22 And Then There Was One

"That's new," I muttered as I slowly got up from the ritual circle. The fumes from the incense placed on the points of the pentagram swirled around me in an entrancing manner. I took a deep breath of the aromatic smoke as my mind went back to the events of the day.

After the fiasco at breakfast, we had resumed the day as if nothing had happened. Nobody went to the detentions and instead, we congregated in the Room of Requirement after classes. Hermione took up her own corner and began practicing seventh year spells. Neville was the poor sap assigned as her target dummy for the day, and they spent the rest of the time switching between offense and defense. I was guiding Luna through her own chosen workload while Susan and Hannah were finalizing the details pertaining to the elemental magic.

I was already seeing the effects that copious amounts of sleep had on me. It was a hectic summer, and I could finally catch a breath. It put me in a good mood, and it reflected on my training as well.

We had settled into a good routine by now and had enough rest, so it was time to follow through on the plans we made during the summer. Since the process of becoming a true elemental mage took a long time, we decided to get started immediately. Even at intermediate levels, such a skill would be a boon.

Once we were all done with our training, we approached Susan and Hannah. Summarily, the two of them expounded upon the elemental ritual from the Bones library. It was a lost ritual, one that only a handful of people were aware of. Knowledge on it was also scarce because the government didn't want witches and wizards running around with such strength.

I was pretty sure that Dumbledore had done this and mastered an element. I would bet good money that he had moved on to other elements after finishing up his first one. The fight I witnessed at the ministry gave credence to it. Going by logic, I would guess that fire would have been his first step towards elemental mastery. There were so many instances of him shaping fire to his will at unprecedented levels.

Tom, on the other hand might have leaned towards lightning, going by his feats. It was possible that he had learnt to mold elements some other way. He did spend a lot of time going around the world and learning magic. A part of me was wary of him teaching that to his Death Eaters, but I suppose he wouldn't give others the means to stand next to him in any field, even if they were loyal to him. He hadn't done that so far, I prayed he wouldn't start now. His ego hampered him like that, and I would have it no other way.

Despite everything, these rituals were not that popular, mainly because there were simple spells that allowed the average witch and wizard to conjure and control the elements. If nothing else, most of the magical population was complacent.

What most of them didn't realize was that if you took an element to its absolute limits, one would be untouchable. Dumbledore and Voldemort might have performed this ritual, but they apparently did not take the elements beyond what could be perceived by one's senses.

To me, who has consumed copious amounts of fiction, the possibilities were endless. Even if I couldn't actually replicate some feats, I was confident that I would be able to elevate the element I picked to greater heights. The second path would be a major factor in that. I would understand the magic involved, learn it, and make it my own at unprecedented speeds. With my raw magical strength and the paths at my fingertips, I would be ashamed if I didn't follow through on that thought.

It was a simple ritual. The circle was common for all the elements. What changed was the incantation, the time of the day, the day itself, and the catalyst, depending on the selected elements. It was almost night time, and according to the book, it was prime time for the ritual I had picked for myself. We had mapped a schedule on when to perform the rituals for everyone. Today was my day.

Unsurprisingly, Neville wanted to proceed with earth. Hannah already had begun her journey in that element, but since he was in tune with it from the get go, he was confident that he would be able to put it to good use. Hermione had pointed out that it would be better if we picked different elements, so that it would be easier for us to teach each other once we were finished with the first one. Even though mastering a single element was a long process, we were a motivated bunch. I was sure that with talented folks like my friends, it wouldn't be a tall task.

Therefore, Hermione had picked lightning in the interest of spreading out our options. I initially considered going for it myself, but I then thought otherwise. There was one element that called out to me. I always felt a sense of euphoria in the air. It only made sense to make the air around me my own.

It was already evident that the ritual had worked. During the last meeting of summer, Hannah had said that we would need to build our affinity for the chosen element. But what if one already had a certain amount of familiarity with an element? In my case, it seemed to amount to something.

I could acutely feel the breeze caressing my skin, molding around my shape as it passed through. I could feel the air entering me through my nostrils, filling me with vitality. The same air left my body, bereft of the same vitality. I knew the scientific process, but it seemed like magic could identify the gases present in the air.

