Chapter 308: Race Against Time

If you want to support me check out my patréon at https://www.patréon.com/athassprkr

I tend to upload drafts of early chapters on there to get people's opinions of them so you can read up to 20 chapters ahead as a bonus.

I would like to thank my beta, Awdyr, for his help in this chapter.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

4 January 1995, Durmstrang

With a wave of his wand, he created a portal to Daphne's bedroom, only to see her glaring at him, "I got a location… Dumbledore moved the sword from the mountain. He put it in a cave underneath Durmstrang. Are you in or out?"

The walk to the fortress was a silent one. Daphne hadn't said much other than agreeing to come with him and the expression on her face was a worried one. She was probably apprehensive about the fight ahead. So far, he had only faced the vampires on his own, meaning that this was technically her first real 'mission' since the tournament began.

A small part of him was worried too, but not about the fight ahead… It was more about the way he had behaved inside the mountain. His lack of sleep had made him very irritable, and his actions were very rash. There were probably better ways of getting information out of the Elder Vampire… He didn't really have to torture the woman…

Unfortunately, he was quickly running out of time, and that frustrated him to no end. The woman's behaviour and games with her knowledge didn't help. He couldn't deny the effectiveness of it all, but he had to control himself better next time… However, he could see why Dark Lords tended to prefer this method. It was just more efficient and faster…

They walked down to the dungeon near one of the abandoned classes of Durmstrang. They walked down to the dungeon near one of the abandoned classrooms of Durmstrang. The air got colder with each step, and the dim light from their wands cast creepy shadows on the damp stone walls. The corridor was narrow, the ceiling low, and the smell of mildew and age was almost overpowering. Harry and Daphne's footsteps echoed, a constant reminder of how empty and eerie the place was.

The walls had old, rusty sconces that probably hadn't held a torch in decades. Cobwebs hung from the ceiling like ghostly curtains, and the occasional rat scurried away, its tiny claws making scratchy noises on the stone floor. The deeper they went, the more oppressive the atmosphere became, the silence almost deafening.

This was technically a banned place but with everyone being busy with the task, no one really cared about it. Honestly, the reason it was banned was mostly just superstition, that Gellert Grindelwald would have cursed the place before he was expelled, or that he had hidden some very dangerous dark artifacts which could cause mayhem. For all the fact that mages had learned how to manipulate the fabrics of reality, to peer into the future and past, they were strangely superstitious…

Finally, they reached a heavy, iron-bound door that led to the dungeon. It creaked open reluctantly, revealing a large, dark room lit only by the faint glow of their wands. The air was even colder here like the room had frozen over from years of neglect and dark memories.

At the far end of the dungeon, carved into the rough stone wall, was Grindelwald's infamous mark. The symbol of the Deathly Hallows was etched deeply, its lines precise and deliberate. The vertical line of the Elder Wand, the triangle of the Invisibility Cloak, and the circle of the Resurrection Stone were all perfectly proportioned, forming a hauntingly symmetrical emblem. Time hadn't worn it down; if anything, it seemed more pronounced, the stone around it darker and rougher in contrast.

Daphne was looking at the mark in a daze, "Grindelwald's mark…"

"That's not exactly right," he responded, happy that the blonde had finally spoken up since they left the Hogwarts Express turned dragon, "It's the symbol of the Deathly Hallows. Grindelwald was obsessed with them, so much so that he used it as his own personal coat of arms."

"Are you talking about the children's story?" she asked, "The one about the three brothers beating Death."

It was then that Harry finally realized that he had never actually told Daphne about the Deathly Hallows, "I don't know if the story itself is real, but the objects are. The three brothers were Antioch, Cadmus, and Ignotus Peverell…"

"And you know this how?"

"I'm a descendant of the youngest brother and the current user of his invisibility cloak…"

That seemed to have struck her dumb and Harry could tell that she wanted to ask more about this. Not wanting to waste too much time, he spoke up, "Alright, we need to find the secret entrance around here…"

Harry used his Arcane Hearing to locate traces of magic around the place. The entire location was saturated in dark oppressive magic but there was something connected to the symbol carved in the wall… Some kind of recognition charm between it and a section of the wall. It could be anything, really. An object with a distinct signature, a person, or even just a passcode.

The magic on the symbol wasn't one that he could decipher properly. He hadn't really seen anything like it before. But this was probably also a beginner's work since while the symbol itself was something new, the enchantments on the wall weren't as well obscured… Grindelwald must have just started to master his magic as the Champion of the Dark at the time.

Which was good news to Harry; he only needed to craft a quick spell to trick the wall into opening without dealing with the overpowered crap that was Grindelwald's magic…

While he was creating the spell, Daphne spoke up, "Harry, what did really happen with the Elder Vampire?"

"She was trying to stall us… I convinced her to speed up a bit…"

"How? I don't think she would have done this willingly…"

Harry nodded, "Of course, it wasn't willing. I just threatened her a bit… I bound her and said that I would keep her there for an eternity, chained without any sound, any light, or any sleep. She treasured new experiences, and I threatened that she wouldn't have any for thousands of years, trapped in this place… She caved in quickly afterwards…"

He told her an edited version of what happened. Torturing that woman wasn't exactly something that he was proud of… It had been a mistake… Not that the monster didn't deserve the pain, but that Harry had gone so far… He knew that, instinctively, and promised himself that he would not allow himself to lose control like this again. He was glad that Daphne hadn't seen him like this, even if she was obviously suspecting that he hadn't told her the entire truth.

Daphne continued her questions, "Then why did you kill her afterwards?"

