Peverell Manor, Leeds, 12/10/1992, 12:39
Harry was currently working in one of the greenhouses at the former LeStrange property. He was in the process of placing charms inside of it to replicate the room he'd created for Athena at the beach house.
If all went to plan they would be moving here come the new year and he was just ensuring that the snakes had somewhere they felt comfortable especially since it was quite a bit colder here than at their home in Cornwall.
Harry had already moved this particular greenhouse so that it was right up against the backside of the manor and created a doorway that led into one of the parlours. Now the snakes wouldn't have to leave the warmth of the house to visit their jungle paradise when it was time for their feeding.
Over the past few months, he and Bellatrix had been scouting the surrounding area and venturing into Leeds to ensure that there were no vampires within miles of the manor. They hadn't found very many vampires on these outings which was encouraging but he was still not convinced they were gone.
From what Harry had learned, the vampires were trying to avoid drawing attention to themselves. They were using methods to kill their prey that wouldn't create new vampires in the process though this caused new complications.
According to Sirius, a small band of vampires in Edinburgh had started cutting people's throats and draining their blood into wash tubs so they could feed and not pass on the virus and bring the ministry down on them. This meant the murder rates in the city had skyrocketed but the muggle authorities were under the impression there was a cult carrying out sacrificial murders and draining their victims dry.
Harry hoped that vampires in other cities didn't adopt this method as well but he supposed he should just be thankful that the vampires had at least stopped turning others.
Harry was pleased to learn that the number of new vampires had dropped considerably since the previous summer and the ministry was even talking of removing the travel ban. Personally, Harry thought this was far from over and he was certain that this was only the beginning. Vampires were simply adapting to the threat from the ministry and would slowly build up their numbers over time
Harry was pulled from his thoughts as the greenhouse door opened and a familiar figure stepped inside.
"Hello, Padfoot," Harry beamed as he took in his godfather's appearance noting the man looked troubled about something.
"Hey Harry," Sirius said as he took in the empty greenhouse.
"What's the matter?" Harry asked giving the man a worried look.
"We need to talk," Sirius said looking very... grim.
"Alright, what's up?" Harry asked giving the man his undivided attention.
"It's Tonks," Sirius said not even jumping when Athena slithered over to them from where she had been coiled up in the corner.
"What's the matter with Tonks?" Harry asked as he scooped Athena up and draped her over his shoulder.
"Dumbledore wants to send her to begin peace talks with the coven Romanian vampires," Sirius answered giving Harry a meaningful look.
"Bloody hell, do you know when?" Harry questioned feeling his anger rising.
"No, I don't even know where they are," Sirius admitted.
"I do," Harry assured him.
"Good, I figured you'd want to know about this," Sirius said looking relieved.
"I'll keep an eye on her," Harry promised.
"Thank god," Sirius muttered.
"If she gets hurt I will strangle Albus with his own beard," Harry muttered darkly.
"And then Andi will castrate him," Sirius chuckled.
"Yeah, probably. You saw what happened after those death eaters attacked her home," Harry agreed.
"I did. I know Tonks can handle herself but she'll always be that clumsy nine-year-old to me," Sirius said with a fond smile.
"Trust me, I get it. I will look out for her just let me know when the meeting is supposed to take place," Harry promised having similar thoughts concerning his niece.
"I will. I think it'll be the nights after she gets out of the academy," Sirius admitted.
"I'll make plans to shadow her," Harry agreed as he looked over the runes he'd just carved and nodded in satisfaction.
"So is this your new snake room?" Sirius asked as he looked around with interest.
"It will be but I have to finish enchanting it before I bring in the vegetation," Harry chuckled as he stroked his familiar's head.
§And lots and lots of rabbits§, Athena hissed excitedly.
§And rabbits§, Harry chuckled.
"What did she say?" Sirius asked curiously.
"She said that we will also need to stick the room with rabbits," Harry grinned.
"You can fill this room with a lot of rabbits, It's already bigger than the one in Cornwall," Sirius mused as he looked around the empty greenhouse again.
"I know and I still have to put the space-expanding charms on it," Harry agreed.
"This will be bigger than your old house on the inside," Sirius muttered shooting Harry an amused look.
"There will be three large snakes using it," Harry smirked.
