Harry Potter and the Crystalline Darkness

Katling

Story Summary:
Continues on from Guild of the Night. Harry's sixth year is over, the Battle has been won and he's off for a summer with Sirius and Remus and then the Weasleys before starting his seventh and final year at Hogwarts. Life seems to be pretty good right now - or is it? What has happened to his old enemies? And what is happening with the looming, crystalline darkness?

Chapter 01

Chapter Summary:
Continues on from Guild of the Night. Harry's Sixth Year is over, the Battle has been won and he's off for a summer with Sirius and Remus and then the Weasleys before starting his Seventh and final year at Hogwarts. Life seems to be pretty good right now or is it? What has happened to his old enemies? And what is happening with the looming crystalline darkness?
Posted:
10/03/2004
Hits:
11,033
Author's Note:
Well, you've all been begging for this and here it is - the first chapter of my sequel for Harry Potter and the Guild of the Night.


Chapter 1

Harry lay flat on his back on the sun-warmed grass next to the lake, his Oversight disengaged, his cane beside him and one arm flung over his closed eyes. As he basked in the sun and relaxed, he let his senses tell him what was happening around him. The sun was shining warmly down on him and a light breeze was gently wafting over him. He could hear the soft slurry of the giant squid moving around in the water of the lake and he could hear the chirping of the birds in the Forest. He was feeling extremely peaceful; he did not have to go back to the Dursleys and Voldemort was apparently dead. He breathed in deeply and slowly let it back out. As he did he heard the sounds of footsteps in the grass approaching him. He listened to them for a moment and then grinned. Sirius and Remus; their treads were distinctive. As he listened the footsteps came closer and then he heard the two men sit down near him. There was a companionable silence for a while then Sirius spoke.

"Alright there, Harry?" he said, his voice full of humour.

"Mmmhmmm," Harry murmured lazily.

The two men chuckled.

"You look comfortable," Remus observed.

"Mmmhmmm," Harry repeated to more chuckles.

"You're packed then?" Sirius asked, grinning.

"Mmmhmmm," was the reply.

"Looking forward to getting out of here?" Remus asked.

Harry lowered his arm and tucked both hands behind his head. "Yes and no."

"Ah, so you can say something other than Mmmhmmm," Sirius said laughing.

Harry laughed as well then Sirius asked, "So what's with the yes and no?"

"Well, Hogwarts has always seemed more like home than anywhere else I've been but I think home will be wherever we are," Harry said.

"Yeah," Sirius said softly. "Hey, we popped over to Grimmauld Place yesterday. That Dobby's pretty good. He managed to get my Mum's portrait down though he's being really evasive as to how. He's got the place looking great."

Harry grinned. "That's great! Dobby's really good at all that stuff." He paused and laughed. "You just don't want him trying to protect you."

Sirius gave Harry a curious look. "What do you mean by that?"

Harry laughed. "Well, in second year, Dobby was trying to protect me. At first, he was trying to stop me from going back to Hogwarts and then when I was at school he was trying to get me to leave."

Sirius looked outraged. "Why?"

"Because he worked for the Malfoy's at the time and he knew what Lucius Malfoy had done. He knew that the Chamber of Secrets was going to be opened again and he wanted to protect me. He thought the best way to do that was to not have me at Hogwarts."

"What did he do?" asked Remus; he hadn't heard this story in full either.

"Well," Harry began, "he stopped my mail from getting through to me and he nearly got me expelled by levitating a pudding when I was at the Dursleys. He stopped Ron and I from getting through the barrier at Platform 9 ¾ and we ended up having to use Mr Weasley's flying car to get to Hogwarts." He laughed. "Professor Snape wanted to expel us for that but Professor McGonagall only gave us a detention. Then Dobby charmed a bludger that broke my arm."

"Ouch!" Sirius said. "Did you lose the match?"

"Sirius!" Remus chided. "I hardly think that's the point."

"Nah," Harry said off-handedly, grinning at Remus. "That's how I got the arm broken. I took my attention off the bludger so I could catch the snitch. My arm got broken and I had to use the other one to catch it, then I fell off my broom because I wasn't able to hang on. I was only a few feet above the ground though so it didn't really hurt." He sighed. "That one only got so bad because Lockhart vanished all the bones in my arm trying to repair them."

"I remember Gilderoy Lockhart," Sirius said idly. "He was a couple of years ahead of us, wasn't he?"

