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Chapter 3

“Our room got bigger between us claiming it and returning with our stuff,” Neville reported. “Nicer, too. All the furniture was replaced.”

“It happened while I was in the shower last night,” Draco reported. “Plus, the extra room has been turned into a common area with a kitchen and dining room. I’m not sure if the ministry is going to approve the extra expense of it.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Harry said as he entered the work room with a mug of what smelled like coffee. “The contract terms with the ministry for your amenities has already been signed and payment was made. Anything that happens after that is a courtesy. Thanks is appropriate—offering more money would be considered rude. If a dverger thinks they are owed something—they won’t hesitate to ask for it.”

He sat down in a chair at the small round table they were gathered at and pulled out a slim, green leatherbound journal, and dropped an expensive looking Muggle pen on top of it. Harry was dressed far more casually than they were in a pair of jeans and a T-shirt from the last Quidditch World Cup. He was also wearing his glasses when he hadn’t been the day before. Though the round, foolishly iconic, frames had been replaced by a rectangle shape that suited him.

“Do you know why the changes were made?” Hermione questioned as she got out her own journal and a quill.

“Yes, but I’d rather not discuss it,” Harry said frankly. “It’s a gesture of respect and nothing more than that.” He focused on the timeline. “Let’s talk about the murder of Myrtle Warren in June of 1943. It was generally believed, at the time, that she’d been killed by an unauthorized pet in Hogwarts. Eventually, it was revealed that the creature in question couldn’t have killed her in the method she was killed.”

“And how was she killed?” Draco questioned as he glanced over the timeline.

“Tom Riddle murdered her to create his first horcrux. His chosen method was a basilisk’s stare. He performed the horcrux ritual in the bathroom where she lay dead in Hogwarts.”

“Dumbledore was already a teacher there,” Pansy said. “As magically sensitive as he’s purported to be, how did he miss an actual ritual being conducted on the school grounds. The headmaster would’ve surely noticed it, too.”

“Dippet was reportedly out of the school the entire month of June of that year due to an undisclosed illness,” Harry said and opened his journal. “Dumbledore allowed Rubeus Hagrid to be blamed for the death due because he had an acromantula in the school at the time. Tom Riddle was the head boy. I’ve gathered enough information on that time period to know that, for a fact, Dumbledore knew that Tom Riddle was already very dark.

“Horace Slughorn was the head of house for Slytherin at that time,” Draco said. “He favored powerful, well-connected children.”

Harry nodded. “We know that many believed Tom Riddle to be a direct heir to Salazar Slytherin.” He waved a hand. “When, in fact, both Neville and I are more closely related to the line of Peverell than Tom Riddle.”

“True enough,” Neville admitted. “Our ancestors didn’t branch out enough.”

“Slughorn wouldn’t have cared,” Draco pointed out. “You know how he was when we were in school, Harry. He found his inability to cultivate you beyond frustrating.”

“Oh, I’m aware,” Harry assured. “I spent most of seventh year speculating on how much effort I’d have to put into the whole thing to make him have a mental breakdown. Fortunately for him, I’ve never had any interest in driving anyone absolutely insane.” He paused. “Though it’s been a side effect once or twice.”

“Personally, I think Dumbledore was a nutcase before we ever started Hogwarts,” Neville said. “Should be waiting for Master Pierce to join us?”

“He won’t be participating materially and will file reports to the World Court based on what I give him,” Harry said. “It’s the best way to make sure certain things and situations don’t end up in the public domain. I don’t want anything published concerning horcrux magic for world-wide consumption.”

“I have three sources on horcrux magic,” Hermione said quietly. “All of them describe the magical product of a horcrux ritual as a soul tether or fragment. You seemed very certain that was inaccurate.”

“I am certain.”

“How?” Hermione questioned.

“Because the God of Death told me what a horcrux was many years ago,” Harry said plainly and her mouth dropped open. “He presents himself as Thanatos to me.”

“For fuck’s sake,” Neville said. “I wish I could doubt you on that.”

Draco wondered if Harry would tell the team about the whole truth business and the inability to lie but said nothing when Potter just shrugged. “Do you want to go to Hogwarts and speak with Myrtle?”

