Enternity Chapter 16 - Part One
“Blah” Talking
‘Blah’ Thinking
“Blah” Parseltongue/Notes/Different languages
Blah Dreams/Flashbacks/Anything and Everything else
Albus was grim as he looked at Peeves. Bill stood next to him, quietly unweaving the spells keeping Peeves connected to the stone wall. Mr. Zabini had already been dispatched back to the Slytherin common room.
“I can get him free, but I’m not sure what put him here. It’s obviously more than a mere prank, but other than that I have no idea what did this.” Bill stated grimly. Albus nodded. He had a good idea of what had happened.
“Bill, my boy, I must wonder if you have had any news from your parents…” Albus wasn’t sure why he brought it up, here when Bill was in the middle of concentrating and probably not in the mood to hear about his brother’s sad demise. But Albus had been in his shoes once, and he knew how it felt to lose a sibling. He knew he would want to know.
“Yes.” Bill staid firmly, jaw set. There was no mistaking it - Bill knew about Percy’s unfortunate decisions and his death. He was probably told by another member of the Order, now that Albus thought about it. “Charlie and I know. The kids don’t.”
Albus nodded to himself. Molly and Arthur had finally come out of their caves of grief a little, long enough to tell him that they were sending a letter to the castle explaining about Percy and if any of the children want to talk to please connect the floo.
With a snap and a flash of golden light, Peeves was disconnected from his stone imprisonment. He hovered a few centimeters off the ground, looking at Bill in a peculiar way.
“Thank you, Bill. That’s all I need from you at this moment. Molly’s letter to your siblings should be here by now, if you wish to stay…” Albus trailed off, leaving the decision to Bill. The younger man nodded, once, before walking off. Albus sighed and turned to Peeves.
“Can you please tell me how you came to be conjoined with the dungeon wall, Peeves?” He asked pleasantly, being sure to twinkle with extra force.
“Peevesy was minding his own business, he was… when castle decided to eat Peevesy. It needed Peeves, so Peeves went.” Peeves rushed through his explanation, sounding like a frightened toddler. “It was toad-woman’s fault! But Peeves helped, he did. Peeves helped.”
Albus blinked, in shock more than anything else. ‘Peeves had been missing since Dolores was still alive and teaching here? And no one noticed? I never noticed?’
“Thank you for helping, Peeves, it was much appreciated. If you’ll excuse me, I have to go check the state of the wards. Please allow the Bloody Barron to update you on current… affairs.” Albus swept away, heading deeper into the school. He had to check the wards: if what Peeves was saying was true, then they were almost compromised by Dolores. He couldn’t afford to have them weakened in any way right now.
HPDM HPDM HPDM HPDM HPDM
“What do you mean she just appeared?” Bill asked his brothers coldly. He had been terrified when Poppy told him that his baby sister had been in Hogsmeade when it came under attack and that she was missing from the students that were brought back. He was near hyperventilating at the very thought that two of his baby siblings - for the only one he called ‘younger’ and not ‘baby’ was Charlie - were dead. When the twins rushed in, one of them carrying her, he almost didn’t let Poppy near her. He was so, so happy that she was alive and there that he was crying, clutching her close. It wasn’t until Poppy snapped that he might be hurting her that he let his baby sister go and be attended to by the medi-witch.
“We were helping the Order and Aurors bring people into Hogwarts -the gates were as far as the wards would let any of the students go- and when we were going back out to help more… she was there. Once we got close enough, she fainted and we grabbed her. We performed a few identification spells on her, to be sure, so we know it’s her. She was just… there.” The twins spoke as a strange melding of voices and Bill found that he could tell them apart, vocally - Fred’s voice sounded closest to their father’s while George’s was slightly higher in pitch.
‘Huh, George sounds kinda like Percy… Dear Circe, they don’t know yet. None of them know yet…’ Bill thought to himself in a near daze.
The infirmary was filled with injured students, Aurors, medi-witches and wizards bustling from one to another. The dead were being held in another room off Poppy’s office - apparently, that’s what it was for. Sometimes, Bill forgot that the school was very old and had stood during numerous wars, so it made sense that their was a room specifically for corpses. Still, there was the strong sense of just how wrong it was for a school to have such a room.
“Where are Harry and Ron?” Bill asked, belatedly realizing that he should have asked that question first, all things considered. The twins look at each other, communicating something to each other, and Bill’s whole body tensed.