"A couple of years below us, you mean," Remus said with amusement.

Sirius blinked. "Oh yeah. He was a Hufflepuff though, wasn't he?"

"Yes," Remus said. "Tried very hard but wasn't very good. Got average marks for pretty much everything. Was very good at charms though."

"I'll say," Harry said darkly. "He was a master at the Memory Charm. That's what he'd been doing. Taking credit for things other people had done and then wiping their memories. Git."

"I'll second the git comment," Remus said.

"So, is there anything you want to do over the holidays?" Sirius asked.

"Well, I've got my homework to do and I've got to keep up my training for Master Nhean," Harry said slowly.

"I mean, other than school work," Sirius said wryly.

"Oh, no not really," Harry said blushing. "Just, you know, spend time with you guys."

Remus and Sirius beamed at each other as Harry continued.

"This is going to be the best summer I've ever had," he said with a sideways grin. "No Dursleys, no Voldemort, what could be better." Harry stopped and flipped over, propping himself up on his elbows and facing Sirius. "Speaking of the Dursleys, you're not planning on...doing anything to them, are you Sirius?"

Remus burst out laughing as Sirius grinned. "No, actually I'm not," he said wryly. "I must admit, I had planned on it when I had a bit of time on my hands but Moony brought me up pretty short. He told me about the trial and, well, as much I would like to have a little chat with your uncle, I don't think it's really necessary now."

Harry sighed with relief and then cocked his head slightly. "Why isn't it necessary?" He then quickly stammered. "Not that I want you to do anything!"

Sirius chuckled. "Your uncle has gone to a Muggle prison convicted of abusing a child." He ignored Harry's irritated snarl at being called a child. "Child abusers of any sort are at the bottom of the 'jungle' hierarchy of a prison." He smiled viciously. "Your uncle will not be having a good time in prison. I guess I can leave his misery to the other denizens of the prison."

Harry looked a little startled at the vindictive tone in his godfather's voice but was distracted by Remus' next question.

"Have you thought about contacting your Aunt and cousin?" Remus asked.

Harry turned to face him and gave a small smile. "You know, you're the second person to ask me that sort of question. Neville brought it up a couple of weeks ago. I'll give you the same answer I gave him. I don't know. I've...thought about it but I'm not really sure I want to at the moment."

"That's okay," Remus said. "I was just asking. I just remember your Aunt apologizing to you at the trial."

"Hmmm," Harry said noncommittally and the three lapsed back into silence.

***************************************************

The next morning, Harry sat on the couch and listened with amusement as Sirius and Remus packed up Sirius' room. They had only found out that morning that while both Remus and Harry had packed the day before, Sirius had somehow let that important detail slide.

"You had plenty of time to pack yesterday, Sirius, what on earth were you doing?" Remus demanded as he threw more of Sirius' clothes into a trunk.

"I was busy," Sirius said in a defensive tone. "I...was speaking with Hagrid."

Remus paused with an armful of t-shirts and stared at Sirius with growing alarm. "You were talking about that motor bike, weren't you?"

Sirius smiled at Remus, looking alarmingly like the Marauder he had been at school. "Now, why would you say that, Moony?"

Remus groaned and threw the t-shirts into the trunk. "You were, weren't you? You're planning on bringing that bloody bike to Grimmauld Place!"

"Moony, it is my bike," Sirius grinned. "And anyway, Hagrid's left it in terrible condition. It's covered in dust and probably won't work until I give it a good service." Sirius looked a little hurt. "Anyway, Moony, what's it matter? It's my bike, I want it back and it's not like I'm going to do anything that irresponsible on it."

Remus sighed. "Sorry, Padfoot. I was overreacting a bit there, I suppose."

"That's okay, Moony," Sirius said with a grin and an expansive wave of his arms. "I suppose I did give you a bit of a fright the last time you were on it."

"And I'm not really a very good flyer," Remus admitted ruefully. "Now, is that everything?"

Sirius looked around the room. "Yeah, I think so. I can always come back if I've left something."

"Good," Remus said with relief as he banged the lid of the trunk shut and locked it. He quickly levitated it and moved it out into the living room to join his own and Harry's trunks. Sirius followed him out and grinned at his godson.

"Ready to go?" he asked.

"Been ready for ages," Harry replied with a grin. "How are we getting there?"

"We're going by floo," Remus replied. "Dobby and Winky are going to bring our things."

