lockhart kept a tally of who had won and lost, and seemed to be watching each match
intently. They had been limited to the two spells taught that day, but despite that, the duels
were competitive. He saw students from older years being beaten by students two to three
years younger. Eventually Harry was called up to the platform. He looked at his opponent
and saw a Gryffindor fifth year. He didn’t know who they were, but only that he had a smug
look on his face.

Professor Lockhart looked at them both. “Now remember, be respectful, and keep to the two
spells you learned for today.” Harry bowed to his opponent at the Professor’s signal, and took
his place. He dropped his wand low and minimized his body space like Sirius had taught him.
He looked at his opponent once more. He could see how he twitched slightly, and decided on
his course of action. As Professor Lockhart gave the signal, he conjured a Scuder
immediately. He watched as his opponent's Steri bounced off of his shield. His opponent tried
to cast a few more times, but each and every spell he sent his way was rebounded. Harry
looked for his opening, and right before his opponent's fourth cast he dropped his shield and
fired his spell. He watched as his Strei struck his opponent's liver, and he was knocked down
immediately.

Polite claps and some cheering from some Slytherin’s followed and he meekly returned to his
spot beside the platform. As he looked at his opponent, he had already returned to his spot,
and was glaring daggers at him. Professor Lockhart however looked at him with a kind smile
as he continued with the next duel.

Harry looked over at the other table and managed to catch both Theo and Blaise’s duel. The
two had ended up against each other, and Harry watched as they fought. While Blaise was
aggressive with his casting, Theo was much more reserved and precise. Whereas Blaise had
cast three Strei before he would wait and see what Theo would do, Theo simply responded to
whatever came his way. He would often react instead of taking the initiative, and this
ultimately led to his victory. Blaise, despite holding the advantage initially, began to get tired
and as his casting slowed, Theo capitalized on it with a blitz of spells. One overwhelmed and
shattered shield later, and Blaise was on the ground.
 Eventually the time for dinner had come, and both the Professors had to bring an end to a
very successful day. As Harry was about to leave, he felt a tap against his leg. He turned and
saw Professor Lockhart smiling at him.

“Mr. Potter, I wanted to congratulate you on your victory, I didn’t expect such a precise shot
on the first day. If you would humor me, would you stay behind after class at our next
lesson?” Professor Lockhart said with a mix of pride and scholarly intrigue. He couldn’t help
but be a little worried however as he responded.

“Of course Professor, am I in trouble?”

Professor Lockhart’s smile faltered for an second, but he looked him directly in the eyes.
“No, you are not in trouble, I just wanted to discuss an opportunity with you. Now run along,
Professor Flitwick and I have to prepare the Great Hall for dinner before Professor
McGonagal yells at us.”

Harry smiled as his Professor hurried off and began to transfigure the platforms back into
tables. He turned around and saw Blaise and Theo both waiting for him. Once he had joined
them, they quickly made their way to the Common Room, where they found Draco, Pansy,
Daphne, Vincent, and Gregory. Blaise then began the tale of the first meeting of the Duelling
Club, and much to his embarrassment, went into great detail about how he had defeated a
fifth year with no difficulty. Eventually, they made their way back to the Great Hall and
Harry managed to get a reprieve as the food appeared and everyone dug in.

Chapter End Notes

Apologies for the unplanned hiatus. There was a fence that needed building.
 XLVII

Harry was sitting in front of Professor Rookwood’s portrait as Luna was in front of Professor
Rackham’s. Classes for the week began tomorrow, so they were both relegated to coming to
the Map Chamber on weekends to learn. He had conjured a privacy ward around himself and
Professor Rookwood at the portrait’s request.

He had been learning about the basics of “true” conjuration, the art of creating permanent
objects through magic alone. While he had learned how to make certain conjurations
permanent through Alchemy, True Conjuration could make any object last indefinitely and be
rendered immune to counter-spells so long as it was done correctly. So far, he had been
learning the correct ritual circles he would need to perform his first basic conjuration, a glass
vase.

He finished drawing the final part of the circle. It was a heptagram, his “trademark” circle,
but there were multiple different magical symbols and runes added to channel his Magic and
solidify it into a glass vase. He looked up at Professor Rookwood, who was humming as he
observed his work.

“Almost, young man. In its current configuration, your ritual circle would create the glass,
but would not correctly create the vase. Can you tell me what you did wrong?”

