บท 158: CHAPTER {170-172}
****MAKING-MOVES (I)****
~~Malfoy Manor, Wiltshire~~
Magic swirled around Harry's body as he continued to reinforce his body using the Martial Arts Technique Hela taught him. The Martial Art Technique wasn't anything complicated, but it was extremely dangerous if you didn't know what you were doing… The Martial Art Technique came along with a Breathing Technique which made it possible for him to breathe in his own Magic.
The Martial Art Technique allowed Harry to create an Energy Circle around his heart, which he would later use to enforce his whole body starting from the organs. A person with a single Energy Circle around their heart would be called a First-step Martial Artist, or that was what they were called in their home world and a person with two Energy Circles would be called a Second-step Martial Artist and so on…
Right now, Harry was only a First-step Martial Artist as he only had a single Energy Circle around his heart. He had more than abundant energy to create a second, third, or more Energy Circles, but unfortunately, he couldn't do that as his body won't be able to withstand such power if he didn't reinforce his body correctly… He was able to learn the Cultivation Technique and the Breathing Technique with a single look, but that didn't mean he mastered them with a single look.
He had the power to reach the last stage from the beginning thanks to his Reactor, but that didn't mean that he could take too many shortcuts… He would never need to gather Mana to form the next Energy Circle, but he would always need to stabilize a circle perfectly before finally moving on to the next circle…
After almost half an hour, Harry finally opened his eyes and his eyes were glowing brightly… He breathed out and a fine mist of green Mana came out of his mouth. He clenched one of his fists and nodded his head in satisfaction… He was improving at a steady pace. He would have loved to increase the pace, but it was better to not rush sometimes.
According to Hela, an average person in that world took approximately two years to progress from First-step Martial Artist to a Second-step Martial Artist, and Harry was certain that he could become a Second-step Martial Artist within the next couple of months…
|Hadrain, let's pay Barty a visit before breakfast. I want to see how he is faring| Lily requested in a gleeful tone and Harry wasn't able to stop himself from rolling his eyes.
|We saw him only last night… He is suffering wonderfully. He won't last a week before his Mind finally snaps| Harry drawled blandly.
|Yes, that is why I want to see him again… After another week. He won't be suffering anymore and there won't be any more screams| Lily complained and Harry had to admit, his mom did have a point, but he didn't want to linger on Barty too much. What he did to Barty wasn't for pleasure or anything. He simply did what he thought would be a fitting punishment for the bastard and that was it.
|No, we visit him tonight| Harry stated firmly, making Lily whine cutely inside his Mind. Yesterday, Barty lost his Magic after he failed to show up for the First Task and the suffering intensified due to that… He should have died for losing his Magic, but the Unicorn Blood in his system kept him alive and cognizant enough to feel the unbearable pain.
Harry turned slightly when he heard Alef's arrival… "Master Harry, breakfast be ready" The house elf declared.
"Thank you, Alef. I will be there" Harry answered softly and Alef popped away after respectfully bowing his head. Alef wasn't as fanatic as Dobby, but he was quite grateful to Harry for saving him from cruel masters. It has been a couple of months since Lucius acquired the house elf and Alef was downright afraid of Draco and Lucius as they would make him punish himself for the smallest excuse.
Alef didn't mind working for Narcissa as she never abused him or ordered him to punish himself…
Harry slowly sat up from the floor and after getting in some appropriate clothes, he left his room and started to make his way toward the dining hall. Half a minute later, he was about to enter the dining hall when he heard some arguments from the inside. It made him frown as he immediately recognized the voices…
"...an eye on you, you uppity bitch!" He heard Sirius snarl before he finally entered the room and everyone turned toward him. It looked like Narcissa and Sirius were having an argument and Harry wanted to know why… He could already guess what might have happened as his Godfather was overly protective of him, which was extremely unnecessary.
"What is happening?" Harry asked as he glanced at Narcissa and Sirius questioningly. Narcissa pursed her lips in displeasure and Sirius simply looked somewhat angry but neither of them said anything. "I asked you two a question" This time there was a certain level of coldness in his voice and Narcissa easily recognized the tone. She had witnessed what kind of cruelty he was capable of first-hand.