"I didn't know Grimmauld Place was connected to the floo network," Harry said.

"That was one of the things we organized this week," Sirius replied. "Now that we don't have to use it for Headquarters for the Order, we were able to take off the Fidelius Charm and some of the other wards as well as connect it to the floo network."

Remus pulled a bag out of his pocket. "Ready, everyone?"

Harry and Sirius nodded and Remus offered the bag to them. Sirius grabbed a handful of the powder within and threw it into the fire. He stepped into the green flames, saying "Number 12 Grimmauld Place!" and disappeared.

Remus offered the bag to Harry who repeated his godfather's actions and Remus followed them through.

********************************************

The moment Harry stumbled out of the floo and into the kitchen of 12 Grimmauld Place, he was engulfed by Dobby.

"Harry Potter Sir," the little house-elf said, his large green eyes full of joy. "Dobby is so pleased to see you again."

"Hi Dobby," Harry said happily and Remus stepped out of the floo behind him. "I'm pleased to see you too. Sirius says you've got the place looking great."

"Oh yes, Harry Potter Sir," Dobby replied. "Dobby was very happy to come and work for Harry Potter and Sirius Black and Remus Lupin. Dobby had to tame the house first but then Dobby was able to get everything the way it should be."

Harry, Sirius and Remus froze in place. Sirius was the first to recover. "Tame the house?" he asked hesitantly.

"Oh yes, Sirius Black Sir, the house was most wild," Dobby said in an authoritative tone. "The last house-elf had allowed things to get very bad. Dobby and Winky had much work to do."

Harry swallowed a grin. "Sirius said you managed to get the portrait in the hallway down. How did you manage that?"

Dobby's eyes widened. "Dobby cannot tell you, Harry Potter Sir. Dobby is most sorry."

Dobby eyes widened further and he turned towards the table in the middle of the room. Harry yelped and grabbed the back of Dobby's jumper just before he could start banging his head on the table.

"Don't do that, Dobby," Harry said hastily. "It's alright if you can't tell me. I just don't want you to go around banging your head or ironing your hands or anything else like that."

Dobby looked up at Harry with confusion. "Harry Potter Sir does not want Dobby to punish himself for doing the wrong thing?"

"No!" Harry said firmly. "Harry Potter Sir definitely does not want you punishing yourself."

Tears brimmed in Dobby's eyes. "Harry Potter Sir is truly a great wizard. Never has Dobby had a master who wouldn't let Dobby punish himself."

Harry looked over at Remus and Sirius a little helplessly and then scowled at the amused expressions he could see in the ghostly overlays of their faces. Finally Remus took pity on him.

"Erm, Dobby," he said with amusement. "We need to show Harry around the rest of the house."

Dobby gave a start and promptly shooed them out of the kitchen. "Dobby will go to Hogwarts to get your trunks," he said as they walked out into the hallway.

Harry turned around and glared at the two men. "Not a word," he said firmly. "Not one word."

Remus and Sirius chuckled and Sirius proceeded to lead them on a tour of the newly cleaned and refurbished house. Harry was amazed; though he could see little detail in the Oversight overlay, he could tell from the magic flowing through walls and the general feel of the place that there had been a major improvement over the last time he had stayed there.

When they got to the second floor, Sirius stopped. "All our rooms are here on the second floor," he said enthusiastically. "All of the family used to be on this level, well, they did when there was actually a lot of family. Anyway, I suppose you might call the rooms here suites rather than anything else. Each one has a small living room, a bedroom and a bathroom. I had Dobby and Winky set up each set of rooms pretty much the same. They've put a desk and bookshelves in as well as couches and chairs though I suppose we'll all end up in the library eventually."

Harry blinked as he remembered that both Remus and Sirius were now going to be teaching at Hogwarts; Remus breaking the curse on the Defence Against the Dark Arts position and Sirius taking over from Professor Sinistra, who had died in the attack on Hogwarts, in teaching Astronomy. Harry grinned; they were all going to have homework this summer.

"Have Dobby and Winky sorted out the library?" Remus asked with surprise. "It was a little difficult to use that room before."

"Yeah, they got that done pretty quickly," Sirius said as he led them down the corridor. "I asked them to make it a priority. I've got to sort that place out. I've got no idea what kind of books are in there but knowing my family, there probably a lot of Dark books. I may need to remove some of them to private storage." He stopped outside a door. "Harry, this'll be your room. My room and Remus' room are down the corridor a bit."

