章 34: It Begins

I reached Grimmauld with my team in tow. A part of me was annoyed with the timing, but in general, I was glad that we finally found Snape. I could feel it. Things were coming to a head.

Christmas was in five days. Slughorn's party was right before the hols, so the timing was even better. We could wrap up everything during the holidays.

As we stepped out of the floo, we came face to face with Andromeda's wand. But we did our customary security checks immediately to get on with things.

"What's the situation?" I asked, my voice coming out a bit different due to the helmet's enchantments.

"We had a positive hit at the same place where the Aurors previously had an altercation with Snape and Rookwood. The Aurors monitoring the area found him fifteen minutes ago. We got him in a safe house. A healer is looking at him right now," she said.

"Madam Bones is already there, I suppose?" I asked.

"Yes. She's there along with Nymphadora and a few of her trusted subordinates. You're clear to go there," she said as she handed us a portkey.

"Well then, let's go," I said as all of us grabbed the portkey. We waved Andromeda goodbye and triggered the thing.

The next moment, we landed in front of a nondescript house in a suburb. We were already keyed into the protections, so we passed through harmlessly. Standing in front of us was an old woman who had a lantern in hand.

"Come on in," she croaked as she led us inside.

The moment we stepped into the building, a wave of magic washed over us. Another layer of security.

When it passed over, the old woman straightened up, the wrinkles in her face vanished and her appearance continued to morph.

Within seconds, standing in front of us was someone we were quite familiar with.

"Boss is waiting for you," she said urgently without any hint of her usual mirth.

"Lead the way, Dora," I said imperiously and she just rolled her eyes in response.

The Aurors in the place watched us with curiosity as we walked briskly behind Tonks. Soon enough, they reached a heavily guarded door.

"Auror Tonks. She's expecting you and your party inside," said the Auror as he nodded at us respectfully. They immediately let us in and locked the door behind us.

That sure did feel nice. We had proven ourselves on the battlefield. And I managed to chase Tom away and give him some gruesome injuries. It was all working to our advantage when it came to dealing with people in our uniforms.

When we walked in, Amelia immediately turned around and focused on me.

"He's unconscious. We aren't able to-" whatever she was going to say was disrupted by an urgent knocking on the door.

"What's it?" she barked into her badge.

"Dumbledore's here, ma'am," came a gruff voice from the device.

"Good, send him in once I open the door. Give me a couple of minutes first," she said and then began pacing in place.

"What happened?" I asked as I observed the room. Apart from us Knights, Dora, and Amelia, there were two more people. One was in healer robes, and the other was Amelia's second in command, Gawain Robards.

"Owl, we need information from him ASAP. Snape's condition is not good. We can stabilize him at best, but he is not fit for rough interrogation. Get inside his mind. Find me where he has been, and what he and his master have been up to," she said.

For the first time since I got here, I took a good look at Snape. He looked miserable. They had removed his shirt, and his skin just had odd black patches here and there. He was also missing an arm. The stump of that arm was pitch black. The smell coming from his direction was of something rotting. It was not a pretty sight.

I complied and lifted my hand, as Hirudo formed in my hand, and I saw Gawain stiffen from the corner of my eye. Amelia waved him off, but he was still stiff.

The healer saw me approach Snape and she too looked nervous.

"I'm not going to stab him. Don't worry," I said as I made a small incision in his shoulder. As my magic entered his bloodstream through my cursed dagger, I put my sixth path to use and barreled into his mind.

For a second, I was confused as to what I was seeing.

His mind was a mess. For a vaunted master of the mind arts, his mind was shredded, for lack of a better word.

I was standing in a black void, with fragments of broken pictures floating all around me. Broken memories. Admittedly this was not as bad as Neville's parents' minds. It was still pretty torn up. Thin streams of fire seemed to connect all these torn pieces. It was slowly pulling them all together. But it was too much of a mess to make sense of.

With a jolt, I realized what the fire was. My sixth path pretty much laid his mind bare, so it was easy for me to notice the foreign magic. It was as if Snape's magic was using the foreign magic as a crutch to piece his mind together. It was the Unbreakable vow, trying to put him back together. Maybe because his current condition was not his fault, and his magic, in an act of self-preservation put to use the one thing that dictated his life and death for now.

Nonetheless, the results would not be immediate. I had spent a good amount of time inside the minds of the Longbottoms, so I knew a thing or two about this. I was working on a way to fix them, but it was not easy at all. Snape's condition was similar, albeit way less severe. I couldn't do anything for him in the immediate future.

There were lingering traces of something dark that had caused this. But it seemed to have receded after it had finished its job.

This pissed me off because we needed information.

I came out of his mind, only to find a tense standoff between my group and Dumbledore. Of course, we were all wearing our uniforms, helmet and all. It shielded our identities. Amelia had an exasperated look on her face, which immediately switched to hope the moment I stirred.

