Trinity

Chapter 16

The next morning Harry felt considerably better. The salve Marguerite Delacour had used had gone a long way towards healing the jagged bite marks and the French woman was pleased with what she saw when she reapplied the salve that morning. She redressed the wounds with a much lighter bandage. When she left, Ron appeared with some of Harry's clothes in his hands and he slowly began to get dressed. He winced as his shoulder complained when he tried to pull on his t-shirt and had to get Ron to help him.

Once he was dressed they headed downstairs where everyone was waiting. Mrs Weasley immediately came over to him and fussed momentarily before ushering him to the fireplace. Harry flooed back to Grimmauld Place with a sigh of relief and found Moody waiting for him.

"Potter," the ex-Auror said in greeting. "How's the shoulder?"

"Um, much better," Harry replied as he hastily skipped out of the way of the new arrivals and joined Moody at the table. "I take it you have news for me?"

Moody nodded and scratched his grey hair. "I tracked that pack as far as I could. Lost 'em about 5 miles from the Burrow. The mongrels just up and disappeared."

"How?" Harry asked and Ron and Hermione joined them at the table. The rest of the Weasleys and Remus and Tonks disappeared into the house.

"Portkey at a guess," Moody grumbled.

"They could use a portkey?" Ron said with surprise.

"Wouldn't put it past them," Moody replied. "But I suspect there may have been an accomplice waiting for them."

"So what do we do about them now?" Ron asked.

"Not much we can do," Harry replied. "Except be wary when we eventually go back out on missions."

Moody grunted in agreement. "Speaking of that, you'll be off training until that shoulder is fully healed, Potter."

"Yeah, I'd kind of guessed that," Harry grumbled then he looked over at Hermione. "How are you going with deciphering Professor Dumbledore's notes?"

"Bill and I finished the other day," Hermione replied. "But I wanted to go through them again to make sure it all makes sense."

"Okay," Harry said patiently. "But you must have come to some kind of conclusion."

Hermione nodded. "I don't think it's going to be quite as difficult as we first thought to destroy the Horcruxes. Professor Dumbledore's notes indicate that he thought that the reason his hand was damaged had nothing to do with the Horcrux itself but instead was because he missed one of the protective hexes on the ring. From what he wrote, the Horcrux was the stone in the ring but the protective spells and hexes were placed in the gold of the ring itself. Bill agreed with that. He said that the containment spells on the proto-Horcrux are the kind that don't take well to protective spells being layered over the top of them." She paused and tilted her head to one side. "In fact he said that containment spells in general don't handle spells being overlaid on top of them. It's not just the ones used in the Horcrux."

"Bill managed to identify the spells then?" Moody growled.

Hermione nodded. "He says there are seven containment spells layered on top of each other on the proto-Horcrux. And they're not only layered, they cascade into each other. He said that will make it both easier and more difficult to remove them. Professor Dumbledore noted the same spells on the ring Horcrux so we think that the containment spells will be the same for all of them."

"Hang on a minute," Harry said with a frown. "How can it be easier and more difficult to remove the spells?"

"Well, because of the way they are constructed the most powerful spell lies on the inside of the layers," Hermione explained. "It's going to require a great deal of concentration and power to get to it without disturbing the other spells and then to remove it. But once it's removed, the cascading effect will take place and the others spells will collapse of their own accord. Each spell is being powered by the one below it in the layer. Remove the bottom one and the rest will follow." She paused and grimaced. "That is the other part of the problem. There is a possibility that the magic from the collapsing spells could create a small wildfire event. So the process is twofold. Remove the first containment spell then contain the collapsing spells."

"I don't suppose Bill explained how to do this?" Harry asked after a long pause.

Hermione nodded. "He left detailed instructions and also said you could contact him at anytime if you had questions."

"I wonder if Fleur knows that," Ron said with a grin.

Harry snickered then sobered. "Okay, what about the protective spells?"

"There don't seem to be any on the locket," Hermione said promptly. "Which makes sense if you think about it."