Harry opened the door and found that Dobby had already brought his trunk up to him. He looked around the living room. One wall had windows along its length and the desk was set up there. There were bookshelves set on the only free wall. A room in the wall opposite the bookshelf wall led into a large comfortable bedroom. A second door in the bedroom led into a large well-appointed bathroom.

Harry wandered back out to the living room where Sirius and Remus were waiting for him.

"This...this is great!" Harry stammered.

Sirius beamed, pleased that Harry was happy. "Come and have a look at our rooms," he said enthusiastically and dragged Harry and Remus down the corridor.

*****************************************

Draco paced the Basement Hall at Malfoy Manor, his steps hesitant due to the severe limp he now possessed. His ruined right eye was covered with a black silk eye patch and his expression was stormy. He had returned home from Durmstrang a week ago to find his mother absent, traveling the Continent according to the house-elves. He had also found Bellatrix Lestrange and Peter Pettigrew waiting for him. He grinned mirthlessly as he recalled their expressions of relief when he walked into the small parlour they were waiting in. It seemed that in the absence of his late unlamented father, they had turned to him.

He stumbled slightly and was forced to stop pacing as pain ripped through his leg and up his back. He scowled and swore violently under his breath. The mediwitch at Durmstrang had been unable to repair either his leg or his eye, claiming that the damage was just too severe. Rage boiled in Draco's mind and visions of what he intended to do to Potter and the Mudblood when he got his hands on them flooded through his mind. His defeat by Potter and his friends during the battle at Hogwarts still rankled. He had been forced to go to ground by Potter's tactic of dragging Snape close to the school walls. He had intended to attack by air but had found it too difficult to maneuver close to the castle. And when Potter and his friends had revealed themselves as animagi, he had been confident that he could defeat them no matter where he was.

He hadn't expected the tactics they had used though. That Longbottom, even as a horse, would have the effrontery to launch an all-out attack had amused him and he had used his fiery breath on him, expecting that challenge to finish quickly. That Longbottom would have the intelligence to act as a decoy was not something he had expected. It was the attacks of Potter and Granger that he still shuddered at though. Who would have expected Granger to have that inside her? An eagle? Draco snorted; maybe she should have been a Ravenclaw. Her attack had been unexpected. He had thought that she would merely try to distract him as Potter had done to the dragon in the First Task of the Triwizard Tournament in Fourth Year. That she would actually physically attack was something he had not thought she was capable of. He grimaced; he supposed he shouldn't have been too surprised; the girl had hit him during Third Year after all.

He scowled again. Potter's attack had been a nasty surprise. He hadn't thought that even a wolf of the size of Potter's animagus form could have seriously hurt him. Merlin knows the two dogs, Weasley and Black, hadn't been anything more than irritants. When Potter's wolf had latched onto his leg and yanked a chunk of the muscle out like that, the pain had been indescribable. Draco could only assume that the sharp teeth and strong jaws of the large wolf had made up for the size differential between them.

Draco resumed his pacing now that his leg seemed to be behaving itself again. He had sent Bellatrix and Wormtail out to find out how many Death Eaters had survived the Battle. He specifically wanted to know how many were in Azkaban and how many were free. He had some hopes, from Bellatrix's and Wormtail's reactions, that the Death Eaters may accept him as their leader. And if they didn't...well, he would just have to make sure that they did. Wormtail had told him what had happened at the Battle after he had left. He had no idea if the Dark Lord had survived the blast in the same fashion as he had done after he had tried to kill Harry Potter the first time, nearly fifteen years ago, and he honestly did not care. He fully intended to make the Death Eaters his and his alone. He had already scoured his father's study and the rooms the Dark Lord had inhabited for all of the information regarding the odd crystal magic the Dark Lord had discovered. Unlike his former Master, Draco had no intention of wasting his time trying to resurrect anyone. He wanted to use it to destroy all who opposed him.

The door to the Hall swung open and Wormtail scuttled in. Draco turned carefully to face him.

"Well?" he asked imperiously.

Wormtail blanched and scuttled closer. "Very few of our fellows escaped from the Battle, Lord Draco," the little man cringed. "Many were killed and the rest are in Azkaban."

"I am aware that very few of our fellow Death Eaters escaped the Battle," Draco said impatiently. "What I want to know is who escaped, where they are and will they follow me!"

