ch 37

The grounds are beautiful from up here.

The Black Lake seemed like a black hole stuck into the center of a painting of green scottish fields. Spring was an amazing time for Hogwarts Grounds.

It's a shame that we spend summer away from this place. I thought as I pondered how beautiful and comfortable it must be.

"You've already read this?" Harry asked. He sat behind me at our typical study desk in the Room of Requirement. In his hands, 'The Mind Palace' rested as he read the contents of the book. The walls were see-through, as I normally made them to take advantage of the beautiful view of Hogwarts.

"Yes. It is unlocked for us, just as I knew it would be." I said, confirming that I had already read the book.

"Why aren't we performing the ritual?!" Harry asked, excitement filling his voice.

"You obviously haven't read all of it." I replied snarkily to him. "What does it say is required?"

"Blood. It says the only ingredient needed is the blood of the user." Harry said as he read through the book once again.

"And in what pattern does the blood need to be?" I continued my line of questioning as I tried to lead him to why it wouldn't be as simple as he thought.

"The book calls it the 'Celtic Knot'." Harry answered as his eyes found the answer. I waited patiently for him to continue. "There are three aspects to the 'Knot'. Mind, body, and soul."

He paused then as he studied the symbol. I could tell he was starting to draw the same conclusions about it that I had when I first read the book.

"It's impossibly simple, but so so powerful." I said finally. "Everything is the representative of the number three. Mind, body, and soul: Three aspects that make up everything that can possibly be us. Each of them has a section of the knot dedicated to them, and has three important parts. In the middle, it represents them all as one, and has three points for them."

Harry didn't have much to say to that, so I elaborated a little bit more. "But that isn't even the best part. You see how the lines are meant to establish a three-dimensional object on a two dimensional surface?" I asked.

Harry looked up from the book and nodded at me.

"That is the missing element that no one can explain, and it is represented perfectly in the symbol. It is all three of them, and it is none of them. Because it never ends, there is ONE line that never stops, never splits but encompasses all three aspects. It shouldn't be possible, but I can tell just by looking at it that it is perfect."

"It's fascinating because I have no idea what it means, and I'm not supposed to! It's brilliant, it makes sense, and then it doesn't. And that is exactly how we view ourselves! We know so much, and yet we can not find the final piece."

I stopped my rambling, because I knew that I must have sounded like a madman. I wasn't sure if I made any sense. I had gone through the same thought process the first time that I had read the book, but it had taken me much longer to snap out of it and quit thinking farther into it.

"Bloody hell." Harry said. I wasn't sure if it was because of my rambling or the magnificence of the ritual.

"I think this gives us more insight into the soul and how it interacts with our being." I said, bringing up a separate topic I had been pondering on since my reading.

"What insight?" Harry asked.

"That we have no idea how it works, we have no idea its effects on the other two aspects of us. Which explains Voldemort's appearance, and his descent into madness perfectly." I summed up.

Somehow it made no sense to me, but it made perfect sense to me. And that is why I thought I was spot on with my deduction.

"This is giving me a headache." Harry groaned out as he pondered what I said. "But this doesn't explain why you haven't performed it."

Oh right, I got sidetracked. I thought.

"Well, we need about a unit of blood." I revealed. "Which is fine to extract at one time, but we have to wait for our body to recover before we can perform the ritual."

Harry groaned and I knew what question he was going to ask, but waited for him to ask it all the same. "And how long will that take."

"About two weeks." I said. "But to be sure, we'll wait three. Nothing can go wrong with this ritual."

The book actually didn't say anything about waiting that long. In fact it only said to give it a day after extracting the blood, but I wasn't taking any chance. The muggles had figured out that the blood was replenished within twenty-four hours, but you didn't truly recover for another two weeks.

Grindelwald messed up somewhere in his performance of the ritual. I wasn't sure if it was when he was inside his mind palace or during the preparation stage of the ritual, but somewhere he did and I wasn't taking any chances with something this big. I would be at one-hundred percent when the time came.

I'm a little scared, too. I thought, but did not say it out loud. Not only will this lead to missing memories, and hopefully the key to everything. But I could fundamentally alter my very being. What if I accidentally removed Fleur? Or something else that made me…. Me.