"What did you find?" she asked.

"His mind is shredded. I don't know the cause. But it is bad. Mr. Dumbledore, was he under some sort of an Unbreakable vow?"

My question startled Dumbledore, who seemed distressed at the information.

"Would you mind if I take a look first?" he asked, turning to Amelia.

"Knock yourself out," she said.

It seemed like a true statement as well, because he looked like a stiff breeze would topple him over. The cave really did a number on him.

He waved his wand over Snape a couple of times and closed his eyes in concentration. I could see him frown deeply while he did so. After a few minutes, he gave up with a long sigh.

"This is something I have never seen before. The amount of dark magic coursing through him should have killed him. I don't even recognize what it is. Seems alarmingly similar to vampirism, but it is not. After the long life I've had, it is seldom that I encounter something completely new. Sadly, this is such a case. Tom was always crafty," he said at last.

"What exactly happened to him?" I asked Amelia.

"When we found him, his entire arm was pitch black. Whatever it is, has spread through his bloodstream. Thankfully, he made a run for it when he did. We found him in that area we have been keeping an eye on, collapsed on the road. We have stabilized him somewhat. But this condition is persisting. It's fighting back. Did he get in touch with you Dumbledore?"

"I got a Patronus around the time you said you found him. The Patronus itself was incredibly weak. Barely corporeal. His voice was feeble, and he did not get to finish what he was saying. All I understood was that Tom was building something," he said.

"You will show me a memory," said Amelia in a no-nonsense tone.

Without arguing, Dumbledore placed his wand in his temple and removed a memory that he placed inside a conjured vial. He handed it to her and looked at Snape with remorse. He then sighed and rubbed his forehead as if he had a major headache.

"I have given you the information I have, Amelia. I am not long for this world. I pray that you find success in your campaign against Tom. But before I leave, I would like to have a talk with Mr. Owl in private," he said.

Everyone tensed around me.

"Why?" asked Hermione in a terse tone. But I was used to the old man by now. We trained regularly, so I knew his tricks. More so, since I yoinked his knowledge in the cave. Not to mention that he was way weaker now due to the ring's curse and the locket's potion playing merry hell on his body.

"It's alright, Athena. Lead the way, Mr. Dumbledore," I said as I looked at them and nodded. They knew that I had a sudden jump in my capabilities. They knew that I was strong. They also knew that Dumbledore was getting weaker. It was not he seemed hostile anyway. He just seemed incredibly tired.

Hermione nodded slowly, and Susan gave me a thumbs-up as she whispered something in Luna's ear. I waved them off as we both walked out.

Dumbledore walked out of the door first, and I followed. As I turned around to close the door behind me, I saw Luna transform into a butterfly with bright white wings; her Animagus form. She flitted out of the window, most likely ready to trail us.

I took one last look at Susan, whose smugness oozed out of her, clearly apparent in her body language. Cheeky girl. But it was a good plan. Luna would have my back just in case Dumbledore tried something to catch me by surprise.

I nodded in affirmation of the unspoken plan and closed the door behind me.

Within minutes, we were out of the safe house, and Dumbledore kept walking down the street. Soon, we reached a public park, which seemed like what Dumbledore was looking for.

"Can you please cast a muggle-repellant charm and some privacy charms, perchance?" he asked as we walked into the park.

"Why?" I asked.

"I will be honest with you, Mr. Owl. I am an educator. I saw how you fought against Tom. I have one last lesson to impart," he said in a serious tone.

I wondered what the fuck he was on about. Of course, he didn't know that I stole his knowledge, so anything he had to teach me, I already knew. But I suppose I could humor the man in his last few days.

"Alright," I said as I quickly cast a muggle-repellant around the park. While doing so, I saw Luna's butterfly form fly and perch atop a tree nearby. I followed with a few more spells to secure the spot.

"Beautiful wand. Am I right in assuming that it is aspen?" he asked.

"Aspen and White River Monster spine," I said.

"Ah, a Thiago Quintana special. Those are rare. And in this day and age, second hand."

"Where are you going with this?" I asked.

"I was merely curious. Wands fascinate me," he said with amusement, and I had to clamp down my urge to laugh at the inside joke he had just made.

"So, the lesson?"

"Yes, en garde!" he said as he raised his wand, and I followed suit. "Mr. Owl, as I noticed in that duel, you did not favor spell chains. Let me show you how they can be useful," he said as he began casting spells in quick succession at me.

It was a repeat of the lesson he gave me a little while ago. Although, this time, the spells had lost their power. Moreover, for some reason, it seemed like the spells were especially weaker when they were cast directly at me. It was as if I could feel the wand's reluctance to fight me. It didn't take me long to realize that the allegiance had shifted when I had stunned him in the cave.

