Training and Confrontations

Chapter LI Tuesday, July 22, 1997

Tom Riddle put the finishing touches on his packing. He was glad that Potter had not yet told about his Slytherin ancestral hideaway, but knew it was only a matter of time before aurors from some ministry or other showed up. He therefore had been busy all night, packing away the most important parts of his heritage and of course the tomes on Dark Magic he would need in the future. He had, after all, every intention of outlasting Harry Potter.

"Going somewhere, Tom?"

Riddle turned slowly around, shocked. "How the hell did you get past the wards, boy?"

"Actually, I have regained most of my powers. And it's no use trying to disapparate, I have wards up against that and portkeys. You're stuck here."

"Really?"

Riddle started to move his right wrist, which would let him draw his wand. He was only slightly worried. After all, Potter had foolishly not come in with his own wand drawn.

"Sorry," Harry said. Riddle's wand flew out of the forearm sheath and into Harry's left hand. Harry snapped it. "Like I said, my powers have returned. I'm slightly more powerful than you ever were. Oh, in case you're wondering why your reaction time is so off, I hit you with a disorientation hex before I spoke to you. It barely affects you, while almost anyone else would be staggering around like they were stoned or drunk, but it did its job."

"And you think you're just going to kill me?" Riddle snorted. "I doubt you have the balls, boy."

Harry's wand appeared, and it made a series of movements before the slightly befuddled Riddle could react. Riddle could no longer voluntarily move below his neck.

"Do you think the Lords will let you get away with this, Boy?" Riddle demanded angrily, with fear underlying.

"Yes," Harry said simply. "They are likely keeping close track of both of us. If they wanted to save you, they probably would have by now. As for killing you, yes and no. You are going to end up dead. I've decided to make certain you die." Riddle started swearing at Harry, which he ignored.

Harry pulled out a small but complicated piece of glass. "I am going sever your soul from your body. Your body will die within twenty minutes. I will trap your soul and essence in this trap Titus Sergius gave me. You will, essentially, be a slightly weaker version of what you were for fourteen years. Then, I'm going to place this in a time bubble."

Riddle stopped cursing. "That's . . . that's impossible!"

"Not for me," Harry said. "It will be a very small time bubble, but large enough to take care of you. If Hermione's calculations were correct, and they always are, within a minute, for every second that passes here, you will be existing through a full day. After decades, or perhaps a century or two, your thoughts will start to break apart, the last remaining bits of you will come apart, and then your soul will separate and go wherever it goes when we die."

Riddle stared at Harry in horror. He was too shocked to do anything else.

"Goodbye, Tom," Harry stated simply, "it's been hell knowing you."

Harry called his friends in some fifteen minutes later. They were all wary of the glowing sphere in one empty corner of the cave even before Harry had told them what he had done, and what was contained within the small glowing sphere of magic.

"I think we need to take care of this material," Harry concluded. "We don't want to leave it here until some Ministry or other decides to clear it out. Hermione, Luna, Tracy, could you pack up everything Riddle hadn't managed to get to yet? Ron, Ginny, check out what he did pack, and see if there are any hexes or traps. Neville, you help me keep an eye on this time bubble. One of us has to watch it at all times."

The group hesitated, and then did as Harry requested. They kept up a strong level of conversation on what had happened recently, especially the night before and that morning.

After nearly two hours, Tracy turned to Hermione and Harry and asked directly, "Hermione, does all this make sense to you?"

"Which parts?" Hermione responded.

"Even with these power connections, how did we six manage to set up anti-disappartion and anti-portkey wards powerful enough to keep Riddle in here, when Harry was using all his power to create and power this time bubble? I mean, I can see how the six of us could do one or the other, even with a wizard as powerful as Riddle. But we should have had to draw on power from Harry, and I don't think we did. And if we did, Harry, how could you have had enough power to create this time bubble by yourself, which is frankly awfully amazing in and of itself?"

"You didn't draw any power from me," Harry said.

"I didn't think so, but that doesn't answer the question," Tracy said.

"True," Harry agreed. "Tell me, how do you feel?"

"Eh?"

"How do you feel?"

"Confused."

Harry smiled. "Let me be clearer. When you were holding the wards together, how did your magic feel?"

"It felt . . . it felt like a rushing river, instead of a little stream," Tracy said. Then she realized what she had said. She looked about, and saw every had been listening.

Ron looked at them, confused. He looked around the room. Hermione and, even more surprisingly Luna, had looks of horror on their faces. Neville and Ginny, however, looked as confused as he felt. Ginny, seeing the same things, thought hard, and slowly, the same look of horror spread over her face as well.

Neville and Ron looked at each other, and it was clear they were both thinking hard. Ron and then Neville each had the same awful thought.

"Could it be true?" Hermione asked.

"I don't know," Harry said, "why don't we ask?"

"Ask who?" Ron asked.

Harry spread his arms wide. "Come on!" Harry shouted. "You must be keeping track of us and Riddle! One of you must be spying on us. Show your self!"

The group suddenly looked at the far side of the cave, across from Riddle's prison. One of the Lords of Magic was standing there, clapping.