“No, of course, not,” Harry said and grimaced. “It’s obscene that she’s been allowed to linger as she has in a spectral manifestation. It’s just another indication to how disgusting magical regulation is in this country. No civilized country would allow such a thing. Myrtle Warren should’ve been laid to rest properly decades ago. Instead, she’s allowed to wallow in the misery that followed her from life right into death.”

“She avoided you at Hogwarts,” Hermione said and flushed when they all focused on her. “Overtly. She used to make us watch out for you when she left her bathroom.”

Harry merely nodded. “She knew, just like all the other ghosts in school did, that given half a chance I would make her crossover.”

“And you could’ve done that, even as a child,” Pansy murmured.

“Absolutely, but I wouldn’t have done it then,” Harry said. “And I’m going to do it before I leave this country this because I never intend on coming back once I leave again. I won’t allow that little girl to spend hundreds of years lingering in a bathroom as a ghost. I plan, actually, to excise every single ghost in this country on my way out.” He flicked his hand.

“And how will you accomplish that?” Neville questioned, clearly more curious than disbelieving.

“The same way I got rid of the dementors,” Harry said evenly and Draco’s stomach lurched. “The moment I found out those things existed, I insisted on their world-wide removal. I drew a ritual circle, took a knee, and asked Lady Magic very nicely to take them. She did.”

“The dementors all disappeared in 1990,” Draco said quietly. “You petitioned Hekate before you went to Hogwarts?”

“I called her Katie for the first seven years of my life because I couldn’t pronounce Hekate,” Harry said wryly. “Auntie Katie to be specific.”

“I really wish you were messing with us,” Draco muttered. “Your magical education began very young. Why haven’t you excised the ghosts in this country already?”

“They can’t leave this plane while they’re so tainted with corrupted magic,” Harry said. “If they did they’d never be allowed to return to the soul cycle as all magical creatures are intended if they did. It would be a crime against magic if that were to happen and Hekate would be…profoundly upset by it.”

“Can I ask a question about your mastery work?” Hermione asked, hands wrapped around a mug of tea.

“Of course,” Harry said.

“Did you pursue an international mastery to gain the title of master for political reasons?”

“No, but I can see why some do and why you probably should,” Harry said. “Honestly making a blood purist call me ‘master’ isn’t going to ever get old.” She laughed. “I tested for both of my masters on the international level because Armand Deering asked me to and he was in the midst of recruiting me to the Magical Protectorate.”

“Who taught you magic before Hogwarts?” Pansy questioned.

Harry exhaled sharply. “It might seem odd to say, but that’s a very personal matter. I wasn’t taught anything I was taught at Hogwarts because it would’ve just caused me to stand out even more at any school I ended up attending. But I was practicing ritual magic—mostly for cleansing and communing by the time I was six years old. Frankly, Britian is filthy and not in a fun way.”

“Did that early education shape your education after Hogwarts?” Neville asked.

“No, my purpose in this life has always shaped my education,” Harry said and glanced briefly at Draco before speaking. “And that purpose was facilitated by the sacrifice of Sirius Black.” He stood with his coffee and walked to the map. “We’re going to have to create runic magic sinks to place at the site of each corruption—so we can bleed the country.” He paused at the startled noises none of them kept to themselves. “It’s going to require the evacuation of Hogwarts so best done in the summer while the students are already at home. We might have to clear out as far as Hogsmeade to prevent magical injury. It depends on how invested the corruption is in those that live there.”

“And if it can’t be done?” Draco asked because he wasn’t at all convinced that he could do it.

“Then we’ll blockade the magic on the island and remove everyone that can be cleansed. Those that can’t, will have to remain here as we can’t afford to risk the rest of the world. Then after they’re all dead, mostly from old age I would assume, we’ll work on repairs.”

“Because we’re fueling the corruption,” Draco said quietly. “Just by existing here and using magic, we’re feeding what Riddle left behind.”

“Yes.”

“We have to get rid of him, first, I would assume,” Hermione said. “Something that Dumbledore hasn’t managed in decades.”