"Your Godfather walked in and started to accuse me of scandalous things" Narcissa revealed, making Sirius glare at her.
"I see…" Harry muttered as he slowly approached the table and looked at Sirius.
"That was not what I did!" Sirius decided to defend himself. "What I said was completely true" Sirius added with a defiant look on his face.
"Sirius, you will apologize to Narcissa" Harry stated as he arrived at the head table position. Sirius gave him a surprised look, but Harry simply kept looking at him indifferently. The chair moved back on his own and Harry took his seat. "Did I stutter?" Harry asked blandly and Sirius felt chills run down his spine.
"But I was trying to…" Sirius tried to defend his actions but a look from Harry made him close his mouth with a snap.
"But nothing" Harry stated firmly. "This is her house and she won't be treated disrespectfully in her own house" Harry added, leaving no room for arguments. "Do you understand?" Harry asked in a low tone, getting a nod from the man. "You two are cousins, so you can do whatever you want as cousins, but never insult her as my Godfather, until she had done something to earn such treatment" Harry stated coldly, making Sirius flinch back at his tone.
"Do you understand?" Harry asked after a few moments of silence. Sirius frantically nodded his head to show he understood everything Harry said to him. Harry was scary as fuck, Sirius decided. "I didn't hear you apologize" Harry pointed out nonchalantly.
"I am sorry, Narcissa" Sirius immediately followed with an apology. He didn't want to make Harry mad any more than he already was.
"Apology accepted, cousin" Narcissa replied smugly. "Harry, are you still planning to visit the Grimmauld Place today?" Narcissa asked and after getting a nod from Harry, Narcissa decided to continue with her line of questioning. "Then will you mind if I tag along?" Narcissa asked. She was almost certain that Harry wouldn't deny her as he allowed her to do anything, but she wasn't certain this time.
"No. It used to be your home too" Harry answered with a smile even though Sirius didn't look pleased with this development in the slightest. He was hoping to spend some quality time with his Godson.
The food appeared on the table and only after that, Jacklyn and Gellert decided to join them. Jacklyn was looking like a complete mess. It was clear that they were training or more like Jacklyn was getting her ass handed to her on a silver platter by Gellert. After breakfast, Sirius Charmed a Portkey for the trip to Grimmauld Place. As Harry had never been to Grimmauld Place, he simply couldn't open a Portal, leading to the Black Family house.
"Looks like a hovel… I expected much better from the Blacks" Harry stated as he stared at the downtrodden house.
"Was this place not looked after Aunt Walburga died?" Narcissa asked with a confused look on her face. This was the first time she was visiting this place after her marriage and she wasn't pleased when she saw the state of the house.
"Kreacher should have watched the house, but he is a filthy little bugger" Sirius complained bitterly before leading Harry and Narcissa toward the entrance. Even though Harry was the Black Heir and carried enough Black Blood in his body to be recognized as the Heir of Blacks, he wasn't added to the Wards and the Wards weren't pleasant to any intruders.
As soon as the trio stepped into the house a house elf appeared with a pop and the house snarled at Sirius. "What is the filthy blood traitor doing at the House of Blacks!" The house elf sneered while balefully glaring at Sirius. The said man was about to deliver an equally scathing retort, but he was cut off by Harry.
"Looks like he doesn't like you much" Harry said with an amused look on his face even though he was frowning a bit on the inside. From the looks of it, the house elf didn't even have a shred of loyalty to Sirius, which was not good in his books. Having no house elf was much better than having a disloyal house elf.
After all, house elves are petty enough to betray their master in the pettiest way possible to get back at them... Dobby was the prime example...
"Yeah!" Sirius sighed tiredly before running one of his hands through his hair. "He used to be my mother's house elf and he is just as vile as her" Sirius explained with a scowl, but the house elf didn't seem to appreciate her Mistress being called vile by a person who he deemed to be a vile blood traitor.
"Filthy blood traitor shouldn't insult Mistress with his dirty mouth" Kreacher spat with a look of disgust.
"Why you little...!!" Sirius growled menacingly, but he restrained himself from doing anything. To be honest, he was really angry, but at the same time, he didn't want to follow the example of his mother and punish Kreacher.