Even though he was weakened and delirious due to the potion, it still counted. People have murdered others in their sleep and claimed ownership, after all. This wand is that fickle. It now answered to me, and I had a sneaking suspicion that Dumbledore knew.

Regardless, the spells were still fast and as annoying as they were during the lesson.

But this time, I already knew how to counter it.

I started with a standard deflection then weaved into a reflective counter and finally pushed with a strong Depulso, and seamlessly flowed into the next spell chain.

Now, Dumbledore was on the defensive. But I saw that his shield was not as strong as usual. His fragility showed.

I decided to take pity on him and stopped the onslaught.

"You were saying?" I asked cockily.

"I stand corrected. But then again, you have been an exceptional student of late, Harry," he said, and I froze in place.

"What?" I asked, shocked. Did the Fidelius concealing our secret identities not work at all? What the fuck?

"Oh don't play dumb, my boy. It doesn't suit you. Now take off that ridiculous helmet," he said.

I still didn't respond and stood stock still.

"This is our final lesson, Harry. Don't be stubborn. I'll die within the week. Humor me, please," he said.

It took me a few moments to break out of my stupor, as I grudgingly agreed.

"Fuck this. The war is ending anyway, the identity will soon be moot," I muttered as the helmet melted back into my collar. Moreover, the main reason we had these secret identities was to hide us from the Order and other people who would try to stop us from doing what we did.

"Language, my boy."

"Screw that. How did you find out my identity? I had the secret identity of the Knights hidden behind a Fidelius."

"That is an impressive feat. But there is a small flaw in that. Fidelius, at its core, is tied to the existence of something. That is why it is generally used to conceal physical locations. Because they exist. There is no uncertainty about it. The same can't be said about your secret identity. Tell me, do you identify as Owl, or as Harry Potter?"

I knew what he was getting at. The knowledge I got from him filled the blanks in my theory now. I might answer to the codename Owl. But that was not my true identity. It was something in a state of flux.

"Harry Potter. That's who I am. The Fidelius is not really absolute because it is hiding something that does not exist all the time. It is a mask, a masquerade. Not real," I said.

"Exactly. Sure, when you are donning the identity, it prevents people from physically finding it out. But it is not foolproof against people who are aware of other greater things bound to your true identity."

"Like what?" I asked.

"Like the prophecy of course. The Dark Lord's equal. Who else would be able to send Tom fleeing? The moment I witnessed that, I knew. Of course, it was speculation. Speculation, also fueled by my familiarity with your growing skill level. But since Tom made the prophecy self-fulfilling, I was correct in my guess. This power he knows not must be something special indeed, seeing your growth. I was mistaken about what it is. But I am glad that you can stand against him and prevail," he said.

"You put too much stock into the prophecy, sir," I said. But I could see how he was able to guess my identity. He had been training me this year, and he was able to tell from my dueling still. His experience gave him more insight than the others. Not to mention his unshakeable trust in the prophecy.

"Although, I find your methods to be questionable," he said with a frown.

"I am not harming innocents. I won't ever do that. I am only returning fire with fire. After all this is done, I am looking for a peaceful life," I said tersely.

"I believe you," he said, and I looked at him in shock.

"What? You think I cannot agree with it completely. My boy, if that were the case, I would never have been friends with Alastor. Moreover, I have a foolproof way to tell when someone is good and when someone is evil," he said with a sardonic smile.

The next moment, my eyes went up, as I saw Fawkes descend from the sky in all his splendor. He perched upon my shoulder and crooned.

"He is a good judge of character. After I am gone, if he wants to visit, please take care of him," said Dumbledore as he drew a black wand from his sleeve.

"You sure we can't do anything about it, sir?" I asked, knowing full well that his life was nearing an end.

"No. Nor would I want to. I am looking forward to my next great adventure. I will leave the future of this world in your hands," he said.

Symbolically, he stretched out his dominant hand, presenting the Elder Wand to me.

"Are you sure?" I asked. Even though it had given me its allegiance, handing it over to me was another matter altogether.

"It is a fickle wand. Gellert stole it from Gregorovich and it worked fine for him. I suspect that since you fed me the potion in the lake and caused me to faint, it switched its allegiance once more. A few months ago, when I showed you Tom's ring, you noticed how your cloak, the stone, and this wand acted. I suspect you know what they really are."

"I do, sir," I said.

"At that time, I didn't think you were ready. I've done my job since. I believe that you are ready now. Take it, and make sure that it dies with you. I had a whole plan for it. But alas, fate has a funny way of obliterating plans."

I gingerly took the wand from him, and I could immediately feel the surge of magic due to it. I always had my cloak in my pockets, so all that remained was the stone.