"Fair point and if they're in here, they won't be inside messing with me," Sirius said with a hopeful smile.
"You can only hope," Harry smirked as Athena actually winked at Sirius much to Harry's amusement.
"Agreed, so Cissa said you were moving in here next month?" Sirius questioned putting a bit of distance between himself and Athena.
"We're hoping to. With another baby on the way, the beach house was getting a bit small," Harry shrugged.
"Yeah, I can underst... wait, new baby?" Sirius exclaimed his eyes widening in surprise.
"Yeah, Bella is pregnant again," Harry said with a small smile playing on his lips.
"That's amazing," Sirius muttered.
"The timing is bloody awful but we'll get through this one way or another," Harry admitted.
"That's pretty much what James said when Lily told him she was pregnant with you... or the other you, the time travel thing still confuses the hell out of me," Sirius chuckled.
"It does me too, I've been here for a decade and I still find it confusing at times," Harry said as he went back to carving runes into the metal framework of the greenhouse.
"Especially seeing a younger version of yourself running around," Sirius grinned.
"Actually this version of Harry is much different than I was, he's... happier than I ever remember being at his age," Harry said giving his godfather a grateful smile.
"He reminds me a lot of James," Sirius admitted.
"Good, I was far too... serious when I was a child," Harry said grinning when he saw the other man's eyes narrow at the pun.
"He should be as much like me as possible," Sirius shot back.
"Minerva would disagree," Harry chuckled before focusing back on his task as Athena slithered to the floor and coiled up in a patch of weak sunlight shining through the greenhouse windows.
For the next few minutes, he continued to carve the runes for the expansion enchantment while Sirius watched on with interest. Harry was just finishing up the fourth array when Sirius spoke again sounding much more reserved than moments ago.
"Before I forget, I have a bit of depressing news to share," Sirius said in a flat tone.
"What is it?" Harry asked looking over at the other man curiously.
"My grandfather fell ill last month and the healer's prognosis doesn't look very good," Sirius sighed as he shook his head as if trying to shake off a thought he'd rather not think about.
"What's the matter with him?" Harry asked getting a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach.
"He has some type of magical parasite that is slowly draining away his magic and it is causing him to age prematurely," Sirius admitted sounding unusually sombre.
"How on earth did that happen?" Harry asked not even knowing such a disease existed.
"The healers think he picked it up years ago on one of his trips to Africa," Sirius said looking just as lost as Harry felt.
Harry felt ashamed to admit that he hadn't taken the family to visit Arcturus in years and made a note to take the twins to visit him before the man's health deteriorated further.
"I am planning on taking Harry to see him over Christmas," Sirius admitted.
"I guess that I will break the news to Bella," Harry offered already dreading that conversation.
"Maybe she can tell Cissa and Andi," Sirius muttered.
"You mean they don't know?" Harry asked in surprise.
"No, I just found out a few days ago," Sirius answered.
"I think I'll take the kids to see him this weekend," Harry mused.
"He'd like that, grandfather always had a soft spot for children," Sirius chuckled.
"He was certainly over the moon when the twins were born," Harry mused.
"So was I but then they started walking and chaos ensued," Sirius joked in an obvious attempt to lighten the mood.
The rest of the afternoon the two of them worked on warding the greenhouse while Athena supervised. Harry was pleased to learn that his godfather was quite proficient at carving runes and sped the process along tremendously.
Harry would have really enjoyed this quality time with Sirius as the two of them didn't see each other very often due to their jobs taking up most of their time. Usually, they only got to catch up like this during the summer cookouts or at one of Cissa's parties. Unfortunately, Harry couldn't take his mind off of the news Sirius had delivered both about Tonks and Arcturus' failing health.
Hours later the two of them parted ways to return to their respective families both mulling over what they had discussed and he was not looking forward to the conversation that he would soon be having with his wife.
Harry waited until Sirius had returned home before deciding to call it a day. The expansion charms were in place so he could begin planting vegetation tomorrow.
Scooping up Athena, Harry took one last look at the greenhouse that now more closely resembled a massive warehouse before he turned on the spot and apparated them back to their home in Cornwall to break the news to his family.
Carfax Abbey, Near London, 12/13/1992, 23:38
Tonks arrived at the destination the letter instructed and slowly made her way up the overgrown drive towards the massive abandoned manor home.
