Harry watched Luna disappear into the secret passageway an hour from midnight. He was worried that she wouldn't make it back in time but her breezy response eased any anxiety that he had. He waited until the top of her flaxen blonde head vanished in the dark below.
"Luna, lumos!" Harry shouted down at her. "You're going to need light!"
"Don't be silly, Harry, it's plenty well lit."
"Not when I shut the trapdoor," he called out.
Her voice rang back sweetly. "Ah, but only then will the garhoulees, you know, the passageway's spirit guardians, will come out. They have such a pretty glow to them. They will light my way."
Harry shrugged and shut the trapdoor. If garhoulees would light her way, who was he to say otherwise. Still he hoped she would use her wand to cast a lumos before she tripped and fell over. If she did trip, she'd probably say it was the wolf guardian that got in her way or something equally off the wall.
But off the wall or not, Luna was smart. Harry didn't believe for one minute that the her crazy act was just an act. If things nobody saw or heard spoke to her and she could understand that made her smarter than many other Ravenclaws he could name.
§What did she have to say?§ Oorjit asked, lifting his head from on top of his coils.
§She found it, I'm pretty sure."
§Does that mean we have to go then?§ Oorjit bellyached.
Harry nodded. §Yes, Oorjit, it does.§
§As you wish, my lord.§
Harry bumbled around getting ready for bed. He slipped into warm flannel pajama bottoms and brushed his teeth, spitting into the exposed sink and rinsing his mouth. A good feeling welled up inside his chest as he turned back to the makeshift sofa.
With a wave of his hand it transfigured into a large and regal canopy bed. Rich satin sheets tucked themselves under the mattress as the feather pillows fluffed themselves in preparation. With a contented sigh, Harry dived between the sheets, fully relaxing. Stretching once, so that all his muscles quivered deliciously he grunted in appreciated as all the small kinks worked themselves out.
He slipped into his Occlumency practice, slowing his breathing to deep even breaths. Slowly falling down into his subconscious, Harry controlled the fall, landing with a springy bounce on the balls of his feet. He spent a few minutes in the room that held his animagus form; the green lights had coalesced into the glittering form of his basilisk.
The basilisk was awake when Harry poked his head in and Harry stepped fully inside. It was here he learned to control the animal mind and where he took lessons from it. The basilisk was rubbing off on Harry in much the same fashion that Harry was rubbing off on it. An exchange of personality and traits had transpired. When Harry received his lock of red hair, crowning him king of the snakes, the basilisk here in his mind received a streak of jet black.
They couldn't so much as exchange words as the glittering lights that made up the basilisk body didn't understand Parseltongue or English, but there was an exchange of images. Connecting with his form on a nightly basis gave Harry great control over the process of his transformation. He was no longer subjected to its whims but the other way around. If Harry wanted scales, he could obtain scales and nothing else. The same was true for most other features of the basilisk.
The exchanged body parts would appear here on this glimmering ghost of his form. The human parts of Harry would reside here deep within his brain and the reptilian would shimmer into existence on Harry. This process and understanding had only come to Harry after he had fully transformed once. Now it was something he included every time he came into his meditation before continuing on with his Occlumency shields.
One of the things he'd been trying to figure out was a set of shields that would activate should another Occlumens, who used fire as his weapons and defenses, come across his wind shields. He did not want another incident where his defenses were used to bolster his attacker. His goal was to find a way to take away the fuel aspect of his windy presence without having the absence of it from his mind.
Harry spent an hour down there tweaking with his shields. If only he could add another element like water for defenses. The solution didn't come to Harry and he slipped back out of his meditation, clear of thoughts and random images as he fell into a deep and blissful sleep.
---
Harry left Hedwig in Hogsmeade as he apparated with Oorjit the next morning to a location midway between Britain and Germany in the middle of the water. No, literally his coordinates where in the water. Luna believed that the reason the statue was lost to memory was because of a Fidelus-like Charm and if Harry was going to get close enough to crack the ward he would have to apparate into the water and swim around until he got confused and misdirected.
Hopefully the Tempeski Charm that she gave him would keep him from getting overly confused by the wards. Of course, he couldn't put all his faith into the charm, after all he didn't even know what a Tempeski was.