“Harry and Draco are in Alexandria, they left this morning. Ron and Hermione went to talk to her parents. They should be back -” They were cut off by the door opened to admit the very people they were talking about. Hermione and Ron hurried over to the twins, looking worried.
“Is everyone okay?” Hermione asked in a rush.
“Luna is a bit burned, she was the one responsible for Zonko’s exploding; Neville and Eleanor were put out, Neville for hysteria and Eleanor for medical healing; and Ginny is unconscious. Seamus and Dean are dead.” Fred spoke while George remained silent and somber. Hermione closed her eyes and sank into a chair. Ron’s fists clenched as he turned his head, closing his eyes. He took a deep breath. Hermione touched his arm gently and Ron visibly pulled himself together before sitting down next to Hermione.
“We had contact with Harry and Draco; they’re coming back right now. Apparently, they got what they needed.” Ron said speaking to the twins in such an authoritarian tone that Bill was struck by the sudden thought that his baby brother wasn’t a baby anymore. Hermione leaned on him, pillowing her head on his shoulder. She looked so small.
‘Not babies, but not adults either. They shouldn’t even have to deal with this shit.’ Bill thought. A house-elf popped in, holding a folded bit of parchment in its hands. He looked at Hermione worriedly before presenting the parchment to Ron.
“For Harry Potter’s Wheezy, letter from mummy Wheezy.” The little creature said as Ron took the letter. As the house-elf popped away, Bill reached over and took the letter.
“That’s for all of you kids, so let’s wait till Ginny is conscious, shall we?”
They all fell into silence and Bill felt horrible that out of them, he was the only one who knew one of their own was dead.
HPDM HPDM HPDM HPDM HPDM
Draco was quiet as he sat with Harry in the Headmaster’s office. When they had gotten back to the school, there was a lot of yelling on the half of the Order. Draco had half a million things he wanted to shout at them, but none of the words came. It was like he was trapped in his own space.
Harry had slammed the books onto the nearest table during all the yelling, causing a complete standstill as he explained what they were and where the books were from. He then went to sit next to Draco and they hadn’t moved since. That had been a good two hours ago, maybe three. And Draco was still caught in his own space.
Harry had lied to him. All things considered, that wasn’t exactly correct; it wasn’t so much as a lie as a withholding of information and manipulation of facts. Harry had not dragged Draco with him to Alexandria because he simply wanted Draco there; he brought Draco along because of the attack on Hogsmeade. Harry didn’t want Draco anywhere near the attack, like a parent shielding their child.
“You don’t trust me to be able to handle myself in a battle situation, is that it? I’m obviously just a helpless damsel you have to protect!” Draco snapped at Harry, who was looking confused and upset.
“That’s not - ”
“You just said it was! You just said you did this today because you knew there was going to be an attack on Hogsmeade and didn’t want me there.” Draco was going to continue shouting, but Harry cut in when he paused for breath.
“I just didn’t want you to be in danger, is that such a bad thing?” Harry was getting louder, not quite shouting yet, but his voice was at least raised. Draco felt a little smug about it - he never realized how much he disliked Harry’s maturity until then.
“You’re not supposed to - Harry, I’m not your CHILD: I’m your lover, your boyfriend, YOUR PARTNER!” Draco wasn’t really sure where this was coming from. He knew Harry didn’t view him as a child, but sometimes Harry’s constant worry about him grated on his nerves. Harry looked a little taken-a-back from his outburst. It was some time before Harry spoke.
“You’re right, I’m sorry. I just… I didn’t mean for it to come across in that manner. I’m used to manipulating the board around you, moving all my pieces around you, to protect you. But you’re right; you’re not a child anymore. You’re my partner and I should treat you accordingly. I just… I worry, you know? I made sure Ron and Hermione were gone, too, practically bullied Hermione into talking to her parents today so they were away from Hogsmeade.” Harry whispered, looking at Draco.
“Those books… why are you giving them to the Order?” Draco was satisfied with Harry’s explanation. He knew Harry worried, knew the other boy didn’t mean to treat Draco like a child sometimes; it happened.
“They’re important. History is important. This war is much more complicated than they think it is… than you think it is. I can’t just tell them something without having facts to back it up; especially since what I’m telling them is so complicated and hard to believe. I know it’s true because it is and I was there, but I can’t just tell them something like this without having outside sources.”