She had been excused from the academy a week early due to special circumstances. It wasn't until she arrived at order headquarters earlier tonight that she was made aware of what those special circumstances actually were.
She still couldn't believe that Dumbledore thought she was the best person to approach this coven of ancient vampires but the headmaster had assured her that she was the right person for this task.
Tonks cleared her thoughts and stepped through the rusted iron gates and began walking up the drive towards the manor in the distance. As she walked, she took in the sight of the derelict manor house in the partial moonlight. The house strongly resembled a castle, and she thought that it must have been quite impressive centuries ago, but now it more closely resembled an ancient ruin.
Tonks was pulled from her observations as a figure seemed to appear out of the shadows of the building and block her path to the front door of the manor.
"You are a brave one," Tonks heard a woman's voice purr causing the hairs on the back of her neck to stand on end.
"I was sent here to parlay with the leader of this vampire coven," Tonks said using her occlumency to keep any nervousness out of her voice.
"And they thought the best person to do that was someone I personally watched behead dozens of vampires in Hogsmeade?" the woman asked in an emotionless voice.
"I did my job, nothing more and nothing less," Tonks shrugged meeting the woman's blue eyes unflinchingly.
"Well, you have more courage than Merula," the vampire mused to herself.
"Snyde has always been a coward," Tonks shrugged as she studied the vampire closely.
The woman was quite tall and lithe, reminding her of a ballet dancer. She was fair-skinned with blonde hair and piercing blue eyes. Tonks could make out her elongated canine teeth poking out of her full lips and she felt a shudder run down her spine.
Tonks was pulled from taking in the woman's appearance when she felt a foreign magic pressing against her mind. Hastily she reinforced her occlumency as this was definitely a time when she needed to have her wits about her.
"So what is it you wished to speak with me about, Miss?" The woman asked not disputing her last comment.
"I was sent on behalf of Albus Dumbledore. He requests a meeting with you on neutral ground," Tonks answered as the blonde vampire moved closer so that they were standing a few feet apart facing each other.
"The Albus Dumbledore wishes to speak with me?" the vampire asked sounding taken aback.
"Yes, he does not wish to enter into a conflict with you or your kind and hopes to come to a peaceful resolution," Tonks answered remembering the talking points Dumbledore had gone over with her.
"Why not? I have seen the weapons the British Ministry has at its disposal," the vampire questioned.
"Our fight is not with you, it's with Voldemort and his death eaters," Tonks said simply.
"Perhaps but the British ministry has already made us their enemy. Who are you, anyway?" The vampire asked, giving Tonks an inquiring look.
"Cadet Auror Nymphadora Tonks, who are you?" Tonks asked feeling a bit annoyed she had to tell the woman her first name.
"Well Cadet Auror NymphadoraTonks, I am Daciana Nicolae of Romania," the woman greeted as she offered Tonks her hand to shake.
"A pleasure to meet you and it is just Tonks. I hate my first name," Tonks muttered as she shook the woman's hand, noting how cold her skin felt against her own.
"Well just Tonks, I will carry your message to my sisters and we will discuss the matter. I have heard great things about Albus Dumbledore over the years. I know that he is not as prejudiced toward my kind as most are," Daciana said as she studied the pink-haired auror in front of her and kept a firm grip on her hand.
"He is a fair man," Tonks agreed, feeling somewhat pleased that this meeting seemed to be going well.
"He is also naive. We are dark creatures and we see your kind as prey. No matter how much we resemble humans on the outside, we are, at best, a wolf in sheep's clothing ready to devour the flock when the opportunity arises," Daciana continued as she brought her other hand up to cup Tonks' cheek making the girl involuntarily shiver.
"I have seen that first hand," Tonks said, feeling a bit alarmed at the hungry look Daciana was giving her.
"I can show you right now... if you like, Nymphadora," Daciana whispered in a breathy voice as she released her grip on Tonks' hand and drug her other hand across the cadet's cheek.
Tonks felt the vampire's nails lightly nicking her' cheek as they grazed across her flesh making her involuntarily flinch.
Tonks watched in disgust as the vampire brought her finger to her lips. Even in the moonlight, Tonks saw the vampire's finger was coated in blood. The young auror cader hastily brought her hand to her cheek, noticing the finest of cuts that was lightly dribbling blood and felt cold fury shooting through her.