With a last gasping breath Harry squeezed out of the dark tubes of Apparition space plunging ten feet straight down. Oorjit cursed loudly, flinging himself from Harry, flapping his wings mightily to gain air. Harry on the other hand barely had time to cast a wandless warming charm before he hit the icy darkness of the water below.
He broke the surface of the water with a loud exclamation. "Yahrrrrl!"
§Cold?§ Oorjit inquired.
§Piss off,§ Harry panted, strengthening his warming charm and kicking off.
§If only you hadn't dropped us in the middle of nowhere! Where are we?§
Harry swam east, using the sunlight as a guide. §We,§ he began swallowing a mouthful of water. §We are right where Luna directed us to be.§
§If you ask me,§ Oorjit sniffed. §That girl doesn't have all her gobstones. Absolutely loony.§
Harry glared up at the avian snake. §Well, you'd be wrong. Luna's brilliant.§
§Perhaps you're right,§ Oorjit conceded, flying above Harry's head looking out at the empty horizon. §After all she's not the stupid one swimming out here in the middle of nowhere.§
§Well I can fix that pretty easily,§ Harry said as he stopped swimming and kicked out idly in the water.
He closed his eyes, focusing on his basilisk form and called it up to the surface. The change was quick and painless. He grew to be eighty feet long, twelve feet thick. His body stretched out for the first time not being coiled up and Harry felt colossal. In this form, Harry was the mythical legend of the sea serpent, the loch ness monster, the nightmare from the deep.
He struck out, his body coiling and uncoiling, sluicing gracefully through the water. It took a matter of a few hours to locate themselves in the water in location to the hidden island. Luna had been spot on, it just took them time to find it. Surprisingly, Harry and Oorjit hadn't been confused once in the search. It was suspicious, but ignorable for the time being.
On the island Harry encountered a large blank space of land where nothing grew. There weren't any trees or rocks, just dirt and sand.
§It's here,§ Harry determined.
The wards surrounding the area were a tricky lot, the toughest Harry had ever seen. The first layer alone would burn, scorch, and sear him to a crisp or at least blacken Harry beyond all recognition. Several fires wards interconnected to make the layer, with enough booby-traps interlaced to stop a whole team of cursebreakers dead in their tracks. Literally.
The second layer was created with rocks. Harry could imagine the pulverizing and crushing with ease and not with a little trepidation. He hadn't dealt with rock wards before, and his knowledge garnered from connecting with Bill Weasley was miniscule. Egyptians didn't deal with rocks so much as earth and sand.
The third layer, Harry could barely see, the web of spells creating the first two masked the second to last one from view. From what Harry could guess it was a simple befuddlement line. Something Harry didn't understand when the island itself as a whole had been hidden from the wizarding world at large for years. After the line, Harry didn't know what was coming for it was just a bright blur of light with no delineation.
With a deep breath Harry rolled up his sleeves and got to work. It took time to unweave the fire spells. Harry set off three booby-traps in the process. One of which release a hoard of inferi. He got rid of the mindless bodies by funnily enough, guiding them into the third booby-trap set off shortly after.
The fire circle was Voldemort's idea of a joke, giving the trapped victim plenty of time to recognize the futility of escape and even more to watch death approach on swift heels. Voldemort probably wasn't expecting Harry's use of the circle or he wouldn't have put it in the layer.
The heat from the fires parched Harry, until he was forced to break and drink water. Augamenti didn't work on the island which greatly displease Harry. Instead he had to banish Oorjit to Britain with clear instructions to bring him drinkable water. Five minutes later he summoned his familiar back and greedily drank the water provided. It didn't appease his thirst, but it would have to do until he got past the fire layer.
An hour later, Harry had done just that, cracking the anti-water section last. The minute it was gone Harry conjured a stream from his wand and drank his fill, feeling at once gluttonous at the sheer amount he consumed and satiated. His thirst quenched, Harry took a break conjuring a large tent to rest within. Oorjit curled up inside next to him and napped, gently wheezing. Harry did the same thinking to rest only for a little bit to gain his strength.
A loud hissing noise woke Harry as he was finally falling asleep. Oorjit was hovering over his face speaking quickly down at him. Harry screwed up his eyes and reached blindly for his glasses, shoving them onto his nose to get a clearer look at the distraught snake.
§Yes?§ said Harry, propping up on his elbows. §What is it?§
§The sun is being blocked out by giant rock formations, my lord.§
§What?§
§No light. Big rocks,§ Oorjit repeated slower, lacing his words with heavy sarcasm.