"He is such an amusing little guy" Harry said with a grin as he stepped forward and that made Kreacher finally turn toward him.
"The filthy half breed son of a filthy Mudblood is the Heir of Blacks… How far the House of Blacks has fallen…" Kreacher wailed hysterically. "Mistress is probably rolling inside her grave" Kreacher added as tears started to pool in his eyes.
Meanwhile, Narcissa, who was simply watching Kreacher insult Sirius with an amused look on her face until now, gasped in horror, the house elf shouldn't have said that… That was the wrong thing to say, after all, she had experienced it first-hand. Narcissa slowly turned toward Harry, looking somewhat pale, but she was surprised to see that he didn't look mad, not in the slightest.
Then all of a sudden she remembered that he didn't look mad in the slightest when he had punished her...
"Looks like he isn't the only one who you don't like" Harry said looking amused...
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****MAKING-MOVES (II)****
~~Number 12, Grimmauld Place, London~~
The trio followed Kreacher inside the house with Narcissa wondering why Harry wasn't doing anything to the said house for calling his mother a Mudblood, but a part of her was waiting for the other shoe to drop. Meanwhile, Sirius was wondering why Harry didn't look enraged when Kreacher insulted his mother. He decided to sit down with Harry and have a chat with him after returning to Malfoy Manor.
"Filthy blood traitor! How dare you step in this house!!" The trio were brought to a screeching halt when they came across a portrait of a haughty looking woman at the end of the hall.
"Shut up, you old hag!" Sirius screamed back in a similar fashion and Harry noticed that there were some minor similarities between the woman and Sirius.
"Kreacher apologizes, Mistress. Kreacher wasn't able to stop them entering" Kreacher wailed apologetically and Harry didn't miss the look of devotion and loyalty in Kreacher's eyes, which led him to realize that the painting was probably very important to the house elf. After that, Sirius, Kreacher and the woman in the painting started to throw insults at each other, completely ignoring Harry and Narcissa.
"Who is the woman?" Harry asked Narcissa even though he was almost certain that the woman was Sirius' mother. Alas, he could never be sure with the Purebloods as they were very enthusiastic to keep their Bloodline pure. Though he didn't have much leg to stand upon, especially when he was in love with his own mother… Thankfully, he was planning to mess with the genes of his mom's new body, so it wasn't going to be incest, at least not biologically.
"She is Aunt Walburga, his mother" Narcissa jerked her chin toward Sirius.
Harry smiled at the confirmation… "Kreacher, she is someone important to you, isn't she?" Harry asked, finally breaking the argument between Sirius, Kreacher, and the woman in the painting as all of them turned toward him.
"Mistress is very important to Kreacher, filthy half-breed Master" Kreacher answered reluctantly.
"You don't belong here. Begone fil…" The woman started to screech before Harry placed his hand on the painting. The woman was about to start screeching at him for such a transgression when yellow flames started to erupt from his hand and spread over the painting. Sirius jumped back in panic as he felt his skin tingle at the heat even though there was some considerable distance between himself and the painting.
Kreacher screamed something unintelligible and lunged at Harry, but the little creature was blasted away in the opposite direction with a simple look from Harry. Kreacher crashed against the wall, but he didn't fall down… Harry kept him sticking to the wall with his Magic as he wanted Kreacher to watch the destruction of the portrait.
The woman in the portrait screamed as she was being burned alive… Harry was somewhat surprised at this development as he didn't know that paintings could experience pain. Then again, it wasn't every day when someone burned a painting with Fiendfyre, but still, he had never read or heard of such a thing… Harry decided that he might need to conduct some experiments, but that could wait for later.
After a couple of seconds, there was only a charred spot on the wall, in place of the painting. The flames quickly dispersed into thin air, which surprised Sirius quite a bit as he knew just how difficult it was to control Fiendfyre. He had seen some foolish Death Eaters try and use Fiendfyre during the war and then get consumed by the same flames when they lost control if they were in control of those Cursed Flames, to begin with.
Now that the painting was gone, Harry finally released his grip on Kreacher and the said creature crumpled down on the floor. Krecaher stared at the charred spot on the wall and started to cry… Harry was already planning to kill Kreacher by the end of the day, so he didn't feel bad for the creature in the slightest. Meanwhile, Narcissa practically sighed in relief as she no longer needed to be on her toes.
