HPNS - Chapter 2

Read Chapter 1: Reunion here

TRIO ONCE MORE

“REDUCTO!” bellowed Harry blowing away another obstruction. Moving forward fast, he wondered how long it would take Ron to get his owl, and for him to get there with Hermione. He was tired of making mistakes… he had underestimated Voldemort, the Dark Lord whose name was rarely spoken without trepidation… it was his powers that Harry shared- The Chosen One.

The mission that Dumbledore had left him involving finding and destroying the horcruxes, was not proceeding as successfully as Harry had hoped. The one thing achieved however, was Slytherin’s locket. Twelve months past, Harry had finally discovered the mystery of R.A.B, bringing him closer once again, to the Black Family. It had been Regulus Arcturus Black, Sirius’ younger brother who had stolen the original locket and tried to destroy the others. But Harry had learnt from Sirius himself, four years ago that Regulus had been killed, while he was still in the service of Lord Voldemort. The locket was found with Kreacher, the Black family house elf whose thieving habits and retention of many Black Family heirlooms, had finally paid off. Hermione recalled having seen a locket that they couldn’t open when Grimmauld Place was being made fit to be the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix. Immediately after, a savage raid of the house was conducted by Ron, Harry and Hermione and they found the locket beneath piles of Kreacher’s possessions. Kreacher had gone over to the side where his allegiance lay, and had left hexes and protective charms around Grimmauld Place. In the process of their ransack, Hermione had nearly lost a finger if it hadn’t been for Harry’s timely rescue… and so Harry came to obtain one horcrux. Dumbledore had gone however, without telling him how to destroy the cursed objects.

Meanwhile, Harry had moved on in his thirst to hunt down the others. Hufflepuff’s Cup was the next in line and Harry had spent day and night in determining an exact location for the Cup. Since Voldemort’s return and his coming of age, he was possibly in greatest danger of travel and being recognised, and thus had been shedding and taking on identities for the last couple of months. Armed with fresh stocks of Polyjuice Potion and his Cloak, Harry’s movements across Europe were as stealthy and watchful as his nemesis.

But recent events had proved that stealing the cup would be impossible without company. Ron and Hermione were the only people he trusted with his life, and he regretted not having contacted Ron for the past week, wondering if he was taking this as seriously as he should. How fast would Hedwig get there? Would Ron be at his apartment at all?

Lost in his thoughts, he missed a Doxy that flew right at him. Harry muttered a jinx that took care of it and quickly went up the steps of the castle.

During his progress upwards Harry heard many voices in his head. They whispered in a strange language he could not understand… it was not Parseltongue but Harry was certain that these were not human voices…

He felt a strange urge to open a door towards the left of the passage, but thought better of it. And then suddenly he heard something that made him jump.

Three slow successive knocks from the other end of that door…

Harry raised his wand and pressed his ear to the door. There was nothing to be heard. And then, almost exactly where his ear was placed on the wood, he heard sharp knocking again. It was not the sound of flesh and bone knocking against the wood, but Harry distinctly heard sharp talons. There was something cold and inhuman in the rhythm of the knocks that resounded in every corner of his brain, hypnotising him.

Pulling himself away from the door, he continued his progress forward. Instinct told him to proceed straight ahead without taking any shortcuts or doors, with the key he possessed. How Harry had managed to get the key was another adventure altogether…

It was only the day before that Harry had met Althea Smith of Dwight Manor, Hepzibah Smiths’ cousin twice removed, who had inherited the fortune she had left behind. Althea Smith had noticed the cup of Hufflepuff in its case missing, when the objects were being added to her property.

“I would have done anything to get the cup… it was Hepzi’s greatest treasure and an important family heirloom. And now it’s gone” Harry could recall Althea wave her hand imperiously.