Harry blinked. "Okay," he said slowly. "How?"

"The ring was left in the Gaunts' house," Hermione explained patiently. "So it needed the protections to be placed on the ring itself. The house is open and Voldemort wouldn't have wanted just anyone to be able to pick it up. Professor Dumbledore's notes say that the ring had a fairly strong notice-me-not charm on it among other things."

"Oh, I see," Harry said with understanding. "But the locket was surrounded by its protections. The rock wall that required blood to open, the Inferi in the lake and the potion in the bowl."

Hermione nodded with a pleased smile. "Exactly! Obviously Voldemort didn't think it was necessary to add any further protections to the locket itself."

"You hope," Ron said emphatically.

Hermione scowled. "Neither Bill nor I could find anything other than the containment spells on either the proto-Horcrux or the locket, Ron."

Ron held up his hands in a surrendering motion as Harry and Moody laughed.

"I guess I'll spend the next couple of days reading through everything you've got then," Harry said once the laughter had died down. "I'd like to try destroying the locket Horcrux before we go back to school." He paused as he remembered something. "Oh, once the containment spells are down, how do you destroy the soul fragment?"

"Professor Dumbledore used Deletrius to destroy the soul fragment from the ring," Hermione said hesitantly.

Harry blinked. "That's all? That worked?"

"Apparently," Hermione replied with a shrug. "The only comment the Headmaster made on his choice of spell was that you have to concentrate on wanting the soul fragment to be eradicated."

"Yeah, I guess that makes sense," Ron said after a moment.

"How did you come to that conclusion?" Hermione asked archly.

"Well, Harry destroyed the diary and presumably both the containment spells and the soul fragment with a Basilisk fang in the Chamber of Secrets," Ron pointed out. "I guess that means that it's not that difficult to destroy one of these things no matter how difficult it is to create one."

"Ron, Basilisk venom is very powerful," Hermione objected.

Harry leaned back in his chair with a frown on his face and absently rubbed at his shoulder. "I wonder how that did work," he mused. "I mean it doesn't seem like it ought to, just stabbing a diary with a Basilisk fang."

"Basilisks are magical creatures," Hermione said thoughtfully. "It would naturally follow that their venom must be magical too. Maybe the venom worked on the actual physical fabric of the diary; the paper and whatnot. The containment spells need to be tied to something physical to work. It's possible that's what the venom did; unravelled the containment spells' connection to the diary. That then left the soul fragment vulnerable to the venom as well. If the soul fragment can be destroyed by a directed Deletrius then it wouldn't stand a chance against Basilisk venom."

"Pity you didn't keep the fang," Ron said idly.

"I don't think it would work on the other Horcruxes except maybe Nagini," Harry replied dryly. "With the diary I had something to stab the fang into. Bit hard to do that with the locket or that cup of Hufflepuff's."

"Good point," Ron conceded.

"So what now?" Harry asked.

"Now you go and rest," Hermione said firmly. "I will organise those notes for you and Ron...well, Ron can..."

"Ron can help me," Moody said with amusement before looking over at the mildly affronted boy. "I understand you're quite skilled at chess."

"Er, yes," Ron said with surprise.

"Good. You can start learning a bit more about strategy then," Moody said. "Then you can teach your friends. Come on."

With that the grizzled ex-Auror stood up and headed out of the kitchen. Ron gave a long-suffering sigh and followed him. Hermione swallowed a smile and headed for the library. Harry rubbed his shoulder for a moment then decided Hermione's idea was a good one.

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

Snape stood to the right of the Dark Lord and sneered at the pack of wolves cowering on the floor. The sneer was covering the vague horror that shivered through him when he looked upon the transformed werewolves. Fenrir had presented him with a set of instructions for a potion about a month ago. He'd been curious about the potion as he'd never seen it before but Fenrir had been frustratingly close-mouthed. The potion had only taken a week to prepare and since then Snape had spent whatever spare time he had searching for the answer. The appearance of Fenrir and his pack three days ago had answered that question in a most horrifying manner.

