Know-Thy-Enemy (I)

~~Little Hangleton, England~~ (An hour ago)

Himera arrived at the edge of a small village named Little Hangleton with a loud crack, but fortunately, there was nobody around her to notice her arrival… It took her some asking around to find where the Gaunts lived when they were still alive. Himera discovered that the Gaunts weren't liked much and they were paupers too. That was probably why they were living in a backward shithole like this.

Thankfully, Little Hangleton wasn't that big, so only after a few minutes, Himera found someone old enough to remember the Gaunts. At first, the old man frowned at her when she asked him about the Gaunts, but he still pointed her toward the Gaunt house before telling her to be careful. She trekked down the dirt road but then all of a sudden she was blasted away as she came in contact with something solid.

Himera's world drowned in pain as her whole body was set alight… She screeched in pain, but this was not the first time she was set on flames, so she didn't lose all of her bearings and started to roll on the dirt ground, trying to put off the flames. The flames were so potent that it took her a whole minute to put off the flames. While breathing heavily, she rolled over onto her back.

Himera snarled in rage as she tore off her charred robes… She was also somewhat charged, but she was already healing. She slowly stood up and started to curse as she continued to tear off her clothes until she was completely naked… All of her clothes were ruined and instead of protecting her dignity, they were only slowing down her Healing Factor, so she was forced to take them off.

"Himera! How can you be so fucking stupid?!" Himera snarled at herself as she started to Conjure herself some clothes. Her Conjured clothes would at least last for a couple of hours, and Himera was sure that in a couple of hours, she would be done.

After getting dressed, Himera returned to the spot from where she had been blasted off. She didn't need to be a genius to know what she had done… She had foolishly triggered a lethal Ward. To be honest, she wasn't expecting the place to be protected by a Ward like this… Who would? After all, it has been decades since the Gaunts died off. The Wards should have disappeared long ago, especially with no one there to charge the Wards.

Himera decided to poke around a bit, but this time a bit more carefully, but this time she didn't dare to get anywhere close to the Ward that set her on fire… She could probably heal from it again, but she wasn't a masochist. After inspecting the Ward for the next half an hour from a safe distance, Himera finally came to the startling realization. She realized that the Ward was simply beyond her…

With no other choice, she simply used her Mark to send a message to Harry and decided to wait for him to arrive at his own leisure… She approached one of the trees and plopped down under the shade as she leaned back on the tree…

<Line Break>

~~Guild Branch, New York~~

"I found their treasury" Gellert declared as he reunited with Harry and Jacklyn. Harry immediately perked up at the words.

"How big is this treasury?" Harry asked in an excited tone, making Jacklyn practically roll her eyes at him.

"I am not sure, but at least, a hundred thousand Galleons" Gellert answered after thinking for a bit.

"Ohhh… Then as dutiful citizens of a Magical community, we shouldn't leave such an amount to be lying around. We should put it to good use so that the gold is kept in circulation" Harry admitted righteously, making Jacklyn scoff at his words. He wasn't fooling anyone with his words.

Meanwhile, Gellert didn't know what to think… Then all of a sudden, the look on Harry's face changed. The cheerful look on his face morphed into a constipated look. "What happened?" Jacklyn asked, sounding worried.

"...Himera needs my help" Harry answered after a few moments of silence.

"Then go, help her" Jacklyn said like it was the most obvious thing to do, but Harry looked even more constipated after hearing her words.

"What about the gold?" Harry asked. A hundred thousand Galleons… This was the first time he was going to see such a huge amount of gold in one place.

"I will get the fucking gold! Go and help her!!" Jacklyn explained as she threw her arms up in the air in exasperation.

Harry still looked somewhat reluctant as he knew that Himera was really durable and she could heal from practically anything. "Are you sure?" Harry asked, looking concerned.

"Fuck, yes! I am sure. I will get the gold and I promise I won't leave behind anything" Jacklyn assured Harry with a huff as she scowled at him.