There really was a thin line between Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort. The scene repeated itself fifty five years later, where similar powers of conviction managed to get Harry what he needed most. Under the alias of ‘Norman Ridgeback’, he had received from Althea, the key to open the case which Lord Voldemort had inadvertently forgotten. However, Harry knew him better, and supposed that the key would not be enough to get the cup… after all Professor Dumbledore had lost a hand in his attempt to destroy Slytherin’s ring… and Harry was no way as skilled as Dumbledore had been. He wondered what he would have to lose to get the cup…

Harry continued along the dark passage and was forcibly reminded of the route to the Department of Mysteries, three years back. A congruent panging thirst to move ahead and discover filled him... this however, was no nightmare and Harry could clearly sense the musty smell of the old, abandoned castle. There were dark scratches on the tapestry of the walls as though some vicious and uncontrolled beast had walked the same steps he was taking. The ambience was just as that of the Shrieking Shack… silence, that was so absolute and real, Harry could imagine cutting it with a knife.

Upon entering a large antechamber decorated lavishly, he found himself facing a large shelf with a roll of parchment in the corner. On the shelf were placed a collection of strange objects. One of them Harry identified as a spindly instrument he had seen in Dumbledore’s office in his fourth year. Another was a small vial of a scarlet substance, which looked like blood. The third was a silver thimble, but it was the last object that disturbed Harry.

A key… one that looked exactly like the one he held in his hand, the one he had fished out from Althea Smith. The question was… which one was the fake.

Suddenly, he heard a faint noise behind him. He covered himself up with the Cloak, wondering how effective it would prove against this adversary. His wand arm was raised in tremulous anticipation and he waited… there were footsteps accompanied by the same whispering. Harry’s mind went blank, except for the image of some large horrific beast.

The door that he had shut behind him silently swung open… but there was nothing to be seen, felt or heard in the air. Harry usually relied on his intuition that told him that someone or something was in the room. Was it invisible like him? Or perhaps a magical creature that Hagrid had never mentioned, or worse, never encountered before.

And then Harry saw it… he breathed a sigh of relief.

“We have got to stop doing this mate!” Ron said breathlessly “You scared the living daylights out of us… Hermione saw footprints on the carpet, and I swear I was praying it was you… but how did you know it was us?”

Harry couldn’t help grinning… the warmest feeling flooded him after having felt so cold for a long time. It was like a gush of a hot Butterbeer, something he associated with the happy memories of Ron and Hermione and Hogsmeade.

“I saw your trainer… I think the cloak must have slipped off a bit from your foot. Then I knew it was you guys under Moody’s Cloak”.

“That’s really dangerous!” Hermione wailed, “what if we weren’t facing Harry? Ron I told you to be careful under it! It’s always your foot that gives us away!”

“That’s NOT fair you can’t generalize the fact! How many times have we done this anyway? Wait! Don’t answer that” Ron said, admitting defeat.

“How did you guys get here so quick?” Harry asked in an urgent whisper.

“Hedwig got there with your letter just as I was leaving Ron’s place. We set off at once to the castle here. Some locals said that they saw a man enter the gates and we hoped that it was you… I’m very glad actually that it is you” Hermione said in a low tone.

“Hang on. I went in with the Cloak on me. How could anyone have seen me?” Harry retorted.

Ron said, “Knew that this was too easy… someone else is here, plain and simple. They either followed Harry or us. They were knocking at that door, Hermione”

“What! You heard that too?” Harry exclaimed.

“Yes Harry, but we didn’t open the door, it sounded really unsettling. If there really IS someone here, then we’d better get a move on… What’s all this” Hermione asked, business-like, motioning towards the shelf.

“It’s okay… some kind of puzzle here that I can’t crack and that’s where you come in Hermione” said Harry “I was reading the scroll of parchment here…”

Hitherto shall you come, but no further shall you go,

unless, you possess what the Dark Lord does not

Friends to be loved, friends to be kept,

friends to assist you in the path you chose

There is but one true blood in magic,

one blood as old and pure as magic itself

Once besmirched, the purpose is lost, magic is lost,

and you will find faith in things unreal, futile

And yet, it is the supreme balance that will rule,

emerge as worthy of the treasure you seek,

And move forward in a quest, as impossible as the aim

only in balance, will you be the master of destiny

Ron sneered, “What DO you possess that ‘the Dark Lord does not’, Harry? Well… glasses and a decent mop of hair is all I can think of. What in the name of Merlin’s lop-sided glasses was You-know-who thinking when he came up with this?”

