Disclaimer:
Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K Rowling.
I own nothing but the original characters I make.
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
-Author notes-
Chapter 226: Black letters
The four crows continued to fly over the Great Hall for another minute while all the students and teachers stared at them with interest.
The birds began to descend and move towards one particular table.
Both McGonagall and Lily Potter saw with horror in their eyes as the crows landed right in front of Harry.
He moved his plate aside and the four crows got closer.
Harry noticed that all of them carried small black letters in their beaks.
One by one, the crows deposited the letters in front of him, under the watchful eyes of the students.
"Black letters? What is that about?" Lyra asked but could already imagine it was not good news.
"A blood feud!" Hermione said with excitement. "Ah…sorry…I just remembered reading something about black letters being delivered by crows in a book about old wizard traditions."
"A blood feud? Is it from those Slytherin families?" Ginny asked with worry.
Harry's conflict with the Slytherins was not much of a secret at this point.
Without saying a word, he picked up the first letter and was about to open it when Professor McGonagall and his mother ran to his side.
"Mister Potter, no!"
"Harry, wait! Don't open that!" Lily warned.
"Is there a problem, Professor?" Harry asked.
"Those letters are…declarations of blood feuds!" the professor cried.
"Yes...I already knew that." He opened the first letter.
"Harry!" Lily exclaimed.
"Blood feud?!" Lyra was surprised. "Isn't that like declaring war on our family?"
"That is exactly what that is, Miss Potter. These things are rarely used nowadays, but the Ministry never removed them…" Professor McGonagall said.
"It's not really against our family…" Harry was reading the first letter. "Their feud is only with me. There is no mention of the remaining Potter family."
"Let me see it." Lily took the paper and started reading.
Her expression became more upset the more she read. "How dare they?! They are declaring the feud against Harry and challenging him to a duel for this 'supposed attack' against their heirs!"
"Can they do that? My brother is just in his third year, how can a bunch of adults challenge him like that?" Lyra said.
"I'm afraid they can," said McGonagall. "Those laws are completely archaic…"
"Does someone have a quill? I need to sign at the end to accept the duel." Harry looked around.
"Harry, are you sure about this?" Lily stared at her son with a serious expression.
"Refusing this would not put an end to the blood feud. If I don't accept the duel, they could then go after our family in other ways…the duel is a much more direct and preferable option," Harry said.
"Perhaps we could discuss this with the Headmaster. He may have a better alternative, or we can go to the Minist—Lily!" McGonagall yelled when she saw Lily handing Harry a quill.
"I trust my son. If he says he can handle this…" Lily knew that McGonagall was not going to understand it because she didn't know what her son was capable of.
Harry signed the four letters and gave them back to the crows, who took them and flew away.
The four blood feuds had been issued by the Montague, Derrick, Flint, and Pucey families. The duels would take place in one month in the Ministry dueling arena, located in the basement.
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On that same day, in the late afternoon, Harry entered his workshop at the castle foundation.
The matter about the Blood Feuds and the duel was only of little significance to him.
Instead, he had something much more important to worry about.
His batch of magicite was finally ready…it was time to craft a few artifacts.
"Let's see…" He stared at the cauldron filled with molten metal.
This one was much bigger than the previous one.
He was planning on creating some protective artifacts for his parents, Ginny, Luna, and Daphne.
The design was the same one that he used for Lyra's, but the materials this time were of much higher quality.
Lord Greengrass had provided him with the best of the best. The least he could do was give his daughter some protection.
Once those were ready, it was time for the main event. He was going to create another set of the 'Seven Arkstone Array' artifact like the one he lost the previous year.
Except that given his recent physical improvements, he figured he was going to take things one step further.
The design for the 'Nine Arkstone Array' version was already in his memory.
It was originally designed by the combined effort of Luna and Hermione. But neither of them thought that his body would have been able to take such a massive input of magic, so it was never created.
His current body has far surpassed his old one. And now, he was sure that this time…he would be able to use it.
Even with only two extra pieces, the amount of power generated by these artifacts should be exponentially higher.
Each arkstone was able to hold the same amount of magic as an average wizard.
But when all seven pieces are activated together, the output is more than double that. For a brief moment, Harry was wielding the power of around fourteen wizards, plus his own.
If their calculations were correct, the nine-piece array should give him the power of thirty wizards added to his own magic.
"I could destroy an entire city block with a Bombarda…."
His body shook with anticipation and a smile crept onto his face.
"Let's do this."
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