บท 157: CHAPTER {167-169}
****A-MEETING-UNSEEN (II)****
~~Unnamed Classroom, Hogwarts~~
Amelia wondered how to start the conversation for real… Until now, they have been playing around and to be honest, this conversation could have been a lot easier only if Harry Potter was a normal 14 year old, but unfortunately, she was out of luck. Harry Potter was anything but normal… After all, he killed three people, including a child of his own age when he was eleven.
Then who knew if those were the only people he had killed? There was also the fact that he managed to surprise 'The Alastor Moody' and teleport him to Hogsmeade by some unknown means. That by itself was quite an unbelievable feat in her books. Even she wasn't certain if she could manage such a feat. Then there was also the matter of the unknown teleportation method…
'It would have been so much better if I could have cowered him with authority' Amelia thought bitterly…
"Voldemort is back" Amelia declared while intently staring at Harry, wanting to see how he would react, and she wasn't exactly surprised when Harry didn't seem to react to the revelation in the slightest, which probably meant that he was already aware of that. Although Connie and Tonks looked kind of surprised as they weren't expecting Amelia to reveal that.
"I already know that" Harry admitted with a nod of his head, surprising both Connie and Tonks even more.
"Then do you know why he attacked the Potters that night?" Amelia asked, repeating her initial question.
"I have some ideas, but no, I am not certain why" Harry lied straight through his teeth. Yes, he didn't know what the Prophecy truly entailed, but he knew that it was the reason why Voldemort attacked them on that fateful Halloween night. Though he didn't need to tell her that as she could very well lead him to the damn thing.
To be honest, he wasn't planning to stack his cards on the Prophecy, but knowing what it truly entailed might help him in the endgame… Though he wondered if he could find a clue about the identity of the Death Eater who delivered the damned thing to Voldemort and damned his family… Even Lucius knew nothing about the Prophecy, so obviously he knew nothing about the identity of the person who delivered it to Voldemort.
Harry was hoping that the fucker was still alive so he could enact his own brand of vengeance upon that fucker…
Meanwhile, Amelia internally sighed in relief at his admission. She finally had something to hold over him. It felt really distasteful to use a 14 year old boy in such a manner, but beggars can't be choosers, she decided.
If Harry was really the only one who could defeat Voldemort, then she could probably surprise herself with the lengths she could go to assure their victory. Susan was the only family she had left, and there was very little she wouldn't do to make sure Susan lived in a world where Voldemort and his Death Eaters were no longer a threat.
"There was a Prophecy regarding you and him and that is what led Voldemort to your doorstep" Amelia revealed grimly and Harry had to force himself to look surprised. Honestly, he wasn't expecting her to reveal her cards so soon in the game… "Your parents weren't the target, they were simply in the way" Amelia added while giving him a sympathetic look.
"You are saying that some nutjob babbled something nonsensical and Voldemort decided to attack me based on that?" Harry asked with a bewildered look on his face, only to receive a solemn nod from Amelia and sympathetic looks from Alastor, Tonks, and Connie. "How weak he must have been to fear a one year old babe" Harry mumbled with a lost look on his face before he looked away.
Amelia decided to give him some time and Tonks decided to wrap her arm around him comfortingly… Harry may not be the boy she imagined him to be, but that didn't mean that she stopped loving him or caring about him… He was still her family, so she might be mad at him at this instance, but that didn't mean that she would turn her back on him.
"...How did you come to know of this?" Harry asked after a minute of silence. His last statement wasn't out of the act he was putting on. He genuinely wondered how weak Voldemort must have been to feel threatened by a one year old… Though unfortunately for Voldemort, not only Harry survived the attack, but Voldemort made an enemy who would take everything away from him.
"We discovered it by luck… We wanted to know who entered your name in the Tournament so we were investigating all the Professors, and that is when we discovered that Sybill Trelawney gave a Prophecy in 1980. With some more investigation, we managed to uncover some snippets" Amelia lied as she wanted to hold the Prophecy over his head so that she could get him to work with them.
There was nothing Harry could learn from Sybill Trelawney herself, so he would have to depend on them if he wanted to learn the contents of the Prophecy…
"Ohh…" Harry mumbled absentmindedly. He suspected that Amelia was probably hiding a lot from him, but there was no way he could confront her about that at this instance. After all, the game would stop being fun if the others realized just how outmatched and outgunned they were and Harry didn't want to do that as the game was only starting to become fun.