As if reading my mind, Dumbledore fished into his pockets and brought out a golden snitch. He threw it at me, and it immediately began floating around me. I caught it effortlessly, staring at it in trepidation.

I was sure that Dumbledore had most likely used the stone to talk to Ariana. So, right now, I had all three Hallows in my hands.

"Do me a favor and open it when I am gone from here. I don't want certain mysteries spoiled for me. My personal belief is that the Peverells were talented wizards who made incredibly powerful objects. I don't think that the embodiment of death has anything to do with these. It is my belief though. It may or may not be true. But this is one mystery I don't want to know the answer to. I would rather find out by virtue of my next adventure."

I just nodded in response.

"Can I have some of that sports drink perchance? Strawberry Kiwi, preferably. One last drink before Poppy arrests me inside the hospital wing," he chuckled.

"Kreacher," I called, and the elf appeared in front of me, two bottles of Gatorade in hand. I threw one to Dumbledore, and he caught it and took a hearty sip from the bottle.

All this reminded me of our training sessions. It was surreal, that everything was ending so soon. Just felt like yesterday that I was sent here on this mission.

"Once I am dead, Tom will make a move. He wouldn't be able to resist the temptation," he said.

"I know, sir. I think we are ready for him," I said.

"Just don't get overconfident. Put the wand to good use in the battle to come. That's all I ask," he said. I was sure that his portrait left in Hogwarts will be keeping an eye on things as well. If I go around the bend, I'm sure Dumbledore would get some of his supporters to prepare someone to go against me just like he prepared me to go against Tom.

Not like anything of that sort would happen. I was just about ready to be done with this and exploring magic and this new world in earnest.

"I'll do my best," I said.

"Glad we have that settled. I'll be seeing you, Harry," he said and Fawkes jumped on his shoulder the next moment.

With a flash of fire, both of them were gone.

The next moment, Luna floated down and transformed into her human form. She looked at the wand and the snitch curiously.

"I will leave you to it, Harry. I too don't like spoilers. If I want to find out, I'd rather win the wand from you and borrow the other two items," she waved me goodbye and vanished the next moment with a barely audible pop.

I did not hesitate. I immediately brought the snitch up to my mouth and whispered the opening phrase for it.

The moment it opened, all three artifacts began pulsing and resonating with each other. Knowing what to do, I took out the cloak and draped it over my shoulder. I holstered my aspen wand and held the Deathstick in my dominant hand.

I then removed the stone from the snitch and watched as the snitch closed up and started revolving around me excitedly.

With the stone grasped firmly in my other hand, I waited for something to happen.

And something did happen. The three hallows pulsed quicker and quicker with magic and then reached a crescendo, after which, they stopped.

There was an eerie silence in the air, as everything stopped. Even the switch was frozen in the air, its wings stationary.

"Congratulations are in order, Ray Knight, or should I say, Harry Potter," said an all too familiar voice, as Cellarius appeared in front of me.

He was not physically there. It looked more like a projection of the Resurrection Stone.

"Hello, Cellarius. I should have figured. You work in the afterlife. So, I suppose you play the role of death here," I said.

"Eh, maybe. The old man was right to an extent. These artifacts were not made by us, or anyone affiliated with us. Just talented humans; necromancers, who made the trinkets. Legends twist over time and take a form of their own. Especially in a world where belief fuels magic. People believe the Hallows to be connected to death, so a small connection to us was opened," he said.

"What would have happened if anyone else got their hands on all three?" I asked.

"Nothing apart from the synergy of the three hallows. I just showed myself because you are an agent of sorts of ours. Speaking of which, your mission is on the right trajectory. You need to kill Tom Riddle and ensure that Granger survives the final battle. After that, you are free to live life on your own terms. Your ledger will be closed and you will be marked for heaven. As long as you don't go insane and start killing innocents willy-nilly," he said.

"I'll get it done," I said.

"I believe you. As for the hallows, they won't make you immortal. They won't make you the master of anything. In some variants of this world, they do. But that's nothing for you to mull over. What they do though, is that they give you a guaranteed interview after your death. If you get bored in heaven, you can take a job in one of our departments," he said drily.

"Hence becoming the Master of Death, in a roundabout way," I chuckled.

"Assistant Manager of Death, more like. Anyway, we are all busy folk. So, get cracking. I'll see you when I do," he said and disappeared. Time resumed around me and I couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity of it all.

It took me a moment to collect myself and return to my friends. It was time to spring the trap that we had been prepping for ages now.

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A.N: I wrote the ending of this story two times and scrapped it both times because it conflicted with some of my initial plans. Well, the third time's the charm.

I took some liberties with a few things, but it was needed to soundly close off some avenues. So, welcome to the final battle, I guess.

If you want to talk to me on discord, please find the invite in the auxiliary chapter.