As the words registered, Harry woke up fully and vanished the tent. Sure enough it was just as Oorjit had said. Rocky outcroppings were jutting out of the ground and growing at an alarming rate.
§STOP!§ Harry commanded the rocks, assured that they would do his bidding. Parsel magic had yet to fail him.
They trembled at his words and slowed, but still they grew. Flabbergasted at their continued growth, Harry stared at them. Then determined not to be entombed by the rocks Voldemort made, Harry whipped out his wand and leveled it at the first formation on his left.
"Reducto!" Harry bellowed.
The rock erupted with a spray of stone shards flying everywhere. When the dust settled, there where the old formation had been a new one was taking its place, growing faster, reaching the height of the other giants in a few seconds.
Frowning Harry turned on his heel and apparated out of the circular rock formation, shoving through the clinging anti-apparition ward with ease. His head swam for a moment, but quickly righted as Harry sprinted for the ward keystones.
§HARRY!§ Oorjit shouted as a fifth stone cropping broke out over his head trapping the occamy inside the rocky grave.
§I'm hurrying!§ Harry called back, scrambling quickly through the ward strands, snipping helter-skelter at them praying he didn't cut the wrong one or set off another trap.
Untangling the last two, Harry eyed them worriedly. One was a booby-trap and the other line the one that was going to break apart the rock formations. The booby-trap was certain to crush Harry where he sat, the last defense to stop intruders making it through the rock layer.
Harry took a deep breath and broke the one in his right hand, apparating simultaneously. When he reappeared he saw that a large rock had fallen right where he'd been. Harry took a moment to marvel his good fortune when a panicked curdling scream echoed from the outcropping.
§I'm coming!§ Harry yelled, banishing the large stone into the ocean.
Grabbing the last line anchored to the rock keystone, Harry snapped it and the rocks vanished as if they'd never been. Oorjit was discovered huddling in a little ball, his sides trembling so violently, Harry could see them from where he crouched.
§You can relax,§ Harry informed him, amused at his friend's behavior.
Oorjit lifted his head and looked around, immediately relaxing as he noted the danger was indeed gone. §Took you long enough,§ he snipped.
§Not so brave are you?§ Harry teased.
Oorjit sniffed disdainfully. §I've no idea what you are talking about.§
§I heard you scream like a snakling.§
§I did not!§ Oorjit said, offended at the very idea.
Harry smirked. §You forget that I heard you. Should I provide you with the memory?§
Oorjit huffed irritably. §No, thank you,§ he answered prissily.
§As you wish,§ Harry acquiesced, dropping the matter.
Raising his occlumency shields Harry stared at the statue that was slowly being revealed as the protective wards around it were dropped.
§We got to get rid of this ward to focus on the rest,§ Harry explained, pointing at the befuddlement line. §The others look pretty straight forward. There's two more element sets, water and wind. Shocker there. The next one is a piece of cake; it's an anti-human ward. That would explain why we didn't get confused trying to find the island once we got near it. It's also the ward that confounded the whole wizard community. We'll get by that without a problem. I'll just transform again. Then--§ Harry frowned. §Is that a blood ward?§
§I don't know what you're talking about,§ Oorjit hissed, slithering away.
Harry's frown deepened, then cleared. §Hold it right there Oorjit,§ he commanded, before easily breaking the befuddling circle with a spell.
Oorjit's expression sharpened. §Right, as you were saying, my lord.§
§We should be wary of the water layer, seeing as how tricky the last two were.§
§If you'll excuse me, my lord,§ Oorjit murmured, pointing with his tail. §I think I'll go over there and get out of your way.§
Harry raised an eyebrow. §You do that and I'll handle the ward.§
Oorjit glided smoothly away, disappearing around a sharp bend. With Oorjit gone, Harry got back to work. Examining the new layer Harry bit his lip as he puzzled out the strands. The web was bright orange with thick dots here and there indicating the triggers that would set off the ward, alerting the caster, and the potential booby-traps.
He tugged at one that pulsated brighter than the others.
"Curious," he muttered under his breath, tugging on it harder. "What do you do?" he asked it.
Harry pointed his wand at the strand and cast a severing charm. It broke off and started to wiggle back and forth. Harry eyed it beadily.
