Chapter 335: Of Favours Owed
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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.
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25 October 1995, Wiltshire (Earth 2)
The manor loomed ahead, an opulent testament to wealth and power, its gleaming white walls bathed in the golden light of the afternoon sun. The sprawling estate stretched before him like a small French palace, with perfectly manicured gardens and ornate wrought-iron gates that framed the grand entrance. Towers rose from each corner, their elegant spires piercing the sky, while tall windows glistened like crystal, reflecting the rich greenery that surrounded the estate. The façade was adorned with intricate stone carvings, each detail seemingly designed to impress, if not intimidate. It stood in stark contrast to the rugged English countryside that surrounded it, a symbol of grandeur and exclusivity nestled in the heart of nowhere.
Yes, that was exactly what Harry imagined a Malfoy's residence to be. He hadn't seen its counterpart in his own universe, but he imagined it was much the same. It was funny, really, that the Malfoys, who were chased out of France, liked to showcase their French ancestry so much, even when its current Patriarch was practically the most influential man in magical Britain.
Nevertheless, it also happened to be where Voldemort was hiding. It hadn't been hard to sneak in a little tracking charm on Snape's clothes, which he hid by using the man's own signature, making it seem like it was some charm he cast himself. He then noticed that he went to this manor extremely frequently, meaning that this was where the Dark Lord was holed up.
It made sense. Lord Voldemort relished in his control over powerful men with old families, and what better way to show that than to stay in a Malfoy's residence as a semi-permanent guest?
Anyway, Harry had a plan to execute, and it didn't necessitate him staying in the night. He was almost ready to go home, and time was of the essence. He couldn't have any unforeseen surprises. Deciding to just go through with it, Harry quickly turned into a raven and used his invisibility cloak to bypass the wards.
It was something that he noticed he could do after experimenting a bit. He had wanted to be able to cast magic in his avian form, but for the life of him, he could not. There was just something fundamentally different between this form and the human one that made him unable to shape magic into any precise form.
However, his invisibility cloak was an artefact bound to him and was activated using his soul. Even as a raven, his soul was still his own, and thus he could use the cloak without issues. Flight, invisibility, and intangibility were already an overpowered combination, even if it would have been amazing to be able to create portals while he was flying.
Still, there was something fundamentally different about flying on his own power. There was a raw sense of freedom in it, a connection to the wind and sky that no broomstick or enchanted object could replicate. The beat of his wings felt instinctive, natural as if he had been born to the air. Every gust of wind brushed against his feathers, and he adjusted without thought, weaving effortlessly through the treetops. The weightlessness, the speed—it was exhilarating, and for a moment, he forgot the danger he was in. But the urgency of his mission quickly pulled him back to reality. He swooped low, skimming just above the ground as the manor's grand silhouette loomed larger in the distance, his sharp raven eyes scanning for any signs of movement. There was no room for error, especially considering how close he was to achieving his goal.
As he flew invisibly into the air, he activated his connection to the resurrection stone and focused his Arcane Hearing to only hear the souls around him. He didn't know if a raven could flinch, but he was pretty damn close. Almost every single person in the manor held some form of darkness. Their souls were filled with malice, rage, and sadism. They were actually happy that the monster was back, that they would return to torturing and killing the people they thought to be lesser.
And of course, there was Voldemort himself, whose soul was just as broken as the man in Harry's dimension. However, Harry didn't care about that, he was looking for someone else entirely. He traced back any connection to Voldemort and finally, he found her. Nagini.
The giant serpent was napping in the garden. It was surprising how complex her soul was. It wasn't human but it could have been before it was influenced by her own nature as a snake. There was also a portion of a soul that was not hers but was fully integrated into her own soul. It was definitely done more properly than the one in his counterpart's scar. It was far more rigid, far better connected. To be fair, his counterpart's blood protection could have done its best to destabilize the Horcrux in his scar. It didn't matter either way. Harry quickly turned back into a human and froze time around the sleeping snake.
Afterwards, the only thing that remained was for him to craft his spell and be done with it. It wasn't much, just a small enchantment that would kill her if he activated it. It was easy to hide it with the signature of Voldemort's Horcrux.
All in all, the whole thing was just around ten minutes of work, and he had guaranteed that he could destroy Voldemort's most protected Horcrux. Harry quickly deactivated the time-freezing charm and turned back into his raven form. Nagini stiffened in her sleep, suddenly waking up and looking around. She must have felt something, but she quickly rolled back into herself and continued to sleep.
Well, that was his mission complete. Just as he made his way to leave, he noticed something. An animal with a human's soul was moving around the garden. It must have been Wormtail. An idea sprung into Harry's mind, and he quickly considered its viability. He quickly used the Elder Wand to conjure a glass jar and enchanted it to be unbreakable. The wand made his conjuration to be almost permanent and Harry understood quickly enough why this wand was so sought after.
The Elder Wand was lesser than the one in Harry's dimension. All of the Hallows were, really. Oh, they were beautiful artefacts, don't get him wrong, but they weren't otherworldly. For example, Harry's cloak was far superior to that of his counterpart. He discreetly studied it and found that there were no magical bindings on it. It was just an invisibility cloak that worked very well, and whose enchantments anchored the very concept of being unseen. It didn't let anyone phase, like Harry's own, could, or just walk past wards.
The stone was similar. It was very cleverly designed; it was an elaborate predictive artefact that took one's memories of someone and predicted what they would have been like after Death. It didn't use any soul magic. It was a fake, but a very clever one at that.
Harry never really got to study his world's Elder Wand. Dumbledore had safeguarded it very well and his connection to the Light just made it very hard for Harry to use his Arcane Hearing to analyse the man's possessions.