"Do you know who she delivered the Prophecy to?" Harry asked.
"Albus Dumbledore" Amelia answered without wasting any time.
"Then how did Voldemort come to know about the Prophecy?" Harry asked curiously. It was true that Harry didn't like Dumbledore, but he didn't believe that it was Dumbledore who delivered the Prophecy to Voldemort. That was not how the Light Lord rolled.
"That, we don't know" Amelia answered with a frown. "Though we suspect that someone, probably a Death Eater, might have overheard the Prophecy and delivered it to Voldemort" Amelia suggested tiredly and Harry nodded his head with a contemplative look on his face.
|Indeed| Harry mumbled internally... Thanks to Amelia, he now knew who delivered the damned Prophecy in the first place. He could start his investigation from there… "So, what do you need from me?" Harry asked, making Amelia smile…
This was what she wanted from the beginning, which meant that the meeting was not a waste…
<Line Break> (A few minutes later)
Amelia sagged in her seat after Harry finally left the room. The whole meeting was somewhat bothersome for her as she had to tip-toe around the landmines… The boy was much sharper than she imagined, so she had to be extremely careful about whatever she said… The mental gymnastics she had to perform during the conversation was more than just troublesome.
Tonks and Connie were about to start speaking, but Amelia raised a finger to her lips to shut them up… "Is the room secure?" Amelia asked as she turned toward Alastor who was running his Wand along the nearby wall.
"Seems to be, but give me a minute" Alastor declared as he continued to inspect the walls. After nearly a minute and a half, he was finally satisfied that the room was secure.
"Ma'am, was it okay to let him go like that? I mean we didn't even make him swear Secrecy Oaths" Connie asked with an unsure look on her face.
"It was definitely a risk, but it was necessary. We need to gain his trust and we didn't discuss anything sensitive, so it was probably okay" Amelia answered after taking a deep breath. "Voldemort is already back, so we don't have the time to play it too safe" Amelia pointed out, making Alastor grunt in agreement.
"We are people who Voldemort must kill if he wants to win and Dumbledore already knows that we are up to something, so it wouldn't be a huge loss if they somehow managed to learn about us" Alastor said before taking a huge gulp from his hip flask. "Though you are giving him far less credit than he truly deserves… He is very dangerous and way more devious than his looks would suggest" Alastor added gruffly.
"Then why did you lie to him?" Tonks asked. Right now, she was so confused that her head was spinning. First of all, she came to learn that there were some truths in Alastor's words regarding Harry. Then there was the fact that he had done something to the Malfoys to keep them in line… Tonks might be a rookie, but she knew how to read between the lines thanks to her parents.
Alas, Harry was still her family, so she couldn't come to terms with the fact that her boss was trying to take advantage of him…
"So that we could make him cooperate with us… He may not realize this right now but he will need a lot of help if he wants to win the war" Amelia revealed while rubbing her temples. "This War will be fought on two fronts and he will need all the help he can get if he wants to make any headway in either Wizengamot or the actual battlefield… It would be the same for us as we would need him as the pillar" Amelia finished as she leaned back in her chair.
"Look… I know it might look like we are using him, but in reality, he will be using us just like we would be using him" Amelia added when it looked like Tonks was about to argue. Tonks was a very important part of her group, so Amelia didn't want to lose her.
"We will be scratching each other's backs" Alastor grunted with a somewhat disgruntled look on his face. It was clear that none of the liked what they were doing, but they knew what needed to be done to win the upcoming war…
With a conflicted look on her face, Tonks decided to drop the matter for the time being…
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****THE-FIRST-TASK (II)****
~~Quidditch Pitch, Hogwarts~~
|Cooperation…| Harry muttered internally with a smirk on his face as he returned to the Quidditch Pitch, instead of visiting a restroom after leaving the classroom. Honestly, he was a bit disappointed that the impromptu meeting ate up all of his time, but he couldn't complain much as he finally managed to learn quite a bit about the third Faction.
"You are back!" Jacklyn exclaimed excitedly, expecting an exciting story and she wasn't disappointed when Harry promised to tell her everything afterward.