So, it did have to do with memories Draco no longer had, memories that Draco would regain… eventually. Draco was never sure how to talk about them with Harry - after all, with what little he knew, how could he be sure that Harry knew more then he did? Or that Harry knew how this worked?
‘Because he knows you get headaches when you remember things and he comes to you during those times. Because you know, at the very least, that Harry is the one that remembers. Because you remember things the clearest when you and he are intimate together - you remember more when intimacy occurs.’ A little voice in the back of his mind whispered to him, urging him to just come out and ask the fucking question that had been itching to be asked for weeks, months now.
Harry reached up to fiddle with his hair and briefly the light caught on the diamond bracelet that had a permanent home on his wrist. Blaise had almost choked when Draco told him what the gift symbolized after he happened to catch a glimpse of it during classes. He trusted Blaise with something that important.
He grabbed Harry by the wrist, fingers closing over the bracelet, and pulled the other boy closer.
“When I gave you this, I was professing my desire to pursue marriage one day.” Harry nodded, clearly confused and anxious. “I need to ask you something and I want you to answer me honestly.” Draco paused, staring into Harry’s eyes. After a few seconds, Harry nodded, still looking anxious. “Do you love me?”
“Yes.” Harry didn’t hesitate in his answer. He still looked utterly bewildered.
“My memories…”Here, Harry tried to back away, turning his head to the side and biting his lip. Draco yanked him closer once more, chests touching, and Harry whimpered. “They come quicker, faster, and clearer when we’re together, like this.” Draco pressed their lips together, once, twice, before pulling away. “That’s the reason we don’t go any further, isn’t it? There’s something there that you don’t want me to remember.”
And Harry looked horrified.
“No, no, that’s… no.” Harry shook his head frantically, trying to explain. “That’s not… Draco how much do you know about what happened to me over the summer?” Harry asked. Draco remembered blood and broken bones and Limbo.
“Your Uncle almost killed you.”
“Is that all you thought it was?” Harry asked, looking at Draco’s hand where it’s still curled around his wrist. He cleared his throat. “Your virginity is important Draco. I just… don’t want to rush you, us. Like that.”
And that old suspicion was starting to creep up along Draco’s spine because he had been wondering about this for months.
“You want my first time to be special, because yours wasn’t.” Draco said quietly, trying to push the subject to the surface. Harry took a deep breath before closing his eyes.
“I was seven. I was a baby. He had no right to… it was wrong, it was wrong, and I just want to make sure you don’t ever feel that dirty and used and abused and disgusting. It wasn’t right.” Harry didn’t cry and he didn’t have glassy eyes or anything like that. He just looked revolted and enraged. And Draco didn’t ask any other questions, because they weren’t important.
He was brought back to the present by Albus Dumbledore clearing his throat.
“Somehow I think you’re about to explain all this rather horrifying but interesting pieces of history, Mr. Potter?” He said, looking at them. Harry took a breath before explaining.
“Merlin tried to create a Guide - it wasn’t that hard, they’re really nothing more than glorified human sized dolls. They have no soul and they can’t really die - if they break they just fix themselves. And they’re fanatically loyal. And, because of how they’re created and how much magic goes into them they’re also very, very powerful. It’s why they made perfect soldiers for warring families.
“But Merlin wanted to put something powerful into his Guide, wanted it to be the most powerful. He experimented for decades before he came across an idea. A wonderful, horrible idea. He would create the strongest force of magic and put it into his Guide - he would create a demon and seal it inside a Guide, so it would be forced to obey his whims.
“It would be perfect for Rome - no longer would they need to use the Legion to conquer nations, this single Guide would do more damage then any army of man. That was the idea, anyway.” Harry stopped here, running his fingers across the books. The only reason the books were even there was to prove what Harry was about to explain, to prove that he wasn’t just making this up or insane.
“He used and created many Magicks of Heaven rituals to create this demon - he massacred villages and nations and his own people. He devoted everything he had to this project and it was eating him alive from the inside out. He wasn’t the same, he became twisted with power and greed and obsession. He invaded Khemet - Egypt as it’s now known - and took some scriptures from the Palace in Cairo depicting how to summon bits of Egyptian Gods inside you. With a few tweaks his masterpiece was almost done. All that was left was to go through with it.”