"Well at least we'll be out of school by then." Harry said as if it was a good thing. Normally it would, meaning we would have more free time to perform the ritual. But I knew that Dumbledore's death rapidly approaches, along with some massive plays by Voldemort.

The time delay meant that I wouldn't be able to find the missing memories, nor would I be able to start double casting before whatever happens at the astronomy tower. I would have to face it as I am now.

If Voldemort himself shows… I was unwilling to finish the sentence in my own mind. So I decided to respond to Harry.

"That's what I'm afraid of."

I clenched and unclenched my arm out of habit from my old life. I didn't actually need to pump it up to help the process of draining myself. Harry had complete control over his magic, and the magic collecting the blood from my veins.

It was a weird feeling, and an even weirder sight. Where I would normally have an IV drawn to take my blood, a small incision sat. My blood streamed out of the small hole in my skin in a perfect river, leading to a vial that didn't look as if it could contain a unit of blood. But space-enlargement charms were a thing in this world, and it accepted the blood without spilling.

Harry was stone-face as he concentrated on the surprisingly complex magic required to drain me of my blood. His green eyes seemed a little brighter as his body channeled the magic through his holly and phoenix feather wand.

A wand that can not be used, soon. I thought, remembering that Voldemort was on the hunt for the most famous of the Deathly Hallows: The Elder Wand. He had no idea that it's allegiance was currently held by his greatest foe, Dumbledore.

And if Dumbledore has his way, then he will carry it to the grave with him. I remembered. My eyes hardened slightly as I thought about the wand. He will not have his way.

Then it was over and with another wave of Harry's wand, the wound was sealed and the vial corked. He handed it over almost immediately.

Us wizards value our blood. I thought about his actions.

Harry wasted no time in rolling up the sleeve to his ridiculously expensive robes and administering the same treatment to himself. My respect for my friend rose immensely. Not only was his dueling on par with my own, and without the use of runes I would add, but his healing ability is unmatched. It was impressive considering I had begun my journey to power a couple of months before he had.

Harry drained himself of a unit of blood and healed himself quickly as my thoughts moved to the future, and what laid ahead of us. No sooner than he had put up his vial and fixed his robes did I get a mental warning from the Room of Requirement.

"Harry, Draco is back. Get ready." I told him as my wand fell into my hand. I disillusioned myself, and silenced my footsteps. Harry disappeared from my vision and I allowed the Room to do Draco's bidding.

In a flash, the Room shifted from my normal studying/dueling room to the Room of Hidden Things. Unused furniture popped up all around us and the door at the front of the Room opened.

Draco wasn't alone this time. Two large teenage boys were by his side. Crabbe and Goyle followed him like lost puppies, acting as bodyguards.

The three of them wouldn't last two seconds against us. I couldn't help but think as I saw them move through the room. I started walking also, to where I knew the Vanishing Cabinet would be in the room.

I arrived before Draco could and I looked towards the ground, where I knew my runic set lay inactive. I sent another thought to the Room and they disappeared. I didn't want Draco to notice and then destroy them, or worse, make a new plan to attack Dumbledore.

Draco's footsteps became louder and I moved to hide behind an object in case he cast any detection spells. My wand was in my hand, in case I needed to defend myself or rid the world of any wanna be Death Eaters.

"Here it is." Draco whispered. His two goons did not respond. In fact, their eyes looked dead to the world. I recognized the imperius curse immediately. I wasn't sure if I was impressed or not.

Would their parents seek Draco out for revenge? Or would they allow their children to be used like puppets?

"Watch my back." Draco ordered and the two goons turned around to face the room.

Draco really is an idiot. I couldn't help but think. There are spells that can do their job better.

Draco stared at the Vanishing Cabinet, and for a moment I thought he was praying it would fix itself. Then he raised his wand and started mumbling in the air. I caught a few of the words, but his wand movement told me everything I needed to know.

He's been studying. I thought. It's a little sloppy, but with the right knowledge you could compensate for that.