Harry looked at the circle once again. As his eyes traced runes, he thought he saw what was
wrong. “Is it the Heating Rune? I wrote it in so it could heat the glass in order to shape it into
a vase.”

Professor Rookwood gave a sly smile. “It is indeed, but how about another question. Why
would you need a Heating Rune when you could create the vase already shaped?”

Harry looked up, confused. Professor Rookwood continued. “Your Ritual Circle creates raw
glass, heats it, shapes it, and then cools it before making it last indefinitely. Your heating rune
was drawn incorrectly, but it truly was never needed in the first place! Instead, you could
simply create the glass vase already formed, and then modify it to make it indefinite.”
Harry absorbed the information and wrote down pertinent notes. Once he was finished,
Professor Rookwood began to show him the runes necessary to create the glass vase.

==================================================================
======================

Sirius walked with Bella through the newly cleaned Grimmauld Place. Despite his age,
Kreacher had managed to make the old townhouse spotless. As he walked around, he noticed
nearly every single room was cleaned, Kreacher had even managed to remove all of the
Gryffindor red from his old room!

As he made his way out of his old room, he saw Bella collapsed on the ground, trembling.
He immediately rushed over. “Bella? What’s wrong? Tell me what’s wrong.” She was
shaking uncontrollably when Kreacher popped behind him. She looked over to Reggie’s old
room. It was barely a whisper, but he heard it. “ He’s in there.”

He immediately drew his wand and approached the door. As he did, Kreacher tried to stop
him. “Nasty Master Black mustn't! Kreacher can’t break his promise to Master Regulus!”
The old elf tried in vain to keep him from the door, but as the Lord Black, anything Kreacher
tried, even a direct attack, failed.

As he touched the door, he felt physically ill, but compared to Azkaban, it was nothing. With
some effort the door was forced open, and what he saw horrified him.

Everything in the room was warped and destroyed. The walls were stained black with blood
and the room reeked of death. The bed and other destroyed pieces of furniture were were
suspended and frozen in the air. As he took a step inside, the bed sheets came alive and flew
towards him. Before he could respond, a loud snap sent them backwards. He immediately
summoned forth fire and sent it forth, burning the sheets to a crisp.

As he looked behind him, he could see Kreacher trembling as his hand was raised. Turning
back, he took another step into what once was his brother’s room and watched as the room
recoiled and struck once more. Shattered wood from what used to be the dresser rose slip and
flew at him, but with Kreacher’s help, he banished it into nonexistence. Another step, and the
floorboards ripped up from the floor to try and stop him. With a quick flick, they were
destroyed as he sent a Confringo into it.
It took nearly an hour to clear the room of anything and everything within that could have
killed him. Before he took another step further, Kreacher grabbed his leg, his voice hoarse
and barely audible. “Nasty Master Black must be careful! Kreacher could not destroy it for
Master Regulus…” The old elf began to completely break down, and was reduced to a
weeping ball on the floor as he kept apologizing to his dead brother.

Now in the center of the room, he saw the source of this nightmare. Sitting in the center of
the room was a pristine gold locket with an emerald “S” made of jewels. Blood was dripping
from the seams of the locket, and as he approached, the locket began to shake violently. He
immediately cast and Immobulus on it, and watched as it didn’t affect the locket in the
slightest.

“Kreacher! Go to Gringotts and find the Black Account Manager. Get as many Curse
Breakers here as fast as you can!”

With a pop the elf disappeared. Sirius remained glued to the spot, watching the locket until
help could arrive.
 XLVIII

Harry watched as everyone around him began to pack up and leave the room. He however
stayed behind as Blaise and Theo wished him luck, which he hoped he wouldn’t need. Before
him stood a smiling Professor Lockhart, leaning on his cane slightly as he looked at him.
“Now, Mr. Potter, do you know why I wanted to speak to you today?”

Harry looked up at him. “Because you asked me too after the first Dueling Club meeting sir,
you said you had an opportunity to discuss with me.”

“Yes! Now, I want to ask you a few questions before we start. First, before the Dueling Club
meeting, have you had any practice or previous experience in dueling?”

“Yes sir, my Godfather Sirius helped me learn some spells he said would be useful.”

“Second, have you ever practiced Overcharging?”

Harry gave a confused look to his Professor. “No sir, I don’t know what Overcharging is?”