"If you do something like that again, I will end you," Tonks hissed as her wand dropped into her hand and her hair shifted to ebony, reflecting her change of mood.
Daciana took a step back, surprised at the sudden change in the girl's demeanour and the unmistakable power rolling off of her.
"You have my apologies, Miss Tonks, it is an old habit of mine but I assure you that if you were to raise your wand, it would be the last thing you ever do," Daciana warned as she quickly regained her composure.
"I wouldn't count on that, my uncle taught quite a few tricks to deal with magical creatures, and I also have this," Tonks shot back as she held up one of the garlic bombs for the vampire to see.
"That is what the ministry used in Hogsmeade?" Daciana asked, eyeing the canister warily.
"It is. I just watched you suck my blood off of your fingernail. If you try something like that again, you will learn how effective it really is," Tonks threatened.
"Again, I apologise. Magical blood is so rare to us. It feels almost like a drug to me. I can practically feel your power coursing through my veins right now," Daciana whispered, sounding almost giddy.
"Yes well, I would prefer it stayed in my body where it belongs," Tonks snapped, her hair shifting to a bright red colour.
"How are you changing your hair like that?" Daciana questioned with genuine interest.
"I am a metamorphmagus. I can morph my body into different forms," Tonks shrugged as her hair changed back to her usual bubblegum pink colour.
"That is a very interesting talent," Daciana mused.
"It gets me by," Tonks shrugged as she reholstered her wand.
"I think I like you," Daciana giggled.
"I'm not into girls," Tonks rebutted in a deadpan tone.
"How about women?" Daciana smirked.
"No, they lack one thing that I have become quite fond of," Tonks chuckled.
"You'll come around eventually," Daciana assured her.
"Not likely, so are you open to meeting with Dumbledore or not?" Tonks asked, hoping to get back to the topic at hand.
"I will bring Dumbledore's proposition to my sisters and see what they think," Daciana said after a moment of silence between them.
"Thank you," Tonks nodded, already anticipating getting back to her aunt and uncle's beach house.
"Well met, Nymphadora," Daciana smiled before she seemed to melt into the shadows of the manor leaving Tonks standing there in the drive.
Tonks shook her head to clear the cobwebs before she made a beeline for the gates, quite eager to get out of there.
She had kept up a cool exterior but this whole situation had terrified her beyond words. There was something about the way Daciana looked at her that made her skin crawl.
Tonks quickly stepped out onto the deserted roadway and turned on the spot, never noticing the man dressed in grey robes watching her from the other side of the road.
Harry watched Tonks disappear with a barely audible 'pop' relieved he hadn't had to interfere in the meeting. His niece had handled herself well, given the circumstances, but it still irked him she had been put in this position in the first place.
"Are you here to attack my coven?" a voice asked from behind him, causing Harry to turn on the spot toward the sound of the voice.
He was surprised to find a girl standing a few feet away. She looked to be thirteen, maybe fourteen at most; she had short black hair and deep brown eyes. She was wearing a simple white summer dress, reinforcing the image of a young, innocent-looking girl. Her brown eyes were the only thing that betrayed her true age as she sized him up, her gaze sending a slight chill up his spine.
"No, I was simply watching over a friend of mine," Harry answered easily.
"You're the one they call Reaper, aren't you?" The girl asked as she came closer so they were just a few feet apart.
"I am. May I ask your name?" Harry inquired politely.
"My name is Alana Novak," Alana said as she attempted to peer under his hood but was unable to see through his robe's enchantments.
"And are you watching over your friend as well?" Harry asked, feeling very pleased that he had opted to wear his unspeakable robes tonight.
"I thought it wise given the ministry's attitude towards my kind," Alana shrugged.
"You drew attention to yourselves and risked the magical community in the process," Harry pointed out.
"Indeed, wizards always react this way when we try and increase our numbers," Alana sighed.
"Then why do it?" Harry asked.
"We have our reasons," Alana said, giving him a cryptic smile that showed off her ivory-white fangs.
"I see," Harry responded, even though he didn't really understand the vampire's logic.
"Why haven't you tried to exterminate us?" Alana questioned.