“Don’t get wrapped around the axle about that, Hermione,” Harry said as he walked to a white board and flipped it. “Dumbledore has never tried. He’s a foolishly devoted in the art of prophecy and has a very literal view of how they should be interpreted and adhered to.”

Draco stared at the words on the white board.

Death sees his enemies—chained only by the most ancient of laws. A hand has been chosen and the Hallows have been reunited. The spectre walks the Earth, and the dark lord knows not what war he has courted.

“What is that?” Draco questioned.

“It’s the prophecy sitting in the DOM with my name on it,” Harry said. “It’s something that Dumbledore can never know.”

“Why?” Hermione asked.

“Because Death took not one, but two Deathly Hallows from Headmaster Dumbledore and he’s been searching for them ever since. He wants, desperately, to master Death himself. It’s why he fought and defeated Grindelwald. Grindelwald was carrying the Elder Wand.” Harry pulled out a wand made of rosewood and placed it on the table. “The day he comes to know for certain who the current master is, he will invest himself in murdering them.”

“You,” Draco said. “He’ll be seeking to murder you so he can master Death.”

“But it won’t happen because he doesn’t understand what the Hallows are and what they do.”

“What do they do?” Draco asked.

“They manage the ebb and flow of death magic on Earth. No one could stand as the master of the God of Death, Draco. It would be foolish to even try, but Dumbledore has no respect for celestial plane and precious little fear of the gods that dwell there. Because ultimately he is a very arrogant man, who believes himself above the rest of us both morally and magically. His persona as the leader of the light has no genuine foundation, and we can bank on that.”

“So, character assassination is also on our agenda,” Pansy said with a nod and Hermione made a face at her. “We can’t let people lobby behind him if he starts to work at a cross-purposes, Hermione. Right now, he’s focused on controlling Harry, like he has been since 1981, but that’s going to shift eventually.”

“He did defeat Grindelwald,” Draco pointed out.

“He was also, actively and often, fucking Grindelwald during that time,” Harry said dryly and Granger sat her tea down with a thunk.

She pulled out a piece of parchment and a quill. “Let’s start with Rita Skeeter at the Daily Prophet and work our way toward Lavender Brown at Witch Weekly. Skeeter will lean toward political assassination as that is bread and butter. We’ll feed Lavender Dumbledore’s tragic boner origin story a week after Rita drops whatever we give her about Grindelwald.”

Harry shared a look with Draco. “I never could figure out how she ended up in Gryffindor.”

“No, me neither,” Draco admitted. “Though most everyone thought she should’ve sorted into Ravenclaw.”

“Ravenclaw was full of bitches and Slytherin was full of assholes, and   the Hufflepuffs were annoyingly loud on the train, so I told the sorting that I wanted to go to Gryffindor.”

Draco looked around the table and was gratified to find everyone else staring at Hermione in shock.

“You’re saying you sorted into Gryffindor by default,” Neville said in amusement. “That explains so much.”

Hermione looked up and pinned him with a look. “We have a couch in our very nicely decorated room in this bank.”

“Pax, love,” Neville said and settled back with his tea.

“You are the Master of Death,” Draco said quietly and Harry focused on him intently. “Which equals domain over death magic on the planet. Is this well-known in international circles?”

“No,” Harry said. “But I wouldn’t deny it no matter who asked because it would be a profane in a way I’d rather not speak to at this moment. It is a legacy built on sacrifice, blood, and duty. And it has been deemed the responsibility of my soul for eternity.”

“Is this life the first time?”

“I don’t know—perhaps I’m not meant to know. I may not know why the role comes to me in the future, I will just know on a foundational level that it is my duty and I have no choice in it.”

“And if you had a choice?” he asked.

“You’d might as well ask me if I’d choose to stop breathing, Draco,” Harry said. “The duty of it is in my blood and bones.” He turned and focused on the prophecy. “But Dumbledore is uniquely dangerous to me, and he was even more a threat to me in my childhood. I’ve always done everything I can to protect myself because of the sacrifices made for me. When you’ve had someone give their lifeblood for you, it changes you in ways that are insurmountable. Maybe we aren’t meant to go unchanged by such a thing no matter if we have magic or not.”