Meanwhile, Bagman finally announced Viktor Krum's name and the Bulgarian Seeker was supposed to face a Chinese Fireball. Instead of trying to distract the Dragon by some other means, Viktor simply attacked the Dragon with the Conjunctivitis Curse. It worked like a Charm and the Dragon was blinded. He used that chance to steal the golden egg from the nest but the Dragon ended up crushing some of her real eggs in the confusion.
"That's so horrible" Narcissa mumbled dispassionately when she noticed that the people around her were cheering at that.
"Well, that is the Wizarding World for you…" Harry answered with a shrug. He had seen Wizards kill Magical Beasts for even lesser reasons and Viktor Krum was participating in the Triwizard Tournament for Eternal Glory.
After a few more minutes, the Dragon handlers were finally able to subdue the dismayed Chinese Fireball before removing the Dragon from the arena. Then all three of the Champions were summoned to the arena so the judges could give them the scores… Viktor Krum and Cedric Diggory tied for first place with an equal score while Fleur Delacour was the last with the lowest score as she received a zero from Dolores Umbridge.
"That pink toad is biased" Jacklyn stated with a frown but she still accepted her loss.
"I have met her a few times during Ministry Balls and she is a highly unpleasant woman" Narcissa revealed with a sniff as she gave Dolores Umbridge a disgusted look from the corner of her eyes.
"Ah… Well. That's a wrap for today, I suppose" Harry stood up while somewhat bored.
"Can we get ice cream on the way back?" Jacklyn asked in a hopeful tone.
"Sure" Harry agreed without much thinking as they started to leave the Quidditch Pitch. He was half expecting Albus to confront him, but the man was clearly busy with the Tournament duties…
<Line Break>
~~Nott Manor~~
"Speak" Voldemort ordered in a low tone and the man kneeling in front of him finally started to speak. He would have preferred to stay in the Malfoy Manor, but Lucius was no longer answering his summons. Voldemort couldn't even sense the man through the Mark, which could only mean two things. Either Lucius was dead, which wasn't probable as the man was still alive, or he no longer carried the Dark Mark, which was also improbable as only he could remove the Dark Mark from a person.
It was the same with Barty… Voldemort couldn't sense the man through the Dark Mark, but he was almost certain that Barty was well and truly dead…
"My Lord, the Potter boy was there with that barbarian whore and wife of that traitorous bastard" Nott Sr. revealed and Voldemort simply hummed thoughtfully.
"What about the traitor himself?" Voldemort asked coldly. He had asked his followers to kidnap the man if possible, but Lucius was nowhere to be seen, so it was quite clear that his followers had failed to carry out the task. If it was anyone else besides Lucius, then Voldemort would have stayed his hand for the time being, but Lucius had one of his Horcruxes in his possession, so he couldn't leave the man to his own devices.
Nott Sr. whimpered a bit before he finally started to speak. "My Lord, he was sticking close to the Minister, we weren't able to make a move" Nott Sr. stuttered out. A small part of Voldemort wanted to Curse the spineless moron, but the rest of him knew that it would be useless to punish Nott Sr. at this moment. Lucius was obviously not a fool, and that was exactly why Voldemort wanted him to be dealt with as soon as he could.
Lucius was also harboring Harry Potter in his home… Voldemort couldn't help but wonder if Lucius was planning to use Harry Potter to beat him… He decided to ponder that sometime later…
"What about Karkaroff?" Voldemort asked smoothly. Karkaroff was another such traitor and the man needed to be dealt with. He needed to make an example of Karkaroff to dissuade anyone else planning to betray him, but Voldemort couldn't act openly as he wasn't planning to reveal his return to the Wizarding World anytime soon.
Right now, he was consolidating his power base as all of his creature followers were scattered far and wide. The Dementors were back in Azkaban, and while it would be the easiest to convince them to join him, he decided to keep them for the last… The Werewolf packs were scattered across Europe and America. He needed to send an envoy to each one of them to get the news of his return delivered to them which was going to take quite some time.
Then it was the same for the Vampire Covens… He would need to send an envoy to meet them too, but he didn't have envoys to send in the first place. Only Mulciber could deal with the Werewolves and the Vampires, and if he remembered correctly, he needed to promise something really good to get both the Werewolves and the Vampires to work for him as Vampires and Werewolves were like oil and water.