Professor Lockhart looked surprised at his response. “Really? I could have swore… never
mind that. Overcharging is the act of purposefully holding and amplifying a spell beyond its
normal constraints. It is an advanced technique in dueling to help break past shields and
defenses. Alright, let’s do a test shall we, Mr. Potter, I want you to hit me with the strongest
spell you know.”

As he said that, the Professor took a stance in the middle of the room and conjured a shield.
Harry practically stuttered out his response. “P-Professor?”

Professor Lockhart simply smiled. “Worry not Mr. Potter, I just want to see what you can do.
Fire away!”
With his Professor’s reassurance. He pulled out his wand and readied his stance. He then
drew upon his Ancient Magic. With a flash, a lighting bolt cracked forth from his wand and
impacted the shield. There was a bright flash of lights before a massive explosion emanated
from the shield. The next thing he saw was the ceiling before his eyes went dark.

==================================================================
======================

Harry felt very comfortable, and also very warm. He could feel sunlight on his face and as he
slowly opened his eyes, he was met with a familiar ceiling.

“Oh no.”

Harry immediately sat up and saw he was indeed in the infirmary. He looked to his left and
saw Professor Lockhart as well, who was writing down furiously on a parchment. The minute
he saw he was awake, he stopped and threw him a large smile.

“Mr. Potter! Wonderful that you’re awake! That was amazing spellwork young man,
absolutely incredible!”

Before he could continue however he was slapped by a very cross Professor McGonagal.
“Enough out of you Gilderoy.” She then gave him a smile. “Mr. Potter, did you cast a spell at
Professor Lockhart’s insistence, and what spell exactly did you cast?”

Harry shrunk a bit under the stern woman’s gaze, but he still managed to answer. “Yes
Professor, and I didn’t exactly cast a spell… I more so channeled my magic. He asked for my
strongest spell, and that was the best I had.”

Professor McGonagal looked stunned. Before she could say anything more Professor
Lockhart spoke up. “Like I said it was incredible spellwork, and for it to simply be channeled
magic, it almost beggars belief!” He then watched as the Professor struggled up and managed
to get onto two feet. He then had a serious look in his eye. He looked onto the parchment one
last time before he spoke.
“Hadrian James Peverell Slytherin Lestrange Gaunt Rosier Rookwood Potter Sayre
Grindelwald. It would be my greatest honor to teach you the intricate art of dueling and
spellcraft!”

Professor McGonagal looked even more stunned as Professor Snape made his way into the
room. Harry was silent for a few moments before he could respond. “Why me? What does it
mean to teach me the art of dueling?”

Professor Lockhart smiled as he hobbled closer. “It means that I see potential in you Harry.
You have the instinct and the mind of a duelist, and today you showed me you have enough
raw power to floor most experienced witches and wizards. If you want me too, I can help
teach you not only how to harness that power, but to make it serve you. I can promise you the
next time you channel magic like that, you’ll be able to control it completely.”

Harry looked stunned before his brain went over the last thing that was said. “Wait, I know
there was an explosion, but how big was it?”

“Well, considering I felt it in the Dungeons, pretty large. You also blew out all of the
windows in the Defense against the Dark Arts Tower.” Professor Snape’s monotone voice
had a hint of pride, and humor in it as Harry paled.

“I-I can pay for any damages…” Before he could finish, Professor Lockhart stopped him.
“No need, young man, whatever it is, I’ll cover it. It was at my insistence after all.”

Harry looked up at Professor Lockhart once more, and he swallowed his nervousness and
fear. “Professor Lockhart, thank you. Also, I would like to accept your offer.”

There was a slight second of silence as his words were processed, but as the second was over,
Professor Lockhart gave him a massive smile. “Then I look forward to seeing you grow,
Harry. I believe we both have a clean bill of health, shall we go plan out a schedule.”
Harry nodded and he hopped up out of the bed. After they had found his cane, Professor
Lockhart walked out of the infirmary with him, leaving a stunned pair of professors behind.
As they made their way towards the small scone of green flame, Harry grabbed some and
turned to Professor Lockhart.

“Professor, before we begin, there are some people you need to meet.” As Professor Lockhart
gave him a curious look, Harry threw the powder into the flame and said three words.

“The Map Chamber!”

With a flash of green fire, both professor and student vanished.

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