"You haven't moved against me and I have enough to be getting on with dealing with Voldemort and his ilk," Harry shrugged.
"But that would change if we harmed the pink-haired girl?" Alana asked shrewdly.
"It would," Harry agreed.
"Then she will not be harmed as long as she does not attack us," Alana said solemnly.
"You have my gratitude," Harry nodded
The two of them stood there in silence for a moment before Harry cleared his throat.
"You really should consider meeting with Albus; he will work with you," Harry advised.
"We will consider his offer. Albus has always been fair with my kind," Alana said as she looked back toward the manor.
"Good, I do not wish for this conflict to drag on any longer than it already has," Harry admitted.
"And I have no wish to enter into another war," Alana said, never looking away from the manor.
Harry watched her curiously, it almost seemed as if she was listening to something that only she could hear.
"I am afraid that I must return. My presence is required back at the manor," Alana said as she turned to face him once more, looking thoughtful.
"Take care, Alana," Harry said, giving the girl a slight bow of his head.
"Daciana was right. I can sense the power within you, Reaper," Alana said before she turned on the spot and made her way up the drive.
Harry watched her walking away, noting her white dress blowing in the icy December wind. Her slight figure cut An eerie figure in the pale moonlight and put Harry in mind of a muggle horror movie.
Waiting until Alana disappeared into the manor, Harry turned on the spot, intent on returning home now that he knew his niece would be safe.
With a barely audible 'pop', the figure in grey robes vanished from the deserted roadway leaving only his footprints in the dusting of snow on the ground as evidence that he had ever been there.
Hogwarts, 12/21/1992, 09:23
Harry and Bellatrix made their way up to the castle, having to stick to the cleated pathway to avoid the eight inches of snow that had fallen the previous night.
Today they were meeting with Frank and Alice to begin assessing the curse placed over the defence post. Harry had a suspicion as to where the source of the curse was located but would stay silent on the matter until Alice had tested her own theories.
"The castle is quite beautiful in the winter," Bella mused.
"I know," Harry smiled.
"Are you sure it was wise leaving the children with Nymphadora?" Bella asked for the third time since leaving their home.
"Yes, they will be fine," Harry assured her.
"If she spills Bella's perfume again, I will skin her alive," Bellatrix warned as they walked up the short set of stairs that led to the doors of the castle.
"She knows to stay out of our room, and anyway, you should be more concerned with our children getting into mischief and making things difficult for our niece," Harry smirked.
"Oh, it would be lovely if they gave her a dose of her own potion," Bella cackled.
"Exactly," Harry beamed as they stepped into the almost empty entrance hall.
"There you two are," Alice exclaimed from where she and Frank were seated on the bottom stairs of the grand staircase.
"I had to make sure Tonks was up to the task of babysitting the twins," Harry shrugged as he and Bella made their way over to the other couple.
"Good luck with that, I've about had my fill of twins with those Weasley brats," Alice said before turning to Bellatrix.
"Thank you for agreeing to help with this," Alice said genuinely.
"Think nothing of it, dark curses are my speciality," Bella waved her off.
"This is like a vacation after going through the academy a second time," Frank beamed.
"I can only imagine. Tonks said you were a worse instructor than Moody," Harry grinned as the four of them began climbing the stairs.
"I don't coddle my cadets," Frank smirked.
"I have been meaning to talk with the both of you since you were revived," Bellatrix said, sounding more nervous than Harry had ever heard her.
"If it's about what happened to us, then don't bother," Frank said flatly.
"We remember everything that happened and we know who did that to us, and it wasn't you," Alice added.
"Well, I was part of the attack," Bella sighed.
"We know, but we have gotten over it," Frank shrugged.
"Le's just focus on finding this curse so I can get tenure," Alice said in an attempt to lighten the mood.
"You're planning on teaching permanently?" Harry asked, feeling relieved they had gotten off of the earlier topic.
"I am undecided but I would like to have the option," Alice admitted as they stepped off onto the third-floor landing.
"It's certainly safer than the aurorcorp," Frank mused.
"If we can find the curse," Bella pointed out as Alice led them down the hall.
"True. I highly doubt that the curse is anchored here but I want to be thorough," Alice said as they arrived in front of the defence classroom.
Harry watched as Bella drew her wand and began casting detection spells over the doorway to the classroom before she stepped inside, leaving the three of them in the hallway.