"Peculiar."
§GARRH!§
Harry's head jerked up. Oorjit came flying back around the corner, a huge wall of water following. Harry swore and turned his attentions back to the ward, picking it apart as rapidly as possible.
§In the name of all that is Apep, what is taking you so long!§
§Shut up,§ Harry growled, feeling water begin to rain down on him from the crushing sheet of water hurtling towards him.
Harry tore all the strands apart at once, activating all the booby-traps in one glorious instant before they collapsed utterly drenching the two intruders. Oorjit looked like a drowned rat. Harry broke out laughing, ignoring his own tragic state and laughed uproariously at Oorjit's sour expression.
§You twit! This is no laughing matter!§
Harry chuckled harder. §You look ridiculous.§
§You don't look much better,§ Oorjit grumped.
§Be nice,§ Harry snickered. §Or I won't perform a drying charm on you.§
Oorjit looked appalled.
§Dry off and be warm,§ Harry intoned merrily, waving his hand first at his friend then at himself, sighing with pleasure as the magic did its job. §Much better, don't you agree?§
Oorjit hissed an affirmative and Harry sobering, walked forward gazing intently at the fully exposed statue.
§You would think the artist would display better judgment. This is as revolting as that other statue in Germany,§Harry commented dryly, looking on at the cowering Grindelwald.
On Dumbledore's likeness was a golden garter, wrapped strangely enough over his raised forearm, when it was usually born on the leg. His face held a fierce some expression, one Harry had seen on the older version many times, the first time when he'd been eleven and had tried to tell the truth of what happened down in the dungeons with Quirrell.
"You're not so terrifying," he told the statue. "Or brave."
§Mocking a statue, sire?§ Oorjit asked dryly.
§No,§ Harry replied looking down. §Just telling the geezer the truth.§
§I still can't imagine a Gryffindor wearing that,§ Oorjit commented. §It's ghastly.§
Harry looked at the visage of Dumbledore. §It was a sign of chivalry. Lady Ravenclaw had one too. The family lost it in the great raid of 1537 though. Pity. She was the only witch to receive one.§
§Gryffindors are nothing if not chivalrous.§
§Or liars.§
§Annoying the whole lot,§ Oorjit concluded.
§Come,§ said Harry. §We've still got wards to break.§
§Oh sweet rapture.§
§Exceedingly,§ Harry agreed with a smirk.
A few minutes with the wind keystone and the whole lot of them dropped without a singular instance. Harry transformed into his basilisk form and slithered past the anti-human ward without difficulty. On the other side he broke the ward by displacing the location of its keystone. When it fell there was a loud roar, an explosion of sound as the island entered back into the wizarding world's collective conscious.
Harry figured he had but a few moments with the blood wards before Voldemort or Dumbledore found out and came investigating. By that point Harry had better have left the island with the garter or there'd be hell to pay.
§I don't suppose you know how to get past blood wards do you?§ Harry muttered, looking disgusted.
§You speak snake language. Perhaps your blood is of Slytherin decent?§
§Potters are pure as the driven snow. They don't associate with dark wizards.§
§Except for that werewolf… oh, and that Black fellow.§
§Yes, well… we don't breed with them I suppose I should say.§
A loud crack sounded; someone had apparated to the island. Swearing Harry faced the problem fully and glared at the keystone situated well out of reach for the aspiring meddler.
§We don't have time for this,§ Oorjit reminded.
§I know!§ Harry growled, looking over his shoulder as a long bearded wizard came running around the corner.
"Harry!" Dumbledore shouted in alarm. "What are you doing here?"
"Disabling booby-traps, stealing artifacts, you know, being a regular little troublemaker," Harry said as Oorjit rose up, hissing angrily at the newcomer.
Another crack sounded.
"Do you know how to get past blood wards?" Harry asked seriously, staring hard at the Headmaster.
Dumbledore looked taken aback. "Afraid not. Well, unless your blood is connected in some way. Why?"
"Don't have time to explain," Harry replied, a crazy thought coming to him.
"Why don't we have time?" Dumbledore inquired, hurrying closer.
"Because that crack was a pissed off dark lord apparating to the island."
Harry took a breath then and ran past the blood line, cringing all the way. It was a stupid bloody Gryffindor thing to do and he was being bloody stupid doing it. He hissed at the uncomfortable sensation of his blood prickling wildly throughout his body and grabbed the golden garter.