“Muggles say it was a plague that swept through Rome. It wasn’t a plague, it was a massacre - people screaming and buildings being ripped open and the horrible laughing. So many people…” Harry was looking off, seeing something only he could see. “And I was screaming ‘what have you done, Merlin, what have you done?’ because it wasn’t stopping, it was spreading and eating everything. It was like the ultimate Magick of Heaven ritual gone mad and Merlin was laughing, oh Circe, he was laughing… And before him his doll stood up and Merlin started to chant and then nothing happened. It had gotten away from him; it was destroying the whole Western portion of Rome and beyond.” Harry blinked, seeming to come back to himself.
“He is the reason the Roman Empire split in two and later fell. If he hadn’t unleashed that… thing none of it would have happened - or at least it wouldn’t have happened in that era. Men, woman, children - gone - ripped apart and devoured for nothing, for curiosity. For shits and giggles, essentially! And he didn’t even know what he was doing!” Harry was yelling, sounding half hysterical. He gasped a few times, body shaking, before he sat down; blinking as if confused. Draco knew the feeling well - the dizzying, almost double vision; the knowledge that what he was seeing was both the present and the past.
“Reincarnation isn’t unheard of: it’s very rare, but typically it’s only ‘this person was alive 5 centuries ago and is now reborn in the same family’ deal. You sound… much older.” Albus said, calmly staring at Harry over the top of his spectacles.
“I was a general in the Roman Legion and an adviser to Merlin.”
“You’re the reincarnation of Lady Saliar?” Albus asked, which made Draco wary because how did he know that name?
“How do you know that name?” Harry asked sharply.
“We have another book, a journal we found through our own sources that confirms much of your story. It mentions Lady Saliar and I connected her to you. Black hair, green eyes, and a lighting bolt birthmark on her shoulder - it seemed like a few too many coincidences.” Albus said, smiling at Harry.
“I like my hair and eyes. The lighting bolt this time around was a freak accident.” Harry says dazed.
“Not that I don’t like finding out more about you, Mr. Potter, but I’m afraid I don’t see how this applies to today’s current events.”
“When Merlin’s doll broke and he realized he had no control over the thing he created and as he lay at my feet, broken and believing I had taken everyone he loved from him, he invoked another ritual - sealing the thing into a staff. His staff. Doing so ripped his soul apart and his body froze completely from the inside. I had realized what he was doing, so I helped.
“Between the two of us, we got it sealed. Merlin will never touch these shores again because there is no part of him left that exists as we know it. I hid the staff, for centuries, trying to figure out a way to ensure the thing inside of it never escaped, trying to figure out how to destroy it. When the Byzantine Empire was breathing it’s last an upstart politician somehow found it.
“I still have no idea how he did it, but he broke the staff, the incompetent fool. Being locked away without food weakened it, so it possessed the fool and that’s what caused the last massacre before the Empire collapsed on itself. It possesses people, fuels their desires and greed, and urges them to kill as many people as possible in short amounts of time - to bask in bloodshed and carnage, because it feeds off that.
“It’s the thing that attached itself to Tom Riddle in a moment of great weakness.”
Part two here.
‘Blah’ Thinking
“Blah” Parseltongue/Notes/Different languages
Blah Dreams/Flashbacks/Anything and Everything else
Albus was grim as he looked at Peeves. Bill stood next to him, quietly unweaving the spells keeping Peeves connected to the stone wall. Mr. Zabini had already been dispatched back to the Slytherin common room.
“I can get him free, but I’m not sure what put him here. It’s obviously more than a mere prank, but other than that I have no idea what did this.” Bill stated grimly. Albus nodded. He had a good idea of what had happened.
“Bill, my boy, I must wonder if you have had any news from your parents…” Albus wasn’t sure why he brought it up, here when Bill was in the middle of concentrating and probably not in the mood to hear about his brother’s sad demise. But Albus had been in his shoes once, and he knew how it felt to lose a sibling. He knew he would want to know.
“Yes.” Bill staid firmly, jaw set. There was no mistaking it - Bill knew about Percy’s unfortunate decisions and his death. He was probably told by another member of the Order, now that Albus thought about it. “Charlie and I know. The kids don’t.”
Albus nodded to himself. Molly and Arthur had finally come out of their caves of grief a little, long enough to tell him that they were sending a letter to the castle explaining about Percy and if any of the children want to talk to please connect the floo.