Severus had heard of the spell that could permanently transform an animagus or a werewolf. It had been mentioned in more than one of the Dark books he'd read without much in the way of details but the idea that someone would actually attempt it made his blood run cold. The success rate was abysmal, barely one in twenty ever succeeded and the penalty for failure was a long, slow and exceedingly painful death. Severus had no love for werewolves; his close encounter with Lupin in Sixth Year had made sure of that but even he could not imagine why anyone sane would risk the transformation.

He sneered down at the whimpering wolves again. Ah but that was the thing, wasn't it? Fenrir Greyback, even in human form, had hardly been what one would call sane. And he'd known of Severus' fear as well. The filthy werewolf had delighted in snapping at him and only Severus' wariness of the Dark Lord's wrath had stayed his hand. He knew more than one spell that would be very effective against a werewolf.

Voldemort stared down at the wolves with anger. "You failed!"

Greyback stared up at him angrily then Voldemort snarled.

"You injured Potter," he sneered. "How inventive of you. But Greyback, you did not bring him here! Which is what you were asked to do. Crucio!"

Severus winced at the sudden shrill howling that came from the entire pack. The Dark Lord had strength enough even with his injuries to do that though he wondered how the man had learnt to communicate with the wolves. He gave a small sigh of relief when the Dark Lord ended the spell and the howling stopped and then managed not to flinch when the Dark Lord whipped around and pointed his wand at him.

"Locutus mentilupus," Voldemort snapped.

A searing pain lanced through Severus' mind briefly and he gasped. Voldemort paid him no mind, merely turned back to the pack.

"You will make your way up to Hogwarts," the Dark Lord ordered. "You will create as much havoc as you can when you get there and if you get an opportunity at the Potter boy again, you will not fail!" He glared at the wolves and they whined. "You will report either to myself or Severus."

Yes, Lord. The mental voice that rippled through Severus' mind had distinct overtones of Fenrir's normal voice and he flinched slightly.

The wolf pack turned almost as one and bounded out of the room. Voldemort turned and surveyed Severus with a wintry, dangerous smile.

"Problems, Severus?" he asked in a deceptively gentle voice.

"No, my Lord," Severus replied evenly. "Though I confess to some disquiet that that mangy hound will be able to poke around in my mind."

Voldemort chuckled. "Never fear, my clever Potions Master. The spell merely allows verbal communication, nothing more. And with your ability at Occlumency, you will have no troubles evicting him from your mind." His face hardened. "Now tell me what progress you have made in curing Nagini."

"The latest potion I have given her appears to be having some effect," Severus replied calmly. "She is certainly showing signs of improvement. However I have still been unable to identify the original poison."

Voldemort growled and stalked back and forth. "Will she survive?"

"I cannot say, my Lord," Severus replied. "But things do look promising."

Voldemort scowled, an expression which deepened when pain lanced through him from some of the injuries he had received the previous year. They had been damned slow in healing and he could only presume that this new body of his was to blame. Certainly Severus had provided him with every potion he had asked for.

"Severus, I wish for you to let yourself be seen near Hogwarts," he ordered. "If you can get into the school and create some trouble, do so. I want Potter distracted and if you can lure him out of the castle that would be ideal." The Dark Lord paused and smirked. "Take Draco with you. Let us see if he can redeem his family name. I have some ideas for a specific goal but I wish to consider which will be the most effective. I will inform you when I have decided."

Severus bowed low. "Yes, my Lord. Do you wish us to work in conjunction with Fenrir?"

"No," Voldemort replied. "They will be basing themselves in the Forest. Their targets will not only be the students but also the centaurs. You will not enter the Forest unless Fenrir contacts you. Confine your attempts to Hogsmeade, Hogwarts and the surrounds."

Severus bowed again. "Yes, my Lord."

"Go," Voldemort ordered and Severus bowed and quickly left the room.