I wondered how deadly this would be at higher levels. If I could lock out the air from the Death Eater's bodies, I would just remotely suffocate them. Or if I could push this further and identify the exact gases in the air and take charge over them, it would open up new avenues. I could drown them in a wave of carbon monoxide and watch them drop dead. I would be able to kill all fire thrown at me with a tsunami of carbon dioxide. I could supplement my own fire with a healthy dose of oxygen. The possibilities were endless.

"What happened?" asked Susan as I was seemingly spaced out.

"You never told me that it would be so vivid Sue," I said, still entranced by the new sensations.

"Huh, what do you mean?" she asked and I explained what I felt.

"That is crazy fast. I can feel the heat emanated by different sources, but it took me a few days to get there." From the glint in her eyes, I was sure that she would be upping her elemental training in order to pull further ahead. After the raid on her house, she had become very competitive. She did not want to be the weak link in combat anymore and pushed herself a lot during the training.

"Interesting, it does seem like your theory pertaining to pre-existing notions about ones affinity helps indeed. We'll see if it checks out when Nev does the ritual for earth," said Hermione as she scribbled in her ever-present Journal. Normally, one would worry about information security, but the damn thing was rigged to the moon and back. Anyone unauthorized trying to get in would get the surprise of their lives. Apart from enchanting the words to scramble and encrypt themselves, she had placed contingencies over contingencies. It acted as a portkey to a live trap, and also had a self-destruct sequence on it. We all steered clear of it at all times, even though we were authorized to take a peek. Hermione could be devious when she wanted to be.

"Do I have to?" asked a sulking Luna. Turns out that she was serious when she said that she wanted to pick the Moon as her element. She really wanted to find a way to harness lunar energy. Unfortunately for her, we hadn't come across anything of that sort yet, and she had to make do with a local element of her own.

"It's just a matter of time. Water is no slouch Luna. About seventy percent of the planet is covered in water," I tried to reassure the girl.

"Fine, I will follow our schedule and perform the ritual during the best slot for mine. But you have to promise me that you will help me find about more about the Moon as an element."

We all nodded in agreement.

A good chunk of time passed in idle chatter as we were already exhausted by the events of the day and our own training. Just as we got ready to head towards dinner, Hedwig sent me a feeling of accomplishment through our bond. She immediately followed through with information that her royal subjects had relayed to her.

Things had proceeded according to the plan.

"Dobby," I called. The elf answered me at once in his usual manner. By now, we were all used to his silent apparition. I had gotten inspired by the little fellow at one point and brought my own apparition noise to a minimum. I barely made a sound now, and soon, it would be completely silent.

He appeared in front of me, already on one knee. He was wearing a neon purple ninja outfit today. It boggled my mind how he never managed to get spot in his outrageous outfits. Even before all this, Dobby was a sneaky little bugger. The knowledge of ninjas had just pushed him to the point of fanaticism.

"Yes sir, Dobby will do your bidding!" he squeaked excitedly.

"I want you to visit Madam Bones and tell her that the bait worked."

"Anything else sir?" he asked, eager to take on more responsibilities.

"That'll be it for now. I'll let you know if anything else comes up. I'm sure she will have a response of her own, as well. Thanks for the help Dobby," I said with a warm smile adorning my face.

"Of course sir! Dobby is always happy to help," he said and vanished without a sound. I chuckled at his antics and shook my head.

"How many days do we have?" asked Hannah, anxiousness ripe in her voice.

"We are not sure about the exact day yet. But most likely we're looking at a timeline of around three days," I said. I could see that they were nervous, but what bolstered my pride was that all of them seemed determined, despite their nervousness.

"Once again, I'm sorry Hannah."

"Don't. This is an important mission. My parents are not in any danger as well. The elves already relocated us to a safe house. It's just a house, we can rebuild after this shitshow is over," she responded. She grimaced for a moment and continued, "They would have anyway come after my mum for being a first gen who married into a prominent pureblood family."

Susan slapped her friend on her back with a huge grin on her face and said, "We'll get them for sure. I will miss the old shack as well, but look at it this way, we get to redesign an entire new house in place."

