Chapter 290: A string of visits
Disclaimer:
Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K Rowling.
I own nothing but the original characters I make.
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
-Author notes-
Chapter 290: A string of visits
"It looked like you were having trouble with the last one."
Harry moved away from the crumbling golem and glanced at the new arrival. "I had everything under control, Daphne."
The blonde girl was wearing an elegant blue dress and a large witch hat. "My apologies then," she said with a soft grin.
"How was your summer with that woman?" Harry asked.
"Miss Yafel is a wonderful teacher. I have learned so much from her." There was more emotion than usual in her tone. That went to show how excited she was.
"Wanna show me?" Harry made a gesture with his wand.
"I appreciate the offer, but… I don't want to get my new dress dirty.
Perhaps another day," she answered politely. "By the way, that was a very impressive display of magic."
Harry raised an eyebrow. "Were you watching the whole time?"
She pointed at one of the windows overseeing the garden. "I have been meaning to ask you, those golems… they look very similar to the ones at Hogwarts."
"Of course. I used them as reference. But my constructs are nowhere near the same level as them. A dozen white marble golems would have given me some serious trouble."
"So it wasn't you who made them?" Daphne had wanted to ask him about it for some time, but the proper opportunity hadn't presented itself.
Harry shook his head. "Those were created a very long time ago. Even before the castle was built."
"You mean even before Hogwarts existed? So they weren't even made by the Four Founders?" Daphne was becoming more interested the more she heard. "Who made them then?"
Harry gave her a mischievous grin. "Perhaps another day I will tell you."
Daphne knew he had just given her back her previous words. "You can be very childish sometimes."
"How did you even make it here? I left clear instructions to not let anyone in the garden while I was training." Harry decided to change the topic.
"After speaking with her for a while, your mother let me come here to watch."
"She did, huh?" He didn't really mind it. He had only asked her that to prevent Holly from getting hurt by accident.
"She appeared to be very busy, reading some ancient tomes."
Harry nodded. He was well aware of what she was talking about. Lily had brought the majority of the tomes hidden back at the family vault, in order to study them further. Her idea was to analyze all the spells and determine if any of them were worth adding to the new family grimoire, after Harry had finished with his part.
This time, James had no complaints about his wife reading books with illegal magic in them, since he was more aware of the dangerous situation they were all in. In fact, his father had been reading them too and learning from them.
"I saw one about rituals…" Daphne had a tone of concern in her voice.
"I'm not planning on doing more of those," Harry assured her. 'Especially not after what I know now…' His body had been modified by the magic of the Deathly Hallows. The result of mixing the magic of any ritual with that one would have unpredictable results, making it impossible for him to delve into that particular branch of magic for the time being.
Still, it wasn't like he needed it. Becoming the Master of Death had given him more benefits than what he would have gotten from the rituals he had planned on performing. The only concern he had now was the fact that he still didn't know what the downside was going to be.
"Although, I must say… there was a very interesting ritual at the end of that book…" Daphne muttered in a somewhat low tone.
A.N - For reference, you can check Chapter 78: The Downsides of Rituals -
"What was that about?" He didn't recall anything interesting in those books.
"Well, it was about… nevermind." Daphne hid her rosy cheeks beneath her large hat. "There was something else I wanted to speak with you about."
"Sure, but why don't we take a seat in the shade? It's getting too warm out here." Harry pointed at his favorite spot in the garden: the stone bench beneath the apple tree.
The two of them sat down, and Harry noticed the expression of concern on Daphne's face. "Did something happen?"
"It's about Pansy…. I haven't been able to contact her all summer. And she hasn't sent a single letter to me… I'm afraid something has happened to her."
Harry frowned. 'The Parkinsons disappearing after Voldemort's return… that could only mean two things: they either ran away and are currently hiding in some small corner of the world, or…'
"My father said that the Minister is acting very strange as of lately. He has also approached him several times to ask about the whereabouts of his daughter but has gotten no satisfactory answer."
"Wait, so Lord Parkinson is still at the Ministry? Only Pansy is missing?" Harry found this very strange. 'Did Voldemort forgive him?... no chance…. did he perhaps take his daughter as a hostage to ensure his loyalty?.'
"Who said anything about missing? I just said that I… Harry, is there something you are not telling me? Do you know something?"
"I just have some ideas, but…" He knew he had to tell her before it was too late. Her father was too involved with the Ministry of Magic and would become a target sooner or later.
"There is something you should know. I'm not sure if you are going to believe me, but…"
At that moment, Dobby appeared before them. "Master!"
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