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

Harry sat in the training room and looked over his copy of Hermione's notes for the last time. He'd decided that today was probably his best opportunity for making an attempt at destroying the locket Horcrux. They were due to return to Hogwarts in three days so he had some small amount of time to recover if anything went wrong and they'd done all of their shopping for the new school year two days ago. He was sure that he understood the process after several sessions with Hermione and a few questions to Bill and he'd chosen the training room because it was the most well-warded room in the place. If there was a wildfire event and he lost control of it, he'd need those wards.

He shuffled the notes together and put them aside before standing and picking up the locket. He walked over to the middle of the room and placed the locket on the floor. He pulled his wand out of his pocket and pointed it at the jewellery and took a deep breath. Most of what had to be done was non-verbal and required a great deal of control.

He braced himself and then spoke the keyword that would allow him to access the containment spells, "Pateocapere."

The locket shimmered briefly and Harry could sense the power of the containment spells. He took another deep breath and let it out slowly before reaching out with his magic and touching the outer layer. He let his magic rest against it until the warding layer stopped resonating then he slowly and very gently began to push at the layer of magic. Bill had indicated that there as a knack of doing this. The first step was letting the warding layer become used to your magic and then when you pushed you needed to do it slowly. If you did it right the warding layer would slowly accepted your magic. If you pushed to hard, it would throw you out and possibly hurt you, depending on what kind of ward it was. In a sense you were percolating through the ward. It took a great deal of patience and a reasonable amount of personal power. Bill had suggested that Harry would able to do this but he was unsure if Ron and Hermione would be able to manage it something which hadn't pleased either of them.

He felt a small jolt as he worked his way through the warding layer and he grinned for a moment. He then sobered and began to process on the second layer. Three layers later and he was sweating profusely. He paused after the fourth layer let him through and sank down to his knees. He took several deep breaths and briefly wondered how much time had passed. He shook his head and turned back to the Horcrux and its warding layers.

When he finally reached the innermost layer he paused for several minutes. He felt tired and drained and knew he needed to rest before he tackled this containment ward. He slumped down and rubbed his shoulder. The bite marks had all healed by now and though they looked rather unsightly, his shoulder no longer actively hurt. It just ached from time to time when he was tired. He gave himself a small shake and took a deep breath before turning back to the Horcrux.

He let his magic touch the innermost containment ward and muttered, "Manifesto" while he concentrated hard on the underlying runes that anchored the warding. Bill had spent some time pontificating on the fact that higher level magic was not really any different from lower level magic, it just involved greater power and concentration. Manifesto was a generic revealing spell that required mental direction for what precisely you wanted to reveal. Whether it worked or not largely depended on how much power the caster possessed and their strength of mind, very much like Accio did.

As he watched a rune glowed and rose into the air. He stared at it for a moment then nodded in satisfaction when he realised it was the one he was expecting. He waited for the glowing rune to fade then he touched his wand to the locket and, concentrating hard on the rune, said, "Finite Incantatem."

The glowing rune rose above the locket again then it shimmered and Harry felt his magic drain as the shimmering intensified. A high pitched whine sounded through the room then the rune burst in a fairly impressive display of magical fireworks. The moment the rune's fireworks faded Harry felt the ward collapse and just for a moment the room went quiet. A tense, almost pregnant, feeling flooded through the room and Harry braced himself, casting the shielding spells Bill had taught him around the Horcrux and himself.

The cascade effect began like a wave building and then crashing on the shore. Without the support of the innermost containment ward, the second ward collapsed, triggering the rest of the cascade. Within seconds, Harry knew what Hermione and Bill meant by a wildfire event. The magic being released by the collapsing wards was immense and it while most of it was being swallowed by the shielding spells and the wards in the room, the power was coming from the collapsing wards too fast for the spell to deal with it. Harry poured more of his magic into the shields then flinched as the power from the wards threatened to spill over.

In a desperate move, Harry grabbed at the threatening magic, his hands reaching out in front of him in a reflex move. The magic flared and exploded and Harry was thrown across the room and into the wall. His head hit the wall with a loud thunk and then he knew nothing.