"It is not a shack," Hannah said in mock outrage as she slapped Susan's hand away. They both stared at each other for a moment and then burst out laughing. Hermione smiled indulgently as Luna once again hummed her usual tune. I noticed that she only used that specific tune when she felt content, and more often than not, it was when she spent time with us. It seemed like I was not the only one who noticed, as Hermione threw an arm around Luna's shoulder and brought her closer to herself.

"Hate to be a downer, but we need to go to dinner before someone throws a hissy fit about tardiness and curfews," said Neville. We just groaned at that and filed out of the room one by one, cloaked by my illusions.

##################

"Acid Pops," I said out loud in front of the gargoyle. It leapt aside at once, revealing the staircase to Dumbledore's office.

It had been a day since I had done the elemental ritual and the more time passed, the more I could feel a connection with the wind around me. I was sure that my predisposition towards the skies and the second path had stimulated the whole thing. Not that I was complaining.

I was nowhere near using it for combat at the moment, but it would hardly take me a few weeks to be lethal with the thing.

As for why I was now carried up the moving staircase, it all boiled down to the issue with Draco. When we had returned to dinner after my ritual, Dumbledore had approached us. At first, it seemed like McGonagall didn't want to deal with us anymore. We had been testing her patience all summer, and it looked like we had drawn the last straw.

He told us that he would still like to talk to us all, about the issues we had with the institution, and just reduced the usual token points for our non-compliance to the detentions. Instead of reprimanding us any further, he told me that he wanted to have that talk with me the next day. I knew that Dumbledore wanted to gain my trust and prepare me for the war. What I had not foreseen was that he did not care about my apparent disobedience to things that did not matter. In his final year of life, it looked like he did not care about anything except ensuring that I won the war.

Later on, Seamus told us that it was Dumbledore who had taken over our detentions from McGonagall. Some of his words made a lot of sense in retrospect. It did clear the confusion we had about why he was waiting for all of us. We didn't even know that the detentions had been switched, and would have ended up at McGonagall's door anyway.

So here I was, ready to hear what he had to say. As I went forward to knock the door, it opened on its own.

"Ah, come in Harry," he welcomed me from behind his desk.

As I made my way inside, I could see that the pensieve was already out, ready for us. I dearly hoped that he would not waste months on end going through the slideshow of Tom's life. Although the presence of the first edition Caster's Chronicle and a far fewer vials that I expected, pointed to the contrary.

He caught my gaze and brightened up at once.

"Yes, yes. Smashing job on the newspaper, my boy. I wish you the best of luck with it," he beamed and motioned me to sit down.

"Glad that you liked it sir," I said as I sat down on my seat.

"The gripping journalism aside, I enjoy the crossword puzzles and the comic strip the most. Especially the satirical comic on today's paper, it was a masterpiece. I am sure that poor Cornelius would be quite cross with the artist."

I snorted as he reminded me of that specific comic strip. The artist drew a caricature of a walking piece of white chocolate fudge claiming that there was no such thing as dark chocolate. A dig at how Fudge had been acting in his denial. Although, if Dumbledore was paying attention to the crossword, I would need to be careful in the future when I began implementing Cassiopeia Black's research.

"To be honest professor, Fudge can go fudge himself for all I care," I said.

"Alas, the folly of Cornelius is not why I have called you here today. Initially I had planned on having you go through these memories over the weekend. Am I right in assuming that this Mr. J. Jonah Jameson has shared everything in his findings about Tom?"

"Yes sir," I confirmed.

"Then that saves us a lot of time. I have a few memories for you to watch, memories of events and details that would not have been covered by your brilliant employee. Where did you recruit the man from anyway? I do not recall anyone by that name attending Hogwarts."

I mimed zipping my mouth and said with a smile, "My lips are sealed professor. I'm sorry but I can't talk about them. For their own safety. I'm sure you understand."

I was under no such vow, but it would be better to add another layer of obscurity over the situation with my employees. They had assisted me in thoroughly pissing off Tom after all. My sixth path would protect my mind from any intruders, and the offices had several layers of security, including the fidelius- of which, I was not the secret keeper. So I really couldn't tell anyone where the offices were anyway. Winky had the honor of being the secret keeper. Due to her loyalty to me, she would keep the secret. Moreover, only my circle knew that I had even employed Winky, so nobody would connect her to me. Even if they did, purebloods would never in a million years expect a wizard to make an elf the secret keeper.