Wormtail squeaked nervously. "Y...Yes, Lord Draco. Avery, Nott, McNair and Crabbe were the only other senior Death Eaters to escape other than you, Bellatrix and myself. They were interested, if a little unsure, when I approached them on your behalf."

Draco snorted at the list. It wasn't much to work with, though he knew he could count on Pansy and her group within Hogwarts to help him. In fact, he had half a mind to pass his task from the Dark Lord onto Pansy. She was in far better position to carry out the assassination of Snape and Draco had decided that that was one task that really should be finished. He paced a bit more then turned to glare at Wormtail.

"Well, what are you still doing here?" he barked. "Go and find them. Bring them before me!"

Wormtail squeaked and jumped then scrambled out of the room as fast as he could. Draco watched him go with a sneer. The animagus was irritating and near useless. He couldn't imagine why the Dark Lord had kept him around so much. Just because the man had delivered the Potters so many years ago was no reason to continue to reward incompetence.

"You really shouldn't frighten the little rat so much," said Bellatrix airily as she sauntered through the door. "He can be useful in his own limited ways."

"He's a fool," Draco snarled. "And he's far too interested in protecting his own skin."

"Aren't we all?" Bella purred as she approached him. "A good Slytherin always looks out for his or her own interests first." She had reached him by this stage and she casually slid behind him and draped herself around him. She ran her hands slowly up and down his chest as she lightly nibbled on his ear.

Draco tilted his head slightly to allow her better access and a slow, sensual smile curved his lips. He found the older woman delightfully reprehensible and his interest in her had as much to do with that as her physical charms. Her burgeoning insanity was of little concern to him; he was stronger magically than she was and he made certain never to leave himself vulnerable to her. He tore himself away from her and slapped her face hard enough to knock her to the ground. She stared up at him with blood starting to ooze from a spilt lip and a lustful and slightly crazed look in her eyes. Draco sneered at her and lashed out with one booted foot. The kick caught her on the shoulder and she fell backwards.

"Get out, slut," he snarled, a look of rage growing in his eyes.

Bella slithered to her feet and bowed to him, a dark, sinful expression on her face. In a deliberate motion, she licked some of the blood away from her bottom lip. Draco's eyes narrowed and he smiled at her. He stepped forwards and ran a finger along the same lip. He slowly raised his finger to his mouth and, maintaining eye contact, he sucked the blood off his finger. Bella's eyes widened and her breath shortened. Snake-quick, Draco slapped her again.

"Get out," he said dangerously. Bella's eyes flashed. She slowly turned and with a sensual swing to her hips, left the Hall.

Draco watched her go and snarled, though this one was more at himself than Bellatrix. Bella's little submission and dominance games were amusing but he had more important things to concern him. He stalked as best as he could out of the Hall and back up to the main drawing room where he summoned a house-elf.

"Yes, Master Draco?" the little elf enquired politely.

"Have any owls arrived for me, Dibs?" Draco asked respectfully. He had learnt long ago about the various little annoyances that house-elves could manufacture if they were displeased with the manners of those they served. Something that idiot Dobby had never understood, Draco thought to himself.

"No, Master Draco," Dibs replied. "Are you expecting anything in particular? And what should we do with it when it arrives?"

Indecision rippled across Draco's face. "I'm not actually expecting anything, Dibs, but I am anticipating something." Dibs looked politely curious. "If any owls arrive for me, place their messages in my father's...my study and let me know."

Dibs bowed. "Yes, Master Draco." The little house-elf then disappeared with a small pop.

Draco stared at the spot where the house-elf had been then shook his head. The incident with Bella had distracted him and he did not have time for that. He had to have everything in place before the end of the holidays. Durmstrang, while content to look the other way and not ask questions, would like as not draw the line if known Death Eaters began parading in and out of the place. He left the drawing room and headed for his father's...his study.

Walking into the room drew a small smile. The things he had found in here had been remarkable. He hadn't known just how many pies his father had his fingers in. Draco had spent much of the first couple of days of his holidays responding to the messages that had built up on his father's desk. Mostly he had sent out various versions of 'keep the information coming' or 'my father may dead but I am not, what he knew, I know, so don't think you're off the hook'. He sat down at the desk and drew some parchment and ink towards him. He plucked a quill from the holder and began composing a letter to Miss Pansy Parkinson.