The first thing he was aware of when he came round was that someone had their hand on his chest. The next thing he was aware of was that his hands hurt. He groaned and tried to sit up.

"No, Harry." Remus' voice seemed to come from a great distance. "Don't move. Poppy will be here shortly."

Harry made an indistinct sound and slowly opened his eyes. His glasses were sitting askew on his face which made viewing the room a little strange. Remus was kneeling next to him, looking worried and still with one hand on his chest. He could see Ron and Hermione picking up something from the floor on the opposite side of the room and Moody was standing in the middle of the room, his wand out and frowning at the ceiling.

"The Horcrux?" Harry rasped quietly.

"Hermione says it's been destroyed," Remus said soothingly. "She says the soul fragment is gone as well. That it was probably destroyed in the blast."

"She's sure?" Harry asked with a grunt as his hands throbbed.

"Yes," Remus said firmly as he straightened Harry's glasses.

"My hands?" Harry said, not sure if he wanted to hear the answer or not.

Remus was silent for a moment. "They've...been burnt." He drew in a sharp breath at the expression that flitted across Harry's face and continued hastily, "Not like the Headmaster's hand, Harry. Not that bad. Poppy will be able to fix them. We didn't want to try healing them ourselves because healing burns is delicate work. We felt it was best to wait for Poppy."

Harry nodded groggily. "'Kay," he muttered.

The door to the room slammed open and Poppy Pomfrey came running in. She paused momentarily as she took in the signs of an explosion in the room then she came hurrying over to Remus and Harry.

"I might have known it was you, Mr Potter," she said with exasperation.

"Poppy, it's his hands," Remus said urgently.

Poppy flicked him a glance then gently lifted one of Harry's hands. This was the first time he'd had a chance to see the damage and he winced. His hands were red and blistered in most part but some areas were charred black. Poppy placed his hand back down and examined the other one before looking over at Harry.

"Not to worry, Harry, I can fix these," she said with a kind smile then she looked over at Remus. "Help me get him up, Remus. We'll get him into bed then I'll treat these burns."

The two adults helped Harry get to his feet and steadied him when he wavered.

"Do you think you can walk?" Poppy asked with concern.

"Uh, don't know," Harry murmured as the room spun.

Remus made an indistinct noise and, in a swift move, picked Harry up and settled him in his arms.

"Remus," Harry protested slightly hazily.

"I'm not having you falling down the stairs because you felt like being stubborn," Remus said firmly as he carried Harry out of the room, Poppy walking behind them, smothering a smile.

Harry grumbled quietly but let Remus carry him. In truth he felt weak and shaky and wasn't entirely sure he'd have made it up the stairs from the basement training room, let alone up to his bedroom. He winced when Remus lowered him onto the bed, his hands were really starting to make themselves known and every movement seemed to jar them.

"Get him into some pyjamas," Poppy said briskly. "I'm just going to speak to Miss Granger."

Remus nodded and helped Harry get changed, struggling not to laugh at Harry's low-voiced complaints at being undressed and dressed like a baby.

"I could let you do this for yourself," Remus said archly.

Harry winced as he realised how much that would hurt with his hands in this condition and he sighed. "Sorry, Remus," he said quietly.

Remus gave him a kind and amused smile. "You're as bad as your father...and Sirius. They were terrible patients."

"And you weren't?" Harry asked with a half-smile as Remus helped him put his pyjama top on.

"No, I generally behaved myself," Remus replied easily. "But then I usually felt bad enough the morning after the full moon that it was easier to just do whatever Poppy asked me to do. Misbehaving would have taken energy I just didn't have."

Harry gave an amused snort then hissed as he lay back against the pillows. "Merlin, this hurts."

"What happened?" Remus asked as he sat down on the edge of the bed.

"Wildfire event," Harry replied. "I tried to strengthen the shielding spells to contain it but it sort of backfired on me. Then I think I tried to grab at the magic and it kind of exploded. I had my hands stretched out." He gasped. "Is my wand okay?"