"Kreacher, do you have anything else you value more than your life?" Harry asked and he immediately became intrigued when he saw that Kreacher was visibly struggling to stop himself from acting on the order, and Harry had to admit, he was impressed by the fight he was putting on, but ultimately, Kreacher ended up losing as he popped away before returning with a locket only after a couple of seconds.
Harry snatched away the locket from Kreacher with his Magic as he could sense something similar from the locket… The locket felt much similar to the ring he found in the Gaunt Shack, which could mean only one thing… The locket was a Horcrux too. He pulled up the locket in front of him but he didn't grab it… There were no Compulsions this time, making him want to grab the locket, but it was better to be safe than sorry.
"That's Slytherin's Locket" Narcissa gasped in surprise as she finally recognized the locket. As a prideful Slytherin, she remembered every little detail of Salazar Slytherin's portrait hanging inside the Slytherin common room, so it was quite easy for her to recognize the locket.
Harry didn't know much about Salazar Slytherin except for the fact that the man was one of four founders of Hogwarts, and the man was a Pureblood supremacist. There was a fight between him and Godric Gryffindor and he was chased off from Hogwarts by the latter. Harry wasn't sure how much of the story was true as history was written by victors and then someone might have twisted the whole story for his own agenda.
"Where did you get this?" Harry asked Kreacher, who once again tried to fight against the order. After struggling for a few seconds, Kreacher finally started to speak, even though he looked extremely reluctant. He explained how the Dark Lord took him to a cave to hide the locket and later used him to test a Potion before leaving him to die inside the cave.
He told them how he managed to return to Master Regulus who treated him back to health. Then he told the trio how Master Regulus decided to betray the Dark Lord and how he ended up sacrificing his life in the process… Kreacher tried to hide the last order given to him by Master Regulus, but he failed.
After listening to the whole story, Sirius plopped down on the floor with a hand on his head… "I can't believe Regulus did that" Sirius muttered, sounding really surprised. He knew that Regulus loved Kreacher, but he never thought that Regulus might betray his vaunted Dark Lord just because he left Kreacher to die… "So, he died trying to defeat Voldemort…" Sirius mumbled with a conflicted look on his face as he didn't know how to feel after such a shocking revelation.
Meanwhile, Narcissa stared at the locket with a complicated look on her face… With how zealously the Dark Lord tried to hide this locket, it must be something really important to him. Then there was the fact that the man never wore it and tried to show it off, instead, he squirreled it away inside some cave… No matter how much she thought about it, she couldn't come up with a reason for his actions.
"Why did Regulus order him to destroy the locket with his last breath?" Narcissa asked curiously while she glanced at Harry expectantly.
Harry pondered his options… He could lie or he could tell them the truth. Not that it would hinder him either way. "It is a vile piece of Magic if not one of the vilest and you will be able to sleep better at night if you don't know anything about it" Harry said in a serious tone. While both Narcissa and Sirius were curious, they decided to drop the matter and Harry clearly didn't want to tell them anything.
"Dobby" Harry called out loud and moments later, the said creature arrived with a soft pop. "Bring me a dragon skin pouch" Harry ordered before Dobby could greet him in some sort of extravagant manner. Dobby disappeared with a soft pop and returned with the said item only a few seconds later. After that, Harry put the locket inside the pouch and ordered Dobby to keep the pouch in a safe place.
"Now… What to do with you" Harry said as his gaze focused on Kreacher who was wailing on the floor while apologizing to Master Regulus for not being able to complete his final order. "It would be best to get rid of you" Harry revealed after thinking for a bit, making Sirius look somewhat perplexed at his words while Narcissa simply grimaced.
"Since you are my Heir, he is bound to follow your orders. So, can't you leave him as he is right now?" Sirius asked with a sympathetic look on his face as he stared at Kreacher. "I think he had been punished enough" Sirius added as he turned toward Harry. Even though Sirius hated the creature he didn't want him to be murdered.