"I'll wait until she's done and look for myself," Harry explained at Frank's questioning look.
"I've already checked the classroom, my office and living quarters many times, but I figure it's best to see if you two can find something I may have missed," Alice admitted.
Harry couldn't argue with her logic though he was fairly certain there was nothing to be found here. Dumbledore had been trying to locate this curse for decades, so he doubted the curse was anchored here.
Harry remembered Dumbledore showing him a memory in his pensieve, which showed a younger Voldemort applying for the defence position. Dumbledore had theorised that this was when the curse had been placed on the teaching position. Harry was also fairly certain that Voldemort had hidden the diadem horcrux that same night and was his primary reason for meeting with Dumbledore in the first place.
A curse could be tied to an anchor that worked like a battery of sorts to power the curse and give it longevity, provided it had a source of magic to draw from. The castle was teeming with ambient magic, so the anchored curse was what Harry was betting on but finding a magical anchor inside a magical castle was like looking for a needle in a stack of needles.
Harry wondered how long Voldemort was in the castle that night, surely it couldn't have been very long, or Dumbledore would have tracked him down.
Then again... what if Voldemort hid the anchor in the same place he hid the diadem?
"Harry? Harry?" Harry was pulled from his thoughts as Frank shook him.
"Oh... um... what's up?" Harry asked absentmindedly as he looked between the three people standing in front of him.
"I was trying to tell you that I'm finished in the classroom and office. I didn't find anything," Bella said, giving him a curious look.
"Sorry, I think I just had an epiphany," Harry apologised.
"You did look a bit like Albus there," Frank sniggered.
"Thanks," Harry scowled, still feeling rather annoyed at the headmaster for sending his niece to a vampire den.
"So what did you figure out?" Alice asked.
"I think that I know where the anchor is located," Harry admitted.
"Where?" Bella demanded.
"A hidden room on the seventh floor," Harry answered.
"So, do you want to go there?" Frank asked
"After I give the classroom a quick look over just to be sure," Harry said as he drew his wand and stepped into the classroom.
Harry walked around the room casting detection spells as he checked every surface he thought could possibly anchor a curse. He went through his repertoire of detection spells in quick succession and came up with negative results.
Deciding that there was nothing to find in the classroom, he turned to leave when he noticed something in the stone directly over the doorway. At first glance, it looked like a piece of stone had been chipped away, but upon closer inspection, he saw it was a tiny rune about the size of a house fly.
Waving his wand over it, he could just barely detect a hint of magic coming off of it that wasn't much stronger than the magic coming off of the castle itself, but he could tell that it was a charged rune.
"I think that I found something," Harry called out of the open doorway.
"What is it?" Frank asked as he came to stand beside Harry.
"There is a rune etched above the door," Harry said as he pointed to the tiny rune over the door.
"Well, one rune is useless. There have to be more," Frank mused as he studied the rune with interest.
"There is another one," Alice exclaimed a moment later, pointing to something etched into the window sill.
For the next hour, the four of them scoured the classroom, soon finding another four runes etched in places around the perimeter of the room.
"This is an isolation array," Frank mused as he drew the six runes on a sheet of parchment.
"It's still missing the power rune," Bella pointed out.
"I think this is it," Alice exclaimed loudly, getting the other three's attention.
Harry looked where she was pointing and noticed she was indicating the brass chandelier that hung over the centre of the classroom.
It was hard to make out from down here, but Harry was almost certain there was a power rune etched into the centre of the light fixture.
"This runic array is just channelling the curse from elsewhere in the castle," Bella mused as she studied the array Frank had drawn on the parchment.
"I thought so. Now we can go to the seventh floor and track the anchor down," Harry beamed.
"We should leave this array intact, or the curse could filter through the rest of the school," Frank warned.
"My thoughts exactly," Harry agreed.
The walk up through the castle was fairly uneventful as most of the students had left for the winter holidays, and there were very few people in the castle. Most of the students who had remained could be seen through the windows playing in the freshly fallen snow.
"So what is this hidden room?" Frank asked as they stepped off of the stairs onto the seventh floor.
"It's called the room of requirement. It's basically a room that will create anything you need if you know how to call it forward," Harry explained as he came to a stop in front of the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy.