"Well done," he said as he stopped clapping. He lowered the hood of the robes. He was a tall, distinguished-looking, athletic wizard, with greying red hair. In Muggle terms, he would pass for someone in their early 50s. The wizard looked a bit like Dumbledore had when he was younger.

"I remember your voice," Harry said. "You were called 'M' -- M for Merlin?"

"Again, well-reasoned. Tell me, what is it exactly which has all of you so concerned?"

"Our powers spiked," Hermione said. "Harry had us holding wards we should not have been able to power. . . ." She turned to Harry, "You knew?"

"I suspected," Harry replied. "If you hadn't been able to hold the wards, I would have attacked Riddle from behind and not bothered talking with him."

"That wouldn't have been very sporting, Harry," Merlin reproved mildly.

"Oh, and how 'sporting' was Riddle towards me? Or your lot for that matter?" Harry spat back. "Don't try and make me feel guilty. Go on, Hermione."

"These bonds that have been created between us. They're doing the same things to us as Harry's bond with Voldemort did, aren't they? They're increasing the amount of magical power we can channel."

Merlin was silent for a moment, and then said, "Yes."

"So tell me," Harry asked, "was this your plan, or is this how you were created?"

"This is basically how I was created as well. On the other hand, while I did not think of the original plan, I did implement this version of it."

"I'm a bit lost," Ron said.

"Remember how we told you that these Lords of Magic come mostly from two groups? Wizards and witches who have become immortal through some process like absorbing a Philosopher's Stone, or who powerful wizards who were made immortal by the group?" Harry asked.

"Yes. . . ."

"And that Higher Magic threw me up to face Voldemort to keep magic in balance?"

"Yes."

Harry rolled his eyes slightly. "And that they had helped Voldemort transform into the powerful Dark Wizard he was, even though they claim to be at worst neutral?"

"Sure. . . ."

Harry sighed. "Well, there you are. They helped create Riddle, and earlier Dark Wizards no doubt, so that Higher Magic would create an even more powerful wizard to destroy them, me in this case. In doing so, I created bonds with all of you except Tracy months ago, where we traded power back and forth. In their caverns, those bonds were not only recreated, but made more powerful, and then the four of us bonded with the three of you. In one complicated plot, they now have the seven of us who could be added to their coven."

"You mean . . . I'm now as powerful as, say, Dumbledore?" Neville asked, shocked by even thinking such a thing.

"Not quite, Neville," Merlin replied. "I would say that if you took the power of your Professor McGonagall at you age as the starting point, and the power of Dumbledore at your age as the ending point, you, Tracy, Ron, and Ginny would be grouped between three quarters to ninety percent of his power, not that these things can really be measured by numbers. Hermione and Luna, you are both now slightly powerful than Dumbledore was at your age. As for you, Harry, well, I would say only Sergius, myself, and four of the other Lords surpass you at the moment."

Harry started to speak, but was cut off by Merlin's enthusiastic chatter. "Remember, do not overly interfere with normal life around you. You could create quite a Dark coalition by accident, and none of us wants a Dark war on that scale! Obviously, we'd like you to get a bit more life experience before we start the process of making you immortal. And you ladies may wish to have a child or two. Alas, once the process starts, wizards may no longer sire children, nor witches bear them. Still, we won't start for perhaps thirteen more years. . . ."

"No!" Neville cried out.

"No, what?" Merlin asked, confused.

"I know this is something you've dedicated your existence to, but I don't think it's right," Neville answered. "It's certainly not right for me! I don't want this!"

"You have it, at least at the moment," Merlin retorted. "Now you six can refuse to use your greater power level. If you don't, then you will lose some of it over the next ten years, which is when you'll face the final decision. Lose your powers, and it will be made for you. Abuse your powers, and we may be forced to make the decision for you."

"Oh, like if one of us were to go rogue, you wouldn't just either force us to take care of things or use us to create some other poor sacrifice to fate in the hopes of gaining more recruits," Hermione said scornfully.

Merlin glared at the group. This was not going as well as he had hoped.

Harry glared back at the Lord of Magic. "Tell me," Harry said in a cold voice none of his friends had ever heard him use before, "how powerful would I be if I were to channel all the power of my friends?"

Merlin looked very startled by the idea. "I . . . what?"

"I suggest you leave," Harry stated. "I bet, if I borrowed a bit of power from my friends, I could blast your arse to pieces. And if I know my friends, they'd be happy to lend me that power right now."

Merlin took stock of the teens' attitudes. "Very well, Harry. The Lords will be contact with you, either ourselves, or through Titus Sergius or Dumbledore." He silently disappeared.

The group was silent, and then Ginny said, "What was a whole lot to take in."

"It was," Harry agreed.

"I can't believe that was Merlin," Ron said, his voice confused between awe and disappointment. "I mean, we've all been taught to revere Merlin, and here he turns out to be, well. . . ."

"A manipulative, cold-blooded, Slytherin-type, instead of the idol of all?" Tracy suggested sardonically.

"Something like that," Ron admitted. "Sorry."

"I said it, not you. He wasn't what I would have hoped for, either."

"So what do we do now?" Neville asked.