"You are being naive…" Harry said softly while he continued to stare at Kreacher. "I am not killing him for calling my mother Mudblood. He had been punished for that, but I am going to kill him because it is necessary… I can give him a plethora of orders, but there is always a chance that I might miss something, or there is always a chance that he might find a loophole in my orders, and use that small chance to fuck us over in the pettiest way possible" Harry explained, making it impossible for Sirius to argue with his point.
Though before he could send Kreacher to his elvish afterlife, Harry had some questions for him… "Kreacher, tell me about all the artifacts in this house" Harry ordered. This was an old Pureblood house, so there was no shortage of artifacts in this house and some of those artifacts might turn out to be useful for him…
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****MAKING-MOVES (III)****
~~Unnamed Warehouse, Budapest, Hungary~~
Voldemort walked up to the entrance of the unknown warehouse before pulling down his hood, to reveal his bald head and serpentile face. He pulled out a note from his robes and read the address before burning the message in his hand. With a silent growl, he entered the warehouse and looked around. He couldn't believe the Vampires had made him come to this place, but for now, he decided to play along with them as he needed them.
"So, you are really back… When Mulciber told me you are back, I was certain he was lying" Kraven walked out from the shadows along with a few other vampires, but Voldemort didn't consider anyone to be a threat to him and they probably weren't… There was a reason why Voldemort was considered the strongest Dark Lord. Vampires didn't possess the ability to use Magic, but they were somewhat sensitive to Magic.
"Lord Voldemort is immortal" Voldemort stated simply, making a vampire standing at the side, snort in derision. Voldemort's eyes snapped toward her, the female vampire looked completely disinterested and even though he wanted to punish the creature for the insult, he decided to hold his hand. It wasn't time yet…
"That is what it looks like…" Kraven nodded his head in acknowledgement. "So, you are asking for our support, just like you did the last time?" Kraven inquired.
"Yes, that is the plan" Voldemort nodded his head.
"Are you planning to include those filthy beasts too?" Kraven inquired coldly. Voldemort knew that the hatred between Vampires and Werewolves ran very deep, so it won't be easy to get them to work together, but he did it the last time, so he was confident that he could do it again.
The Vampires clearly looked displeased at his admission… "What do we get in return?" Kraven asked.
"You are going to receive the same deal you received the last time" Voldemort stated firmly as he didn't want to give them any advantage over him.
Kraven seemed to smirk at his words… "No, no, no, my friend… That won't do, this time at least. We no longer need blood. We do have blood coming in sufficient supply. There is something else we want" Kraven said and Voldemort flared his nostrils in rage and the vampire's tone. Kraven wasn't even the leader of the Budapest Coven, he was only the regent, but Kraven was his best hope if he wanted to get the Vampires on board.
"What do you want?" Voldemort asked tersely.
"We want to hunt" Kraven revealed, making Voldemort frown. There was a good reason why the ICW had made it illegal for the Vampires to hunt. Yes, the Vampires are strong and all that, but they aren't that hard to defeat for a trained Wizard or a Witch. The Vampire Elders, especially Marcus were probably the strongest Vampires in existence, but even they could be killed with a group of trained Wizard and Witches.
That was why the Vampires decided to respect the ban placed on them by that ICW, and while it was an ironclad law, it was simply impossible for the ICW to enforce absolutely… After all, it was simply impossible for them to catch the Vampire responsible for hunting and turning, all the time… There were a lot of Vampire Covens around the world, so it was impossible for the ICW to blame any one of them without concrete evidence.
Vampires still hunted and turned humans into their kind from time to time as they needed to maintain their numbers and even though it was possible for the Vampires to copulate, it was impossible for them to increase their numbers through copulation… So, most of the time, the ICW would simply look in the other way if the hunting and turning incidents were minor, but the ICW would start moving if the incident drew too much of their attention.
Voldemort seemed to ponder his options… At this stage, he didn't want to tangle with the ICW forces, but at the same time, he also needed the support of the Vampires… Now, he could try to negotiate with Kraven but that would make him look weak. So, after some consideration, Voldemort finally made his decision… He will play along with the Vampires for the time being, but he will deal with them as soon as they are no longer useful to him.
"Fine… Your forces will be allowed to hunt, but they will be under my command" Voldemort declared firmly. There was no way he would allow someone else to command his forces.