Harry quickly began to pace in front of the blank stretch of wall, and on the third pass, a familiar oak door appeared in the wall.
"Let's get inside. We may be here for quite a while," Harry muttered as he opened the door and gestured for them to step inside.
"Bloody hell!" Frank exclaimed loudly a second after stepping inside.
Harry followed the two women inside, not surprised that they both seemed lost for words. The last time he had been here was almost a decade ago when he and Sirius retrieved the diadem, but the room of hidden things looked to have gotten larger in that time.
"If I am right, the anchor is hidden somewhere in all of this," Harry said as he gestured to the room at large.
The cathedral-sized room was packed full of lost, hidden or forgotten items that were piled in rows that towered to the ceiling. Harry could barely make out the far wall and wondered if they would be able to find the anchor in a month.
"This place is full of dark artefacts," Bellatrix muttered.
"I know. I removed a really dark item from here back in eighty-two," Harry chuckled.
"We had best pair off, I don't think we should go off on our own," Frank suggested.
"Alright, why don't the ladies go off to the right, and we'll go left?" Harry said after thinking over his options.
"I'm fine with that," Alice nodded.
"Me too. Just send up green sparks if you find something," Frank nodded.
"And red if you get into trouble," Harry added.
"Be careful. There is no telling what all is in here," Harry said, giving Bella a worried look.
"We'll be fine," Bella assured him before she cast a detection spell and began to move into the room, waving her wand in front of her as she walked.
"You two be careful as well," Alice said before she followed after Bellatrix.
"Do you know the standard cursebreaker spell?" Harry asked when they disappeared into the rows of junk.
"Yeah, it's standard at the academy," Frank answered.
The standard curse-breaker's spell worked similarly to muggle radar sending out a cone-shaped distortion of magic from the tip of the caster's wand in a constant wave. The spell changed colour depending on what kind of magic it touched, letting a curse breaker search a large area very quickly.
"Good, this should speed things along," Harry beamed as he cast the spell and directed it at the row of junk to his right.
Hours later and it seemed like they had barely covered a quarter of the room. They had discovered dozens of dark artefacts, which slowed them down as they had to assess whether or not they had found what they were looking for and then move on, feeling that much more frustrated when the object turned out to be something silly.
"Buggering hell! If I come across one more chair cursed to bite somebody's ass, I am going to lose it," Frank exclaimed as he vanished the chair he'd been inspecting.
"Tell me about it. I just found my fourth cursed sneak-a-scope," Harry chuckled.
"Why couldn't we find the good stuff?" Frank complained as he recast the spell and began making his way further down the row.
"The good stuff?" Harry asked, giving the man a look of amusement.
"Yeah, wouldn't it be nice to find a three-hundred-year-old bottle of unopened firewhiskey that my many times great grandfather stashed away or something interesting like that," Frank explained.
"It's possible but more than likely, you'll find Sirius' lost lad mag collection," Harry sniggered.
"They would probably stack that high," Frank grinned as he pointed to a particularly tall stack of junk.
Before Harry could reply, the ceiling of the room was lit up in bright green sparks.
"Looks like the girls had better luck," Frank said, looking relieved.
"Maybe Iggy will find your grandfather's fitrwhiskey," Harry said as he cancelled the spell.
"Or Neville," Frank agreed as he copied Harry's actions.
The two of them quickly followed the pathways between the piles of junk as they made their way toward Bella and Alice.
It didn't take them long to find the women near what looked like an old table from the great hall that had a mountain of clothing on top of it and a long tablecloth that went down to the floor, making it impossible to see underneath it.
"I think this is it. This table is warded to the nines," Alice said when she spotted them approaching.
"What kind of wards?" Frank asked warily.
"Nasty ones. There is one that will incinerate anyone who crosses it and another that will cause spikes to shoot out of the floor," Bella muttered as she continued to assess the defences on the table.
Harry watched with pride as his wife began to pick the wards apart. She really made it look easy to disable them and had them down in a few short minutes.
"I think that will do it," Bella muttered as the table lit up in a red light for a second, casting them all in its glow before the sound of snapping echoed through the room as the wards collapsed.
"Let's see what we got here," Frank said as he lifted the tablecloth.
Harry looked under the table with the others as a candelabra was revealed sitting under the floor beneath the table.