“Do you want to go Hogwarts personally?” Draco questioned. “Because I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“It would be a terrible idea,” Harry agreed. “Dumbledore would certainly use it as an excuse to try to have a very manipulative conversation with me and that would probably end in bloodshed.” He paused. “His blood.”

“Yeah, we get that,” Neville said wryly and the others laughed. “But we could use you as a distraction so the rest of us could go to the school and handle whatever magic needs to be done there. He’ll take any opportunity to sit down in a room with you even if he has to come back to the bank.”

“We can create a distraction because the team at Hogwarts will need time to plant the rune stone and activate it. The castle’s wards will absorb and protect it.”

“Are you certain of that?” Pansy questioned.

“Yes,” Harry said. “There are other elements in play that will ensure it. Hogwarts doesn’t want to be a source of corruption, and she’s been upset about it for decades. She already dedicates almost all of her resources to protecting the children that live within her. The magic of the castle is sentient, after thousands of years, and if not for Dumbledore’s interference she would certainly have become sapient within the next hundred years.”

“Is it too late to help her? Save her?” Hermione questioned. “I realize that being at Hogwarts was a very stressful experience for you, Harry, but she’s a home of sorts to the rest of us.”

“I don’t have negative feelings toward the school or even the teachers,” Harry said. “I’m sure they all thing otherwise, but I can’t make them think differently about the seven years I spent giving them a façade of cooperation in order to protect them from Dumbledore’s manipulation. Because he’d have used any of them in a terrible fashion if he’d thought it would help him get what he wanted.”

“What’s his end goal?” Neville asked. “Does he even have one?”

“Fame—the eternal sort,” Harry admitted. “He wants to be a legend and likes it when people speculate that he’s Merlinus Ambrosius reborn.”

Draco took a deep breath has his magic shifted inside of him in a way he’d never experienced before. There was something about the way he’d said Merlin’s full name that resonated in his magic in a way that was both alarming and relieving at the same time. It was like he was being seen. Harry quirked an eyebrow at him and Draco just shook his head.

“He isn’t, right?” Pansy questioned.

“No, Albus Dumbledore is very ordinary on the scales of eternity,” Harry assured. “Most magicals are and that’s as it should be. The stability of our world depends on it. Agents of change are very rare for a reason. Magic is very fragile in the circumstances we are in. Imagine how much worse it would be if Dumbledore had the power he pretends to have.”

“Is it really pretense?”

“He’s not weak by any stretch of his imagination, but a genuinely powerful wizard wouldn’t need to drape him positions of authority gained with social currency and manufactured hostility. He made Grindelwald what he was. He allowed Riddle to grow into this thing we have to deal with. He’s sitting over there in Scotland in a perpetual state of fury that he never got the chance to turn me into his next fame-engine.” Harry waved a hand. “He’ll die that way.”

Hermione leaned forward. “Do you know when people will die? I’ve not really read anything about the Master of Death. The Hallows are barely discussed in history books and often treated more like a myth than a fact.”

Harry stared for a moment then leaned forward. “Only if I intend to personally kill them.”

She huffed as the others laughed. “Be serious.”

“Okay,” he said. “No, I don’t know the future, but I’m intimately wrapped up in the matters of destiny in such a way that I can see the paths people will walk for good and bad. I rarely, if ever, interfere in the choices people make because I believe strongly in freewill. Also, directly getting in Fate’s business is poorly received from many different directions.

“Sometimes I can look at a person and see their past spread out behind them like an ocean. Not everyone, but there are individuals who bring balance to magic just by being born to a mortal body. Light, dark, and everything in between—magic requires balance to exist as it should. Though, some people take dark to mean they can fuck about being an evil bastard and that’s when an organization like the Magical Protectorate takes its stand in the defense of Hekate herself.

“Some people have a problem with our mandate but that’s because they don’t understand who’d stand in her defense if we suddenly stopped.” He paused. “I much prefer that Zirnitra linger at his wife’s side than come down here and destroy people who don’t respect the gift they’ve been given. He drags feral magic around him like a plague, and frankly that’s the last thing we need.”

“Have you met him?” Draco questioned.