I watched with a frown as the magic started to take shape and fix the Vanishing Cabinet. I felt the enchantments start to fall into place on the object. He was close to halfway there when the magic cut off, along with his mumbling.

Draco's arm fell to his side, and I knew he felt the same thing I did because a broad smile cut into his face. His teeth, yellow from neglect, shone in the room. I could tell he wanted to shout at his success. He turned around and started walking back to the entrance of the Room.

Why isn't he finishing it? I wondered as he barked orders to his puppets. Was this just a test? Did he not finish perfecting the spell?

The door to the Room closed and immediately I changed the room back to my normal studying room. Harry and I dropped our spells at the same time and looked at each other.

"He's close."

"He's finished it."

Harry minced no words. We stood in the Room of Hidden Things. We had been checking the Vanishing Cabinet everyday since we had discovered Draco trying to repair the object. The day was Monday, June 30th, 1997. I had been at 12 Grimmauld Pl all weekend with Fleur, and didn't have time to check it the day before, though Harry had and said it wasn't repaired.

"Fuck." I said. "It happens today."

"Terrible timing!" Harry exclaimed. "Because Dumbledore wants to see us."

Fuck it's definitely happening today. I thought. Why couldn't it have been in a week, after we performed the ritual?

I clamped down on my fear with my occlumency. Soon a calm sharp readiness took control of me.

"Doesn't matter, we're two of the most powerful wizards in the world right now. We can handle this." I told my friend and I saw that he too relied on his occlumency to reign his emotions in.

"Let's go and get this meeting over with." I said as runes appeared on the floor beneath me. I touched my wand to them and they flared with a bright light before settling back down. "They'll be trapped as soon as they step out of the cabinet."

I turned around and headed back in the direction of the entrance to the Room with Harry hot on my heels. I sheathed my wand and felt a vibration from inside my robes. I pulled out my Blackbook quickly and there under Theodore Nott's name was a simple warning.

'ATTACK TONIGHT, HOGWARTS!'

At least he is being useful. I thought as I flipped the page to Fleur's name. I started writing as I was walking towards Dumbledore's office, and my handwriting suffered for it.

"Gather the Order, Harry. Tell Sirius there will be an attack at Hogwarts tonight." I told my friend as I continued to write out my note.

'There will be a battle tonight. I wish you could be here, but I know you agree with me when I say that you can't be. I'll be home tonight after it, I love you.'

I put up my Blackbook at the same time Harry did and we picked up our pace to reach Dumbledore's office. Students parted around us, pining after the boy-who-lived. Harry was set to take his NEWTs a few days after school ended and it had naturally reached the population that he was going to graduate early. No one mentioned my own early testing, and that was just the way I liked it.

I was too lost in my thoughts to hear the password to the gargoyle, but I did step on it after 's voice rang out, as it always did, before we even came into his line of sight.

"Hello boys. Fancy an adventure today?" He said with an abnormally chipper voice. Neither Harry or I reacted the way he expected to, and Harry even ignored the old man for his own topic of conversation.

"Draco has finished the Vanishing Cabinet." Harry said simply. Then he waited on the Headmaster to do something about it.

"Of course he has. Draco is a resourceful young man." Dumbledore said almost immediately upon hearing the information. If anything, he seemed happier because of the news.

"There will be an attack." Harry added on, once again expecting the Headmaster to do something.

"I know, Harry." Dumbledore said as his voice sobered up a little. "And there is one more thing I have to do before they can commence said attack."

I stood watching them silently, and my temper threatened to rise because of the nonchalance the old man was showing. I beat it down and channeled it into focus. "Where are we going?" I said, remembering that Dumbledore mentioned an adventure.

"I have found the location of a soul anchor." Dumbledore told me. "And I need you two to see the protections you will have to weather to reach them."

That's why I can't remember this part of the night. They went to find one of those abominations. I thought.

A flash of Dumbledore appearing at the Astronomy tower in the twisting of apparition flashed in my memory. Next it was an image of him falling out of the tower after a green jet of light hit him, his eyes lifeless.

"How long will it take?" I asked the old man, unwilling to miss the upcoming battle.