"Marvelous. I was merely curious and wanted to praise such a brave man. Moving on, I made great haste in obtaining some of these memories over the summer. Today, I want you to watch these, so that you might get an idea about the possible horcruxes of Tom."

After that, I spent the next hour going over the memories that he had collected. The memories ranged from Tom's habit of collecting trinkets, to his discovery of Slytherin's locket and Hufflepuff's cup. The final memory in the queue was Slughorn's modified memory.

"The last memory…" I muttered, knowing full well what I was about to be tasked with.

"Noticed that have you? Splendid! Yes Harry, the memory was tampered with," he said.

"Shame?" I asked.

"For the most part. As you might deduce, Horace no longer wants to talk to me about it. Ever since he gave me this travesty of a recollection, he has been cagey around me. I would not be surprised if he carries with him a vial of veritaserum antidote at all times. He is an accomplished occlumens as well, so any brute force method might just drive him further away. This is where you come in," he said with a glint in his eyes.

"You want me to coerce him into giving us the memory," I stated.

"Once again, quite astute. As I previously told you, he would try to collect you, for the lack of a better term. I am sure that you would get us the memory post haste."

I nodded, aware that directly asking the man would not help. If simple legilimency does not do the trick, then I can do a full possession and get the knowledge from him. In any case, it would be better to draw up different plans and consult with Hermione before proceeding. My Hermione was more driven than her canon counterpart, and I had full confidence that she would help, since she would inevitably get invited to the Slug Club as well.

"We are not done yet, however," he said as he waved his wand and an ornate box floated in front of us.

The moment the box opened, I jumped out of my chair and drew my wand due to the malicious magic wafting off the thing.

"A vile curse. As you can see, it did quite a number on me," he said as he raised his bronze hand, "I have neutralized most of the nastiness placed on it over the summer. Alas, the stench of vile magic still remains on this priceless artifact."

"So this is the ring Marvolo Gaunt flaunted to Ogden? The one with the Peverell coat of arms?" I asked, quoting Marvolo himself from the memory we just saw. I knew that the stone was not just an ordinary stone, but I wanted to see if Dumbledore wanted to push me towards mastering the Hallows yet.

"Yes. I am not sure whether you were aware, but the Potters and the Peverells have a deep connection. Iolante Peverell married into the Potter family, many generations ago," he said as he levitated the ring and stood up.

"Any relationship to Ignotus Peverell?" I asked as I sheathed my wand.

His face turned towards me with such speed that I thought he would almost snap his own neck.

"Where did you come across that name?" he asked, with a curious twinkle in his eye.

"There are a few mentions in the family Grimoire," I said. When he starts training me, I would have to explain where I got certain knowledge from. It would be better to lay the foundation now. It would totally make sense for me to learn things from the Potter and the Black grimoires after the ordeal I went through.

He took a long suffering breath and looked at me with what seemed to be shame, "I should have found some time to take you to Godric's Hollow. Your parents and Sirius rest there after all. I once again apologize for my oversight, Harry. We will go there soon."

I had already visited the place, but it was pointless to tell him that. He would get paranoid about my safety and would keep a tighter watch on me. Instead, I just nodded in response.

"Ignotus Peverell was in fact, Iolanthe Peverell's grandfather. You are his descendant. This ring belonged to Cadmus Peverell, Ignotus' brother. Which means that you hold a certain amount of claim to it as well," he said after a brief minute of contemplation.

"So it means Tom and I are distantly related," I said. Even though I knew it beforehand, I still couldn't stop the disgust from showing in my face.

"Most wizards and witches are distantly related. Don't pay it too much attention Harry," he said.

"I had a piece of the maniac stuck in my head, nothing would beat that, I suppose," I waved it off.

"Quite. Now, could you please fetch the sword you once bravely drew from the sorting hat," he said, pointing towards the sword of Gryffindor. The sword was hung on the wall with the help of some ornate hooks. I could feel a layer of magic over that portion of the wall, presumably protecting the artifact.

Since Dumbledore gave me the go-ahead, I was sure that the enchantments would allow me.