Remus nodded. "Moody found it on the opposite side of the room from where you were. He said it looked fine." He frowned. "He said it looked like there was a massive earthing of magical energy. Is that what you did?"

"I have no idea," Harry said wearily. "If I did then it was just sheer blind luck. I seem to have made a career of doing that."

As Remus chuckled, Madam Pomfrey came back into the room and she shooed him away from the bed. She placed a number of potion bottles on the bedside table and drew her wand.

"Now, Mr Potter, this may be a touch painful. I will endeavour to be as quick as I can," she said briskly but kindly.

Harry nodded apprehensively then drew in a sharp breath as Poppy began slowly and delicately drawing her wand over the worst of the burns. There was a small golden glow at the tip of her wand and it slowly began to heal the burns. As she worked, the pain in Harry's hands grew and his breathing grew ragged and harsh. Sweat beaded on his face and he gritted his teeth, small whimpers escaping from time to time. It seemed to take forever for Poppy to finish though the pain did not diminish once she put her wand down on the bedside table. She picked up one of the bottles and gestured for Remus to come over.

"Rub some of that into the hand," she ordered. "But do it gently. Make sure you cover the entire hand, right up to the wrist."

Remus nodded and gently turned Harry's hand so that the palm was facing upwards. He dribbled some of the potion into the palm and put the bottle back down. As he picked up Harry's hand and began to gently spread the potion, Poppy picked up her wand and moved around to the other side of the bed.

"Hold steady, Mr Potter," she said gently as she picked up Harry's other hand. "We're nearly done."

Harry nodded and drew in a deep shaky breath then Poppy started the healing process again. Harry gasped with pain as he remained as still as he could. Remus started murmuring soothing words as he continued to spread the potion over the healed hand and Harry was at least partially relieved to feel the pain ebb in that hand.

Remus finished before Poppy and he placed a reassuring hand on Harry's shoulder as Poppy worked. Both Remus and Poppy let out quiet sighs of relief when she finished and Remus picked up the potion bottle before moving around to spread it on this hand. Harry just lay back on the bed and gasped, his eyes closed and sweat trickling down his face. Other than the rise and fall of his chest, he did not move.

"Perhaps I should have told you to wait until we were done before getting him changed," Poppy said quietly to Remus.

"Cleaning spells will have to do," the werewolf murmured. "I don't think he could move now if he wanted to."

Poppy nodded and returned to where she had placed the potion bottles. She picked up a light blue potion and poured some into a small cup. She then slipped an arm behind Harry's shoulders and helped him sit up a bit.

"Drink this, dear," she said softly. "It'll help with the pain."

Harry obediently opened his mouth and swallowed the potion, not even bothering to grimace at the taste. When Poppy lowered him back down on the bed, he again did not move. The school nurse picked up a second potion, this one a bright red, and she poured some of that into the cup. She returned to Harry and again levered him up.

"One more," she said.

Harry again swallowed it down and by the time Poppy lowered him back to the bed, the potion had plunged him into sleep. Poppy brushed his hair back and looked over at Remus.

"Are you finished there?" she asked.

Remus nodded and handed the potion bottle he had been using back to the nurse. He then pulled out his wand and cast a cleaning charm on Harry's pyjamas. Poppy got Harry settled more comfortably on the bed as Remus disappeared into the bathroom. The werewolf returned with a damp cloth and he cleaned the sweat off Harry's face. Poppy gave him an approving look as she pulled the duvet up, gently arranging Harry's healed hands on top.

"Shouldn't they be bandaged?" Remus asked as he headed back to the bathroom to return the cloth.

Poppy waited until he had returned before answering. "No, the skin's been healed and that potion will act faster if the skin can breathe well. The second potion I gave him will let him sleep for a good twelve hours and that will give the healed skin time to settle down."

Remus nodded and the two adults headed to the door. "Will his hands scar?"

Poppy shook her head. "No. He was very lucky."

Remus gave a sigh of relief and closed the door gently as they left.