However, the wand in Harry's hand was a very powerful magical sponge, of some sort. It actively stored the user's power. It was very imperceptible, but the wand itself grew magical reserves of some sort, which the user could tap into to overwhelm any spell. The longer the wand was used, the more powerful it became. It was also a very clever design, probably meant to be passed down into a family, making each generation more powerful than the previous one.
It was a very powerful artefact that he didn't regret taking from this world's Dumbledore. He regretted a few things about how he spoke with the man. He was a bit confrontational with the man. It was unnecessary but every time Harry looked at the man, he saw his own version of Dumbledore, of the man that had tried to kill him, that had destroyed lives trying to create a fake utopia. He would admit to being biased against the man, at the very least. It was only the fact that this Dumbledore was not protected from Harry's Arcane Hearing that he understood that they were fundamentally different. It was truly a wonder just how much the Light warped Dumbledore into a monster while his counterpart, while very manipulative and had his own share of control issues was a relatively good man.
Oh, he made some very disturbing choices and would have never stopped preparing the world for Voldemort, even if Harry had killed him. He was inflexible when it came to his plans and his belief in prophecy. He would have believed that Voldemort would return and would have continued moulding Harry's counterpart into the necessary martyr, just like he planned. It was his nature, his very core.
It was the main reason why he didn't regret the man's incoming Death. The world needed to move on, and Dumbledore was an anchor to the past. When he left, he would leave a world without Voldemort, Dumbledore, or Grindelwald. It would be a new world without any major magical superpower. The future would be in the hands of the next generation of wizards and witches.
Even in Dumbledore's case, it was a good death, as far as deaths go, even if his companions, Grindelwald and Arianna alike would have been nothing more than elaborate illusions from his own memories of them. It gave him time to make up with his brothers and for him to put his affairs in order. In a way, he was also free from the responsibilities of the Elder Wand, which was a very formidable weapon that he feared falling into the wrong hands.
As proof of that, while the jar Harry conjured wasn't permanent, it would last for centuries. The unbreakable charm could only be overwhelmed with hundreds of spells cast at once. Still, it wasn't the time to admire his work. Harry flew towards the rat Animagus and turned back into a human. He cast a small sleeping charm, and the rat fell unconscious. He quickly put him into the jar and locked it firmly, before walking away.
Once he left the property, he conjured a portal to his meet-up with Sirius. The dog Animagus had proved himself to be a very valuable ally. His tutelage when he learned the Animagus transformation was very valuable but also pretty personal. It was what he expected an older friend to be like. The man was scarred by his time in Azkaban, but that made him treasure his friends even more.
The last Black transformed from his form easily enough, "So, how did it go?"
"Very well. The snake should die the moment I activate the enchantment."
"I can't believe you snuck into Voldemort's stronghold and put a curse on his familiar. I wish I could have come with you. It would have been better than staying in that horrible home," he grumbled.
Harry rolled his eyes, "It was an enchantment, not a curse and the Death Eaters know your Animagus form. You'd have been caught in minutes. Let's be honest, stealth is not your strong suit. But to make up for your lack of excitement, I got you a little gift."
Sirius grinned widely, "Please tell me you nicked one of Malfoy's artefacts. He kept bragging all about them when we were in school."
"No, something a bit better," Harry responded while taking out the small jar.
"Is that…" the former inmate asked.
"Yes, Wormtail, in the flesh. I caught him in his form when I was getting out and decided he would make a nice goodbye present."
The grin on Sirius' face was bloodthirsty and Harry stopped him, "Sirius! I didn't bring him to you to kill, even if he deserves it. You could kill him later. No, I brought the rat here because once I'm done when Voldemort's dead and I go home, you'll be able to use him to get your freedom and get custody over your godson properly. I think a lifetime together is far better than a single moment of satisfaction, don't you?"
That made the dog Animagus freeze, "I could take care of Harry?"
"With Voldemort gone, you wouldn't even need to stay in your childhood home. You could buy a new house just for the two of you, even take him on a vacation. Rome was beautiful in my universe when I went there. It probably would be here too. Maybe even take him to a beach in France. All you have to do is use the opportunity that I'm giving you on a silver platter. There's no need to be reckless."
"Won't Voldemort find him? He'll notice that Wormtail isn't around, and he can track down his followers."
"I enchanted this jar myself. It'll keep Pettigrew in a very deep sleep, almost like a Draught of Living Death. No form of scrying will ever detect it as long as the lid is closed, and it's going to be unbreakable. As for Voldemort, he'll probably assume that Pettigrew ran away and he'll try to hunt him down. It would make sense; after all, the rat's a known coward."
Sirius gave Harry a grateful look, "I don't know what to say."
"It's nothing. Just a small show of gratitude. The last couple of months were strangely relaxing, all things considered, and I am glad to have known you, Sirius Black."
"You're saying goodbye, aren't you?"
Harry nodded, "You always were sharper than you looked. I don't think it's likely that we'll ever see each other again and this was the best way I could see to repay you for your help. Have a good and long life, Sirius Black."
"You too, Harry," the man retorted.
Harry smiled and thought back to his plan. That was Nagini handled, which left Harry with one final loose end, specifically his own counterpart's scar. Thankfully, he had a plan.
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AN: I decided to throw Sirius a bone. I'm not sure about this being a good enough goodbye between the two, or if I should have made it more emotional, but that didn't seem to suit Harry's personality a bit. I don't really mind rewriting this one if it didn't land like I wanted it to so please let me know if you like it or not and if you have any suggestions for future chapters before the arc ends.
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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.