I was proven correct as my right hand clasped the handle of the sword. I carefully removed it from its support and held it in front of me. What surprised me was the shock that went through my left arm. It emanated from my palm, and I could feel an angry buzz in my mind. Ah, it seemed like Hirudo did not like me wielding other bladed weapons.

"What happened?" asked a curious Dumbledore.

"Nothing sir, just jitters. We are going to destroy the thing after all," I said, attempting to cover up the fact that I had a sentient knife bound to me. At the same time, I employed my peculiar brand of mind magic and sent Hirudo information about how this would not be a combative situation, and that I had to keep up appearances. The moment the thing realized that I was not denying it fresh blood, it mellowed down and returned to its dormant state.

He just hummed in response and beckoned me towards the desk, where he placed the ring. He then waved the elder wand around and started muttering in an unfamiliar language. I was tempted to switch to the second path to better understand the magic being performed, but I decided that now was not the time. This horcrux in particular was a dangerous one. It would do me better to focus on my occlumency instead. So I stayed in the sixth path, fortifying my mind against any possible intrusions.

After a few minutes of casting, he finally stopped and looked at me.

"Remember Harry, one clean strike through the ring. Try to avoid the stone as much as possible. As long as the stone is in one piece, we would be good," he said. Out of all the Hallows, I knew that he cared about the stone the most. The fact that he was trusting me with this task, just to keep his word was monumental. Of course, he could have taken me along with him on the hunt in the first place, but I would take what I got.

"Anything special about the stone?" I asked. I was once again curious how the enchantments on the stone remained while the other artifacts failed to do so. The spells he casted just now presumably played a huge role in it for sure.

"All in due time Harry. For now, please focus on the task at hand," he said while he kept his wand pointed at the ring.

I nodded and reverse gripped the sword and pointed it above the ring. I could immediately feel some sort of magic trying to form a connection. Alas, it looked like Dumbledore had weakened the protections to such an extent that it was pitiful. I ruthlessly brushed aside the vile piece of magic and plunged the sword into the ring, carefully avoiding the stone.

A burst of black smoke burst out from the ring, but it was immediately contained by Dumbledore. The stone got thrown away to the floor due to the force while the ring split into two. I stood a few steps back, brandishing the sword, just in case.

"Perfect. Good job Harry, now-" whatever he was about to say got stuck in his throat as a pulse of magic resonated from the stone, which lay unbound on the floor.

That was not the end of it, as two other pulses of magic resonated with the one from the stone. One came from the cloak stashed in my pocket whereas the other came from the wand in Dumbledore's hand. The Hallows were somehow reacting due to the close proximity to each other, and I was confused because this never happened in canon.

I made it a point to carry the cloak on me because despite their versatility, my illusions were not perfect. If the situation demanded an amount of stealth that left behind no magical traces, the cloak would be my best bet.

The pulsation died down soon enough, but I could feel the magic emanating from my cloak quite clearly. I was not the only one apparently, as Dumbledore alternated his sights between his wand, the stone and then to my pocket.

"Not yet, it is too soon," he mumbled as he shook his head and levitated the stone in front of him. He ran a couple of spells over it and his eyes brightened up with hope. I could see where it was going, and I hoped that he managed to have a heart to heart with Ariana and his parents.

A part of me wanted to go for the Hallows as soon as possible, but a wizard of his caliber would not be taken down that easily. I would need to win the wand from him, and I was not that good at this point. The only reason Draco even disarmed Dumbledore was because the old man was on death's doorstep at that time. The curse's effects throughout the year and then the potion inside the cave had weakened him beyond belief.

"I am sure that you are curious Harry. But all in due time. Right now, we need to focus on getting the memory from Horace. I will set up a timetable for your training. Please do remember, that I will be doing my best to prepare you for what is to come," he said as he forlornly looked at his wand.

I bade him goodnight and walked out of the office. I could not wait to see what the man would teach me. As I walked out, I caught sight of Phineas, who nodded at me conspiratorially. I slightly titled my head in response and walked out.

It had been a productive couple of days, and I could feel some amount of hope, knowing that the light at the end of the tunnel was getting closer and closer.

When I went to bed that night, all I could think of was that there was only Nagini left.

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A.N: Next week's chapter might be delayed a bit because I am swamped with deadlines at work. So, I apologize in advance.

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