“Shut up… what do you make of it Hermione?” Harry asked seriously.

Hermione was lost in her world, her eyes were glazed and distant and mouth was slightly open. She walked up and down the shelf, muttering softly examining the objects as she had done nearly, seven years ago when they had been searching for the Sorcerer’s Stone.

Ron who was obviously a little bored by the proceedings, made to lift the thimble- “What’s this muggle crap?”

“Ron don’t touch it! Not…” Harry didn’t finish.

“RON! That was Brilliant! Muggle! That’s really the key word! I’ve got it” Hermione exclaimed ecstatically, absolutely beaming at Ron, who looked rather surprised that he was of any stimulating help.

“It’s pretty obvious once you’ve solved it. The first part means simply that you can’t get the horcrux alone… you need at least two people trustworthy or close. ‘One true blood in magic’, that goes without saying- ‘pure- blood’. ‘Besmirched… futile and unreal’, you can only associate words like that with Muggle blood… ‘Mud- bloods’ And of course, ‘the supreme balance’… the source of Voldemort’s power himself. He’s half- blood isn’t he? It’s only a half-blood who’ll be able to get to the Horcrux. Which is why it won’t be a problem for him at all… it all fits”. Hermione’s explanation came all at one strike to Harry.

He understood exactly what the objects were for. But what he didn’t get, was why someone like Voldemort would stress the need for friends. Dumbledore had told Harry that Voldemort preferred to work in solitude, but this was almost as if he was unhappy he didn’t have any real people to count on, none comparable to Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. ‘Friends to be loved, to be kept’. The words flashed across his mind. Maybe they were really of importance here.

Ron spoke excitedly “That means that only a half-blood will be able to hold that key. Harry that’s you of course… And if we need the other stuff, I’d be able to get that bottle of blood… coz not to be rude, but I AM the pure-blood here. What if blood-traitors don’t qualify” he finished mystified at his own deductions.

“In that case, I’ll be able to pick up the thimble, being ‘mud-blood’ as I am. But how are these things going to help us Harry… was it something like this when you had gone for the locket with Dumbledore?” Hermione said

“It wasn’t much then except a couple of Inferi floating dead in the water. But this is really convenient that’s all… there’s one of us for each of the objects and that’s a bit sinister” said Harry, now looking around for further clues.

Hermione whispered “The thing is Harry, I don’t think Voldemort accounted for three people who are friends and rightly suited for the task, to be standing here looking for his horcrux the way we are. It’s just a chance occurrence that’s all… but without a doubt, we have what it requires. What’s that object?” she said pointing at the spindly instrument.

Ron replied knowledgeably “It’s a Verifier, something that checks if the solution to a problem is correct. You just have to place your solution on the panel at the bottom, and if it’s correct, it emits a puff of white smoke. Red smoke if you’re wrong. We learnt about them in the first semester of Auror training”.

The other two glared at him as though it was impossible for Ron to venture so much information.

“What? Cut me some slack you guys, even I am allowed to be of some use!” Ron retorted angrily

“Last time at the cave we had to pay with blood, maybe we have to verify our blood this time too” Harry said.

“That’s settled then… We’ll each put a drop of blood on the panel and then take the object we need to take. Better hurry if we can” Hermione said, wondering how long the silence of the castle would prevail.

They each submitted a drop of their own blood on the panel and were allowed to retrieve the objects they could rightly collect. The shelf moved forwards to reveal a long winding passage forwards. Harry, Ron and Hermione together once more, took a deep breath and went ahead with their wands raised.

Read Chapter 3: Fantastic Beasts and where to find them here