"Alright!" Harry said as he gave her a stiff nod before finally turning toward Gellert. "I leave the message up to you" Harry said and Gellert nodded his head in understanding. He already had an idea… He decided to brand the head of the Leader with the Sigil of the Lost and leave a letter near the head.

After that, Harry simply bid them farewell and opened a portal. On the other side of the portal, there was a dirt road and Harry had no idea why Himera was calling him to a random nowhere. He simply shrugged before he finally stepped through the portal. The portal closed behind him and after looking around, he found Himera sitting under a tree. The said woman didn't miss his arrival and immediately rose up to her feet while dusting her hands.

"So, why are we here?" Harry asked unsurely as he gestured to their surroundings.

"I tracked the Gaunts to this place, but there are active Wards" Himera answered, making Harry raise his eyebrows at her.

"Really? I thought the Gaunts were gone" Harry asked curiously.

"Yes, they are. Marvolo Gaunt died in 1927 after he was released from Azkaban. He was sent there for assaulting a Ministry personnel" Himera explained. "He had two children, Morfin Gaunt, and a daughter, but I wasn't able to find much about the daughter" Himera added.

"What happened to Morfin?" Harry asked as he inclined his head.

"Morfin was sent to Azkaban along with his father, Marvolo for attacking the Ministry personnel, but his stint in the prison was longer than his father's as he initially broke the law by Cursing a Muggle. Later he was sent back to Azkaban for life in 1943 when he murdered a Muggle family. He died in Azkaban a few months ago" Himera explained and Harry hummed thoughtfully as he rubbed his chin.

"I see… What about the daughter?" Harry asked.

"Nobody knows. Apparently, she was a squib and the Gaunts were extreme bigots, so I wouldn't be surprised if they killed her in a fit of anger and threw her body in a gutter" Himera answered with a shrug.

"Oh well…" Harry mumbled as he decided to change the topic. "So, the Wards?" Harry asked and Himera simply pointed toward the dirt road before she started to speak.

"This is where I triggered the Wards and tell you what, if it was anyone besides me, then they would be dead" Himera deadpanned.

"Is that so?" Harry asked in an amused tone. "So, what happened to you?" Harry asked as he started to approach the Ward line. He waved his hand in the air and the air flickered in front of him before turning back to normal. Someone had placed very powerful Wards around this place, but why would someone place such Wards in a place like this… Well, unless, they were hiding something important in here.

"I was set on fire and it was not pleasant" Himera muttered unhappily in a low tone.

"Indeed" Harry drawled as he raised his hand and the Ward was struck by a lightning bolt from Harry's hand. The Ward trembled but held strong, so Harry simply decided to increase the power. Another lightning bolt struck the Ward and this time, the Ward shuddered and started to flicker before it finally buckled under the overwhelming pressure.

"The Gaunts were probably nutters" Harry declared when he finally saw the Gaunt shack. When he finally brought down the Ward, the Gaunt shack finally came into view as the area obscuring Ward was tied in with the other Wards. There was a dead snake nailed to the door of the shack and that was proof enough that the Gaunts were nuts.

"Hmm. Yes, that aligns with what I heard about them" Himera agreed. Meanwhile, Harry waved his hand in the air to check if there was another Ward or not… The way this place was Warded, he wouldn't be surprised if there were any more surprises waiting for them, but there were no more Wards, which raised some flags in Harry's mind, but he still decided to step forward and he immediately discovered why there weren't any more Wards.

"Motherfucker!!" Himera explained as she stared in horror at the abomination right in front of them. "What in the name of motherfuckering devil is that?!" Himera asked in a horrified tone. She had seen a lot of horrible things, but she had never seen something as horrible as this.

"Hmm… Not exactly" Harry said as he inclined his head. "I believe this is a Nercomatic construct, but very horribly executed" Harry deduced as he continued to stare at the abomination in front of them and then the abomination finally roared…

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