Then there were the Giants… He decided to leave the Giants for later as it was really hard to manage them and Mucliber could manage them…
"My Lord, my son told me that Karkaroff is extremely spooked. He no longer eats meals with the others in the Great Hall and he is never seen anywhere in the halls. For the past couple of weeks, he had been living inside the Durmstrang ship" Nott Sr. revealed.
Severus had also told him the same story… "Leave" Voldemort snapped and Nott Sr. practically scampered out of the room. After Nott Sr. was gone, Voldemort started to ponder what to do next… Before attacking Harry Potter, he wanted to learn the rest of the Prophecy as he wanted to avoid another humiliation at all costs…
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****THE-GODFATHER-MOST-EXTRAORDINAIE (III)****
~~Malfoy Manor, Wiltshire~~
Harry tore the package open only to reveal a couple of porn magazines. Harry would have to admit, those were some nice pair of titties even though he wasn't going to say that out loud, especially with his mom camping inside his Mind. He finally decided to put away the magazines when he heard a growl from inside his Mind, leaving a mirror and a note in his hand.
He started to wonder why his Godfather saw fit to give him a mirror, but then all of a sudden, he heard his mom gasp. |I can't believe he still had it| Lily muttered longingly while staring at the mirror.
|You know what this is?| Harry asked as he held up the mirror in front of his eyes. Now that he was holding the mirror up close, he was able to feel a faint level of Magic from the mirror. The mirror was probably Enchanted.
|That is a two-way mirror. James and Sirius came up with the idea in their fifth year and they finally finished the project during their sixth year. They used this talk with each other when they were on separate detentions to plan their stupid pranks| Lily finished with an annoyed huff. |Most of the time, they would go around making a fool of themselves, but they were also pretty smart if they put their minds to it| Lily finished sombrely.
|How does this thing work?| Harry asked with a clear interest in his voice.
|You just need to hold the mirror and call the name of the person who is in possession of the other set and the other mirror would heat up, notifying the person on the other side that someone is trying to use the other set to contact them| Lily explained. Harry was quite impressed by the two-way mirrors and started to wonder if he could mass-produce them for the Lost Garden.
For the time being, he decided to keep the mirror aside and open the note…
/Harry,
I hope you are well. Once again, I failed to protect you. I don't know what to say to you… Just like my mother used to say, I am a huge disappointment…
Now, I have moped long enough. That is a two-way mirror. You can use this to contact me. Just hold the mirror and call my name. Your father and I used these mirrors back at school to plan our pranks. I should have given you one of the mirrors long ago, but I didn't even know I had it in my old school trunk… Recently I went to my old Family home and there is where I found my school trunk.
I wonder why it was at my Family home, but that is beside the point…
Harry, I want you to use the mirror. If the Malfoys are mistreating you in any way then please tell me. I have failed you more than enough, I can't fail you anymore…
Sirius/
|Well… That was something. I hope he isn't planning to kill the Malfoys and get sentenced to the Kiss or Azkaban for life| Harry wondered dryly, making Lily chuckle in amusement.
|Knowing him, I can't dismiss your theory| Lily confirmed in an amused tone. |His foolishness aside, his intentions are truly genuine| Lily added softly, but Harry didn't say anything to that and simply kept staring at the letter. |Don't you think it is about time you brought him into the fold too?| Lily asked. It was highly unlike of her to advocate for anyone besides Harry, but this time she did, which surprised Harry quite a bit.
There were mainly three reasons why Lily decided to advocate for Sirius. First of all, she felt that Sirius had suffered enough in this lifetime. Secondly, Harry needed more important people in his life. Except for a handful few, he considered everyone as pawns or expendable pieces, not that she believed otherwise. In fact, she was the one who taught him to think like that in the first place.
Then finally, the most important reason why she wanted Hadrian to bring Sirius into the fold was because her Hadrian was finally getting involved with the affairs of Wizarding Britain and while he could always use force to get what he wanted, it was better to have other options at hand. Sometimes, he might need huge amounts of gold to get something done while some other times, he might need to get involved in politics.