"POTTER!" roared Voldemort, flying straight toward him from the other side like an angry wraith.
"Tom."
Voldemort paused for a brief moment, assessing Dumbledore's presence on Harry's other side and smirked. "Dumbledore, so nice of you to join Harry and I. Run along now Harry," Voldemort ordered. "Albus and I are going to have a little chat. We'll meet up later, yes?"
As spells flew out of the older wizards wands, Harry took no time apparating away, grabbing the end of Oorjit's tail at the last moment, bringing them both back safely.
§You're in trouble now,§ Oorjit hissed.
§Dumbledore will believe what he wants to believe, he always does. I don't care.§
§Perhaps, but you should care, sire, that Voldemort knows you've got one of his Horcruxes!§
Harry grimaced. §We'll just have to work fast to find that last one now.§
§And hope he doesn't make more while we're searching for it!§
§He won't. He's cocky,§ Harry assured the occamy. §Seven is after all better than thirteen. With seven he thinks he's assured victory.§
§If seven is so powerful, how are you beating him?§ Oorjit asked, worry etched in his voice.
§I don't know,§ Harry replied, frowning at Oorjit's concern. §Prophecy?§ he offered.
§Destiny,§ Oorjit scoffed. §Is this a case of an irresistible force against another irresistible force?§
§No,§ Harry rebutted swiftly. §No. I am the irresistible force and Voldemort is the unmovable object.§
§We're finally going to have an answer to that riddle, aren't we?§
§So it would seem.§
---
Oorjit looked up from his perch on the right hand side of Harry's throne as Milo the boa constrictor hissed pardon for the intrusion. Harry flicked the scroll he was writing on closed, setting it aside to finish later for Flitwick before looking at Milo. Hedwig hooted regally from her perch on his left.
Milo ducked his head beneath the stares of three sets of eyes and announced, §You have a diplomat here to see you sire.§
§Another one?§ Harry groused, remembering the centaurs and their vague ways.
Oorjit chuckled. §Plenty more to come as well I would imagine. Who is it Milo?§
§He--that is to say I--§ Milo hedged.
§Who, Milo?§ Harry demanded, impatient to finish his Charms essay.
§Aragog's ambassador--it wouldn't say its name.§
Surprised, Harry nodded allowing the visit while whispering to Oorjit to tell the venomous guards to be alert. An acromentula was a dangerous creature, and even more dangerous when scared. This ambassador was either very brave or very foolish to enter into the snake pit.
It came scuttling in with all eight of its eyes trained on the floor. Its pinchers clicked furiously, showing its anxiety for the present situation. Harry sat back and waited for it to speak first.
"My king sent me to speak with you," it broke out, gibbering recklessly.
"On what grounds? We are embittered enemies. I hold power over all of you, even your king. What on earth could Aragog want, be presumptuous enough to send you to me for?"
It gibbered angrily before calming itself. "Father wants to ensure our freedom, food, and shelter. He does not want war."
"Because he could not win, and he knows it. Your freedom can be whatever the wizards will allow you and as for your food it shall be restricted. No humans, wizards, centaurs, or snakes."
"No humans? No centaurs or foals? Outrageous!"
"It is done. Tell Aragog my commands."
"My king does not take orders!"
"He will take mine," Harry said firmly, narrowing his eyes in distaste. "I do not want your clearing. I have no intentions of taking it over. Aragog should reward me for my restraint. I am letting you all live on my land and as such I demand your full withdrawal from Voldemort's camp. If I see one more spider I will kill you all and be done with it."
"You would not dare!" sputtered the angry acromentula.
Harry stood up, his guards slithered closer. "I am King here, spider. You do not tell me what I can or can not do. I tell you and your king the laws. You will obey or the reasons why Basilisks and spiders are enemies will not be a distant memory anymore but a fresh one written with your tribe's blood. Now be gone!"
The acromentula clicked impotently a few more times before scurrying back out when Harry's guard started to advance. When the spider was out of sight, Harry sighed and sat down, opening his scroll once more. Oorjit said nothing; Hedwig hooted in commiseration. Picking up his quill Harry forced his focus away from the delegate's words and the indignation they brought. The meeting was over, his essay was not.
º«««º»»»ºEnd Chapter 42º«««º»»»º