"This is it," Alice muttered as she got down on all fours and crawled under the table towards the candelabra.
Harry soon joined her having to duck his head low so as not to smack it on the underside of the table.
The anchor looked like it was an ornate table centrepiece at one time and stood about a foot and a half tall. It had seven arms that looked like serpents; their open mouths pointed upward and were intended to hold candles.
"I think I'll deal with this," Harry muttered after giving the candelabra cursory inspection.
"Okay, but be careful. I can feel defences on this," Alice warned as she backed out from under the table to give Harry room to work.
Harry noticed a familiar runic array was carved into the floor around the anchor, the same runic array etched that was into the walls of the defence classroom. Looking at the candelabra, Harry saw a much more intricate array of runes etched into the metal base, and Harry was almost certain the anchor was directly over the power rune etched into the floor.
Taking out his wand, Harry began to go through the process of figuring out what he was dealing which didn't take very long. The candelabra was enchanted to anchor the curse, just as They had suspected. The curse was able to draw power from the school through the base, which rested on the floor, meaning it would last indefinitely. The runes etched into the floor sent the curse's magic out through the school to the matching array in the defence classroom and made it almost impossible to locate the source of the curse by conventional means.
Drawing a calming breath, Harry started testing the defences and found a nasty curse that would activate should anyone tamper with the candelabra. It took an hour and a string of parsletongue to disable the protections before he could start unravelling the enchantments on the gaudy decoration.
Starting at the top, Harry unwound the runic array, channelling the power backwards from rune to rune until he reached the power rune on the underside of the candelabra's base.
Once he had the magic contained in the power rune, he switched his wand to his left hand. Holding the spell that stopped any magic from moving past the power rune, Harry removed a goblin rune-stopp from his robes and pushed it into the rune that was next in the sequence to the power rune.
A rune-stopp was a solid gold instrument that resembled an ice pick and, when pressed into an uncharged rune, would heat up hot enough to distort the rune, making it incomplete therefore stopping the flow of magic from moving into the next rune in the sequence kind of like an electrician shuts off the power before working on the lights.
Sighing, he gradually released the pressure on his spell and the rune lit up bright red before slowly losing its light as the power it contained bled back into the castle since the rune was severed from the main array and could not operate independently.
Now technically he was done since the curse could no longer draw power to maintain itself and would fade on its own in the next month. Harry was nothing if not thorough and decided to go ahead and destroy the curse itself, which was as simple as incanting the counter curse for the year of misfortune curse.
"Mal fortuna finite," Harry muttered as he went through the wand motions.
With a flash of bright light and the sound of shattering glass, he was done.
"Whoa, that was some pretty advanced cursebreaking," Frank muttered.
"Pretty exhausting," Harry muttered as he picked up the candelabra and offered it to him.
"How will we know it worked?" Alice asked as Harry went about erasing the runes etched onto the floor.
"I guess you'll have to wait until June," Bella smirked as the table creaked ominously.
Before Harry processed what he heard, Frank grabbed his collar and jerked him out from under the table a split second before the table's legs gave out and it collapsed with a deafening 'CRASH!'
"Damn, the anchor was the only thing keeping the table upright," Harry muttered as he stared at the tons of debris that had just collapsed where he'd been crouching a second ago.
"Actually it was booby-trapped," Bella corrected as she inspected one of the table legs closely.
"Alright, I'm calling it a day," Frank said, looking a bit shaken.
"Not a bad idea," Harry said as he got to his clambered to his feet.
"We managed to find the curse in less than six hours," Alice said, looking pleased.
"Thanks Frank, you may have just saved my life there," Harry said as he looked over at the other man.
"Don't mention it," Frank nodded as he reached into his pocket and removed a hip flask.
"You were almost killed by tons of clothes," Bella said as she came to stand beside him.
"I noticed," Harry smiled as the four of them began making their way out of the room.
"Albus is going to be delighted," Alice said as she looped her arm through Franks.
"Because we solved a mystery in six hours that he's been scratching his head over since the late nineteen fifties?" Frank smirked.
"When you put it like that, I can't wait to tell him," Harry beamed.
The four of them quickly made their way out of the castle, intent on returning to their homes to start the Christmas holidays, all of them hoping for a quieter Christmas than the year before.