"It won't be that long, we will be back with plenty of time to protect the school." Dumbledore answered me. His cheery tone found its way into his voice again.

"You're both touched in the head, aren't you?" Harry asked. He looked at us like we were incapable of simple thoughts.

"Play his game. The longer we talk about it, the later we get back." I told Harry.

Plus, he's right. We need to see these soul anchors in action. I thought as I tried to get everyone to move a little faster. And see how to destroy them.

"Yes, Harry. Play my game." Dumbledore said with a mad twinkle in his eyes.

Dumbledore and I stood and stared as Harry paced around the room nervously. He twirled his wand in one hand and ran his other hand through his hair. Finally he realized that he wasn't winning this argument against Dumbledore and caved.

"Fine. Where are we going?"

My feet hit a very hard surface, but I held my balance as we came out of the apparition. I looked down to see that I was standing on stone, hard black stone.

I turned and looked at my surroundings to try and gauge where I was at. Mist from the ocean or sea or something hit my face with an intense wind. I stood on a cliff looking out to a body of water and behind me was a large opening in the side of the cliff face, a cave.

"Come on boys, we don't have all day." Dumbledore said, gaining our attention.

My wand whipped into my hand and I searched out towards the cave with my magic. I found the faint trace of a magical ward and tried to sense its intent.

"Blood ward." Dumbledore said as he noticed my actions. "Tom is quite fond of them."

Dumbledore's wand rose to his hand and the same ethereal blade that I was so fond of appeared. He ran it across his palm without hesitation. My eyes looked at the unique wand, and I got an idea. Dumbledore pressed his hand to what felt like a focal point in the ward, and smeared his blood over it.

"Headmaster." I said, getting his attention.

Dumbledore and Harry both looked my way, waiting for me to speak. "I'm calling in that favor. Do you remember? For the vial of Basilisk venom?"

All three of us knew that Dumbledore had paid that debt so many times over to me. He had used his magical might to save me from Voldemort, and he had used his political weight to save me from the law. He owed me nothing, but I needed a favor all the same.

"Of course, Ron." Dumbledore said. He must have sensed something in my voice that showed my desperation. "I think I have one more to give."

I turned to Harry with the confirmation. "Harry, disarm the Headmaster."

The wind blew behind me and whipped our hair around after I said that. It didn't stop Harry from looking at me with a confused look on his face. Nor did it stop the dangerous look that passed Dumbledore's eyes.

"Why?" Harry asked.

I turned to the Headmaster, and nodded for him to explain. He didn't, instead he spoke towards me.

"Did Gellert tell you?" Dumbledore asked. The glint was gone in his eye, but they didn't hold malice or ill-intent. He must have been remembering when I hinted at knowing the wand so long ago.

I shook my head. "No." I didn't elaborate. "My source told me that Voldemort has been searching for a new wand. He realized that his and Harry's wands are brothers. He knows about the Priori Incantatem, and he searches for the Elder Wand. The wand in your hand." I revealed.

It was all a lie, of course. Nott hadn't told me anything of the sort, but I needed an excuse, one that Dumbledore would bye.

Dumbledore's head fell and his eyes gazed upon the wand in his own hand. "I had hoped to bury it with me." Dumbledore said after a moment. Harry just watched us with a confused look on his face, not knowing what we were talking about. Then, Dumbledore's left hand flipped, and another smooth black wand appeared in it.

His original. I realized. He's kept it this whole time?

"One condition Harry." Dumbledore said, addressing my friend. Harry, still confused, nodded.

"Take it to your grave, let it fade into legend." Dumbledore pleaded.

Harry still didn't know what we were talking about and he looked for an explanation. We didn't have time for one.

"Disarm him, Harry. You'll know when you touch it." I said to my friend. I really didn't know if he would understand the significance upon touch, but I had a hunch.

Harry flicked his wand and shot the disarming charm wordlessly. The Elder Wand flew out of Dumbledore's hand and sailed straight into Harry's outstretched left hand. The effects on the world was immediate. A sharp pulse of very powerful magic rolled and I swore the wind picked up even more for a second.

Harry looked down to the Elder Wand, and his green eyes glowed .

"Bloody hell."