“Not in this lifetime,” Harry said and shrugged. “That I’m aware of. Zirnitra could appear at will, anywhere, anytime, and never reveal who he actually is. There have been large magical disturbances all over the world throughout time that indicates a powerful physical manifestation. Those events could’ve been him or they could’ve been the work of a different celestial making themselves known for a special purpose. Or just because someone really pissed them off.”

“Let’s work not to piss any of them off,” Pansy said and waved a hand at the prophecy. “That’s not the first about you. There was another one, it went dark in 1981—no exact date known because it went unwitnessed.”

“I’d say, with some certainty, that it became defunct shortly after Sirius Black sacrificed himself. Either his direction action or in the midst of Riddle throwing his tantrum which drove all of his followers insane. That event alone could’ve removed people from the equation that were required for the prophecy to play out. Even when there is only a single name on a prophecy record, many people could be involved in it coming true.”

“Including this current one?”

“While I would not personally outright defy Fate, freewill exists,” Harry said. “And in the case of that prophecy, any intentional failure on my part could destroy it outright. There’s a certain elasticity to the matters of destiny so that ultimately an event can happen despite various factors. But breaks happen and when they do, the results are always a focal point for various factions.”

“You’re devout,” Draco said quietly and Potter’s gaze settled on him, certain and intent. “I’d have never thought.”

“I took a knee for Hekate at the age of five,” Harry said and they all just stared at him. “I don’t regret it. There’s an immense amount of comfort to be found in the embrace of Goddess of Magic.” He cleared his throat. “Let’s focus on areas outside of Hogwarts for now.”

“Okay.” Draco focused on the list and noted that there was one location outside of Britain. “When was the horcrux magic in Albania contained?” Potter had merely checked it off the list with no notes.

“I did it four years ago,” Harry said. “It was done at the behest of the Albanian government through the protectorate. It was, in fact, my entry exam into the Magical Protectorate.” He paused. “Standing barearsed in a forest in the middle of Albania and conducting a ritual on the fly apparently impressed Armand Deering enough that I skipped the interview process.”

“But you think I should do it in Britain?”

“I do,” Harry admitted. “Politically and socially it’s the best thing you can do for the children the Death Eaters left behind.” His gaze flicked toward Pansy then settled back on Draco. “A magical atonement that would be very well received. Besides, I don’t have the purity of purpose to take on the cleansing of this whole damn island in a single event.”

“And I do?” Draco huffed when Pansy laughed. “You’re twice as powerful as Longbottom and me combined.”

“It’s not about power,” Harry said. “If it were Hiro Ito could’ve come here long before now and handled it in a matter of hours. It’s about sacrifice, a genuine desire to save this country from itself, and love. It’ll ultimately be an act of love. There are people in this country who won’t be able to leave it if we have to blockade.” He paused. “You must know your mother is one of them. Between your father and the corruption Riddle created, she’s too damaged to be treated.”

Draco swallowed hard. “Potter.”

“You could stay with her, if it comes down to it. But I would assume she’d never agree to that. I’ll certainly give everything I can to this endeavor, but my mother has been dead twenty-six years, and there is no one in this country I can claim within my family magic.”

“Family magic,” Draco murmured. “That’s the root of the spread?”

“It’s what Riddle corrupted with his foul magic and the dark mark itself,” Harry said. “The horcruxes just ended up being the most relevant vector. Also, at the end of the day, it doesn’t need to be widely discussed across the whole planet that family magic can be intruded upon in such a fashion. It would cause an immense amount of damage socially and politically.”

Draco nodded.

“Great,” Harry said and focused on Neville and Hermione. “So, the rune master is finished with our ritual room. How do you two feel about consecrating the whole thing with magical communion?”

They both stared for a moment and Hermione sighed.

“What if we weren’t here?” Hermione questioned.

Harry shrugged. “I’d hire a consecration team. We’d need a male and female to do it since we’re doing two circles of three and I can’t see asking High Priestess Lenore to handle that with King Ragnok.” He paused. “I mean…you just don’t ask the queen of an entire species to engage in ritual sex. Not even in her husband’s bank.”

“We can do it,” Neville said. “Don’t mind her. She just hates to fuck on the floor.”

“That’s what cushioning charms are for, you barbarian,” Harry muttered and Neville laughed.