"Okay… okay" Kraven nodded his head before starting to grin as he looked around at the Vampires he brought along with him. "I hope this alliance turns out to be more fruitful than the last one" Kraven declared and Voldemort internally snarled at the jab. He decided to kill Kraven when the time was right… "Send Mulciber to discuss the finer details" Kraven said and Voldemort simply inclined his head in understanding.
After that, Kraven and his entourage disappeared into the darkness, leaving Voldemort alone in the warehouse. Now that the Vampires were on board with his forces, he needed to find and meet Greyback himself as there was a chance that Greyback might kill Mulciber… With that thought in his mind, Voldemort turned on his heel and disappeared from the spot with a soft pop…
~~Hel~~
"I have found another Horcrux" Harry declared and Hela seemed to raise an eyebrow at his words. She already knew that, after all, she had been watching him all the time, though she wondered why Harry would think that she needed to know such a mundane thing… Voldemort was nothing in front of either of them. No matter how much he struggled, at the end of the day, he would still remain an insect in their eyes.
"I know, I saw…" Hela drawled blandly. If it was someone else then they would have been creeped out, but Harry was used to being watched all the time. His mom had been watching everything through his eyes, so the addition of Hela didn't bother him much.
"Can you teach me how to locate the other Horcruxes?" Harry inquired and Hela finally remembered that he wanted to learn that too… It had completely left her mind.
"No can do, my student. I will teach you after you become a Second-step Martial Artist" Hela declared, leaving Harry somewhat displeased, but he didn't complain. At that, Hela internally nodded her head in satisfaction… Her to-be husband knew when to hold his tongue. It was an extremely good skill to have… There had been so many beings she had come across who lacked this skill and then she had to pull their tongues out…
"So, what are we going to do today?" Hela was broken out of her musings when Harry spoke up. She could always reminisce about good old times at a later time.
"Hmm…" Hela seemed to ponder her options for a bit. He already knew everything about the Martial Arts Technique she was teaching him and he was making significant progress at a steady pace. "Is there a weapon you prefer?" Hela asked. It was about time she started teaching him hand-to-hand combat and weapons handling. There were hardly any melee weapons she didn't know how to use, so she could easily teach him anything.
"Probably a longsword or an estoc?" Harry answered with an unsure look on his face. He never handled either of those weapons, but a longsword or an estoc appealed to him the most. Hela looked him over for a moment before nodding her head… Either type of sword would work perfectly with his build, but personally, she would prefer a longsword over an estoc any day.
"Then a longsword it is" Hela declared. While she was capable of using almost any weapon, she mostly preferred using a longsword over anything else. 'Yes, my to-be husband does have a nice taste… Both of us using longswords to butcher our enemies and create rivers of blood… What a beautiful sight it would be' Hela hummed dreamily inside her mind. "Though before I can teach you how to use a longsword, I want to teach you something else" Hela declared as she gestured him to step forward.
Harry couldn't learn any physical techniques with a simple look, so she needed to give him hands-on training. It was something she was going to enjoy quite a bit. "Right now, you are completely useless in hand-to-hand combat, so I am going to teach you something that would complement the sword art I am planning to teach you" Hela explained and after getting a nod from Harry, she decided to continue.
"Now, carefully watch my movements as you will be repeating them after I am done" Hela said before she finally started to move with deadly grace…
~~Tonks' Residence~~
Andromeda Tonks was doing dishes when she heard someone open the door. The Wards didn't trigger, which meant it was someone she knew and after taking a glance at the clock, she was sure it wasn't her husband. "Nymphadora, is that you?" Andromeda called out, but nobody answered, so she quickly slipped her Wand into her hand. Yeah sure, the Wards weren't triggered, but it was to be better safe than sorry.
"Yeah, mom. It's me" Her daughter finally answered before stepping inside the kitchen and Andromeda quickly stowed away her Wand before greeting her daughter with a smile even though her daughter was looking somewhat down… It didn't take her much effort to realize that something must have happened, and it was probably something serious as her daughter didn't complain when she used her name.
"What happened?" Andromeda asked gently as she wiped off her hands with the towel. A part of her was hoping for it to be a boy problem as that would be the easiest to solve. She simply needed to kill the boy and then hide the body… That was bound to take care of the problem…
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