"She tried to kill me when she was free. Look, Daphne, you shouldn't really feel pity for someone like her. I don't think you know just how horrible Elder Vampires are. She was a monster, one that had probably killed thousands of innocent people and that's me lowballing things…"

"Fine, but we're going to talk about this later…."

Harry agreed, "After the task…"

With a final calculation, Harry cast a spell at the connection between the symbol and the wall, which slowly dissolved into mist, revealing a passageway. Harry entered, his wand raised, and Daphne followed after him. He whispered to her, "Try to remain hidden. You're my backup in case something goes wrong… The main priority is protecting the sword…"

The moment he said this, a loud gong spread all over the fortress, "Shit, the task has started. We're quickly running out of time…"

He ran forward, deciding that subtlety wasn't useful anymore. The small army of thralls was killed in seconds with a blast of fire that he spread around by warping space. He quickly followed with the sunlight spell to weaken the rest.

The Vampire Lords at the end of the tunnel were trying some kind of shadow spell but Harry had none of it. He warped space all over the tunnel to turn and twist, causing them to stumble and fall. He followed up by making the room fall down on them, squashing them into red mist. With a wave of his wand, the tunnel returned back to normal, and the blood faded away…

He turned and saw Daphne gaping at him, "What was that?"

Oh, right… Daphne hadn't really seen him fight seriously for years. She hadn't really seen him really fight when the Hogwarts Express was attacked, and she wasn't there when he fought the Vampires in Rome… She knew that he was powerful, especially considering that he often won duels without really trying very hard… Maybe, at most, she had seen him fight off the vampires during the Quidditch World Cup, but he hadn't been going all out until the Elder Vampire showed himself…

Harry quickly cast a wind cutter, killing a Vampire Lord that tried to sneak behind them, "Just applications of space manipulation and a bit of elemental magic…"

To be fair, someone who had mastered space magic like him was bound to have some great advantage in closed places. Really a tunnel was his ideal scenario… The blonde looked slightly shaken, "This is way beyond my paygrade…"

"A tad, yes… There's a reason why I try not to involve you in major fights. But you were the one who asked to not hide things from you…"

"Yeah, I didn't think it would be like this. I haven't even cast a spell…"

Harry gave her a sympathetic look, "You could get back if you want. I wouldn't think any less of you if you do…"

She nodded, "I'll do that…"

Daphne turned towards the exit and then back to Harry. She quickly ran towards him, kissed him on the cheek and murmured, "Don't do anything stupid…" before leaving quickly.

He decided to put that aside until he was finished with the mission. Shaking his head, he walked out of the tunnel and found himself around a giant cavern. In the middle, a ritual was taking place, where a Vampire Elder was raising a glowing dagger. In front of him was a small boulder with what seemed like a mundane sword stabbed into it, like some kind of caricature of the Legend of Excalibur. He noticed that the dagger still hadn't been charged as much as the previous task. It was close, but he still had time.

Encircling him were seven Vampire Elders, dozens of Vampire Lords, and an entire sea of Thralls…

They noticed him the moment he stood out, and Harry didn't really care about that. He wasn't going to bother with stealth with this one. He had to let off some steam. The first thing he did was conjure a giant magic circle which spat out a giant wave of fire. Harry used his wand to also warp space around the flames, making it turn around the cave in a circle, burning everything in sight. The circle got smaller and smaller with time, as more and more Thralls were burned to ash, unable to escape the firestorm.

Finally, a group of Vampire Lords was able to conjure a shadow shield to protect them, only for Harry to use this to pierce a small hole that he widened with his space magic. He manipulated the fire to enter through the entrance, taking most of them by surprise.

Harry quickly ended his assault and warped space in front of him to jump to the other side of the cave. He pointed his wand into the ceiling, which started to spit out giant spikes of stone.

He warped space in front of each projectile, making them underestimate how close they were. The vampire elders conjured a beam of shadows that cancelled the spell, but that was exactly what Harry needed to warp space near them and stab five of them with blades of ice that channelled the power of the resurrection stone… He activated the invisibility cloak enough phase through a vampire elder trying to impale him with a blade of blood.

He followed up by creating a portal in front of the last attacking Elder Vampire, which got him to hit himself with his own attack, and Harry followed up by just killing the beast with another enhanced blade of ice.

Harry turned towards the ritual and noticed that the ritual dagger was complete. The man was about to stab the sword with it, only for the last Potter to send an ice spear enhanced by the resurrection stone into his heart, killing him.

He looked around and gasped. He had done it… He had stopped the ritual. Now, just to make sure, he only needed to either wield the sword, which would fulfil the prophecy or just hide it if he couldn't… He also needed to hide the ritual dagger. To say that it was dangerous would have been an understatement…

He walked towards the sword, seeing if he would be able to pull it out, only for his Arcane Hearing to warn him just in time to shield against an incoming spell. From the shadows, a familiar woman emerged with a sad look on her face.

He gasped as he recognized her, "Lily…"

"I'm sorry, Harry, but I can't let you do this…"

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

AN: I'm very excited to write the Harry/Lily fight scene. A lot of things, including Lily's motivations, are about to be revealed, and I'll finally get it off my chest. I don't know if I wrote the fight scene as nicely as I could have. I'd really appreciate it if you'd let me know what you think of the chapter and if you have any suggestions.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

If you want to support me check out my patréon at https://www.patréon.com/athassprkr

I tend to upload drafts of early chapters on there to get people's opinions of them so you can read up to 20 chapters ahead as a bonus.

Thank you guys for your support in these hard times.