Right now, Hadrian didn't have much political clout… Yes, he was the Boy-Who-Lived, but that wouldn't mean much in Wizengamot. Then he also had Lucius under his thumb, but Lucius was also nothing without the Dark Faction and now that Voldemort was finally back, there was no way that the Dark Faction would still follow Lucius' lead.
Hadrian could try to get the Grey Faction to work with him, but the Grey Faction followed their own agenda and their own rules… They wouldn't support him if he wasn't paying for their help… While the Malfoy Family was extremely rich, their fortune wasn't endless.
Having Sirius won't solve this problem as Sirius wasn't a part of any Faction, but having the man on his side was much better than not having him on his side at all…
|Yes, I believe he had suffered enough| Harry nodded his head in understanding before picking up the mirror from the table.
"Sirius" Harry said out loud even though it made him feel a bit stupid. Only seconds later, the reflection of his face on the mirror's surface shifted into Sirius' face. The man looked really overjoyed to see Harry.
"Harry!" Sirius exclaimed excitedly. He didn't even stay at Hogwarts to see the rest of the first task as he wasn't sure if he would have been able to stop himself from joining Harry for a conversation right in front of the Malfoys and Albus. So, after returning home, he decided to walk around with the mirror on his person as he wasn't sure when Harry was going to call and he didn't want to miss it.
"How are you, Sirius?" Harry asked.
"I am good. I am good" Sirius repeated with a grin. "How are you, Harry? How are the Malfoys treating you, Harry?" Sirius asked with a look of concern on his face.
"Where are you, Sirius?" Harry asked, instead of answering the man's question.
"I am at my home, why?" Sirius answered while blinking in confusion. He wondered why Harry was asking such a thing out of the blue, but instead of getting an answer from Harry, the call disconnected, making him frown. Then all of a sudden, a green sparkling circle opened right in front of him and Harry stepped out of the portal. He was so gobsmacked by the sight that he even forgot to pull out his Wand.
"Wha? How? Where?" Sirius gaped at Harry with a dumb look on his face. He simply kept pointing at the portal and at Harry while he didn't even notice the words leaving his mouth.
"Have a seat, Sirius… We have a lot to talk about" Harry said while pointing toward the couch. Once again, Sirius didn't know how to feel or how to react, so he robotically sat down. After that, Harry sat down on the opposite side and started to tell Sirius what he was truly up to. Even though Sirius couldn't understand what was going on, he started to pay rapt attention to Harry as he didn't want to miss anything.
For the first time, his Godson was finally opening up to him…
It took Harry a few minutes to tell Sirius what he was truly up to and after listening to everything Harry had to tell him, Sirius looked contemplative for a bit. Of course, Harry didn't tell him everything. For example, he didn't tell Sirius anything about his mother, nor did he tell him anything about the Ancient One or her lessons. He might teach Sirius Mystic Arts in the future, just like he taught Jacklyn, but that was for later.
"What do I have to do to join you?" Sirius finally blurted out with a serious look on his face, no puns intended.
"Are you sure you want to join me? I have already killed, Sirius and I will kill more in the future. If you think I am lying…" Harry pointed out before releasing his Magic, making Sirius choke under the foreign pressure, but instead of looking dissuaded, he started to frantically shake his head. Even though he was having a hard time breathing due to the pressure, his determination to join the Lost Garden simply increased.
"Doesn't matter. I have already failed you so many times. No more" Sirius declared firmly and after hearing that, Harry reined in his Magic, making Sirius sigh in relief.
"There is a chance that I might get declared a Dark Lord and then you will become a follower of Dark Lord" Harry pointed out, wanting to see how Sirius would react to that. After all, according to his mom, he hated anything related to Dark Magic and Dark Lord.
"I don't care" Sirius stated with a determined look on his face. He felt a mental probe slip into his Mind, but he didn't even try to stop it. Moments later, the probe disappeared and Harry smiled at him.
"Give me your hand" Harry started and Sirius extended his hand without flinching. He knew what was going to happen, but he wasn't planning to back out. Harry placed the tip of his finger on Sirius' arm and the man winced a bit when the Sigil of the Lost started to take form on his arm. Moments later, Harry was done, so he released the arm with a smile on his face.
"Welcome to Lost Garden, Godfather!" Harry declared with a grin…
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