"We think about this," Hermione said. "We've been given power and opportunity, and we have to consider our options. We likely have more than Merlin mentioned. After all, he's framing the discussion so far, and he wants us to follow a course of action that benefits him. There must be better options."

"We should also eat," Luna said. "We've been busy."

"We also have to finish packing away this material and keep an eye on Riddle. He would easily last several hundred years in there, which could mean a day or two here."

"First things first," Tracy agreed. "We get rid of the Riddle problem, and then we decide what to do about this . . . this curse."

The rest of the group agreed. Riddle lasted over 243 years in his subjective time, which meant they waited just over twenty-four hours. Whatever else happened, at least Tom Riddle, alias Voldemort, was gone.

The group moved back to the island that afternoon, taking the Slytherin material with them, well-packed and shrunken to fit into one lightened box, which Harry and Hermione further shrunk to the size of a Vesta box.

"What do we do now?" Ron asked blankly.

"We think," Hermione said simply. "We split up and we think."

"Let's just go to our rooms," Harry said wearily. "Dobby will bring us dinner. We think and we relax tonight. Let it perk around the back of our brains until tomorrow night, after dinner. Then, we can discuss things as a group, and see if we want to go as a group in whatever direction. Let's agree, no arguing before then. Okay?"

"Alright, Harry," Neville said. The others nodded their agreements as well.

"So, what did you have in mind as you sit around and let things 'perk'?" Hermione asked tartly as the trio entered their suite.

"I'm going to take a long, very hot shower," Harry said. "It would be very nice if the two of you would join me."

"Now is hardly the time to fool around!" Hermione objected.

Luna peeled off her dirty, sweaty jumper. "It may or may not be the best time to fool around, but it IS time to get clean. And you know it always feels better showering together."

"Please?" Harry begged, making puppy-dog eyes at Hermione.

"Ass," Hermione stated, but she started stripping down as well.

When the shower was running full-blast, Harry leaned in close to nibble on Hermione's earlobe. While he was there, he made a very serious suggestion, which he then repeated to Luna just as quietly.

The two girls looked at Harry with real respect, and nodded their agreement. They then went back to letting Harry wash their hair. And, because Harry's idea had given them some hope, the trio had a very satisfying evening.

And next morning as they woke up.

Thursday, July 24, 1997

That morning, Hermione managed to find herself alone with Tracy. She whispered to her for less than fifteen seconds. Tracy nodded, and they went their separate ways. Luna did something similar with Ginny. Ginny later whispered to Neville, and Tracy to Ron.

Early that afternoon, as lunch wound down, Tracy asked, "I was wondering; Luna mentioned that the grotto where you make the connection to Rushak has a lot of interesting and odd runes. Could we take a look sometime?"

Harry looked indecisive. "I suppose. It could be dangerous, you know. Even Hermione and Luna don't know what a lot of that stuff means."

"Look, if we all go, Ron, Ginny, and Neville can light their wands, so we can really see. You can keep an eye out in case we get into trouble. Between Luna's Second Sight and your enhanced magical senses, we should be safe enough."

"You have enhanced magical senses?" Ron asked. The other five teens rolled their eyes, while Harry smiled.

"No, Ron, he has just been lucky all these years, moving a split second before some danger appeared out of nowhere," Hermione said sarcastically.

"Well, excuse me!" Ron said. He turned to Harry. "What do your senses tell you?"

"Well. . . ." Harry suddenly whipped out his wand and zapped something in the corner of the room. "I know that Merlin was standing there, and just went off with the equivalent of a stiff kick in the balls. Let's go. He'll be back, and angry, pretty soon." Harry was already moving from the room. The others moved after him.

"Where are we going?" Neville asked.

"An island far off the coast of Dyrnaid," Harry answered. "The opposite end of the continent from Rushak. Come on."

"Can they follow?" Tracy asked.

"To the planet, yes; to the island, probably not." Harry hustled then into the entrance to the caves, and then commanded the door shut. "Remus once told me that as the heir, I could command this shut even against Dumbledore or Voldemort. I would guess Merlin can work his way around it. It just might take some time. We just have to hope that it's enough time."

It was enough time, but only by three minutes. Merlin glared at the empty circle, and started to work out where the group had gone.

The seven people found themselves in a smaller stone circle than the one at Rushak. "Where are we again?" Ron asked.

"The island of the Dragons," Harry said.

"From one secret group to another?" Ginny asked.

"Secret societies often, although not always, distrust each other," Tracy pointed out. "Even if they agree on goals, they are often in conflict."

"Even if that's true," Neville asked, "are we going to be welcome here?"

"I will be," Harry said. "If there is any problem with your being here, I'll handle it."

"Then I suggest you handle it," a voice said.

Harry bowed. "Number Three?"

"That was my number while training you. Here, I am Number Forty-five. You shall be known as Ninety-nine. I take it you have a tale to tell?"

"I do."

"They went where!"

"Temper," Merlin reproved one of his seniors. "They have gone to the Island of the Dragons."

"Does that present a problem?" Dumbledore asked, his eyes twinkling.

"Yes! We do not always get along well with the Dragons."

'Then the worlds might be well-served,' Dumbledore thought, but did not say.