With a snap and a flash of golden light, Peeves was disconnected from his stone imprisonment. He hovered a few centimeters off the ground, looking at Bill in a peculiar way.
“Thank you, Bill. That’s all I need from you at this moment. Molly’s letter to your siblings should be here by now, if you wish to stay…” Albus trailed off, leaving the decision to Bill. The younger man nodded, once, before walking off. Albus sighed and turned to Peeves.
“Can you please tell me how you came to be conjoined with the dungeon wall, Peeves?” He asked pleasantly, being sure to twinkle with extra force.
“Peevesy was minding his own business, he was… when castle decided to eat Peevesy. It needed Peeves, so Peeves went.” Peeves rushed through his explanation, sounding like a frightened toddler. “It was toad-woman’s fault! But Peeves helped, he did. Peeves helped.”
Albus blinked, in shock more than anything else. ‘Peeves had been missing since Dolores was still alive and teaching here? And no one noticed? I never noticed?’
“Thank you for helping, Peeves, it was much appreciated. If you’ll excuse me, I have to go check the state of the wards. Please allow the Bloody Barron to update you on current… affairs.” Albus swept away, heading deeper into the school. He had to check the wards: if what Peeves was saying was true, then they were almost compromised by Dolores. He couldn’t afford to have them weakened in any way right now.
HPDM HPDM HPDM HPDM HPDM
“What do you mean she just appeared?” Bill asked his brothers coldly. He had been terrified when Poppy told him that his baby sister had been in Hogsmeade when it came under attack and that she was missing from the students that were brought back. He was near hyperventilating at the very thought that two of his baby siblings - for the only one he called ‘younger’ and not ‘baby’ was Charlie - were dead. When the twins rushed in, one of them carrying her, he almost didn’t let Poppy near her. He was so, so happy that she was alive and there that he was crying, clutching her close. It wasn’t until Poppy snapped that he might be hurting her that he let his baby sister go and be attended to by the medi-witch.
“We were helping the Order and Aurors bring people into Hogwarts -the gates were as far as the wards would let any of the students go- and when we were going back out to help more… she was there. Once we got close enough, she fainted and we grabbed her. We performed a few identification spells on her, to be sure, so we know it’s her. She was just… there.” The twins spoke as a strange melding of voices and Bill found that he could tell them apart, vocally - Fred’s voice sounded closest to their father’s while George’s was slightly higher in pitch.
‘Huh, George sounds kinda like Percy… Dear Circe, they don’t know yet. None of them know yet…’ Bill thought to himself in a near daze.
The infirmary was filled with injured students, Aurors, medi-witches and wizards bustling from one to another. The dead were being held in another room off Poppy’s office - apparently, that’s what it was for. Sometimes, Bill forgot that the school was very old and had stood during numerous wars, so it made sense that their was a room specifically for corpses. Still, there was the strong sense of just how wrong it was for a school to have such a room.
“Where are Harry and Ron?” Bill asked, belatedly realizing that he should have asked that question first, all things considered. The twins look at each other, communicating something to each other, and Bill’s whole body tensed.
“Harry and Draco are in Alexandria, they left this morning. Ron and Hermione went to talk to her parents. They should be back -” They were cut off by the door opened to admit the very people they were talking about. Hermione and Ron hurried over to the twins, looking worried.
“Is everyone okay?” Hermione asked in a rush.
“Luna is a bit burned, she was the one responsible for Zonko’s exploding; Neville and Eleanor were put out, Neville for hysteria and Eleanor for medical healing; and Ginny is unconscious. Seamus and Dean are dead.” Fred spoke while George remained silent and somber. Hermione closed her eyes and sank into a chair. Ron’s fists clenched as he turned his head, closing his eyes. He took a deep breath. Hermione touched his arm gently and Ron visibly pulled himself together before sitting down next to Hermione.
“We had contact with Harry and Draco; they’re coming back right now. Apparently, they got what they needed.” Ron said speaking to the twins in such an authoritarian tone that Bill was struck by the sudden thought that his baby brother wasn’t a baby anymore. Hermione leaned on him, pillowing her head on his shoulder. She looked so small.
‘Not babies, but not adults either. They shouldn’t even have to deal with this shit.’ Bill thought. A house-elf popped in, holding a folded bit of parchment in its hands. He looked at Hermione worriedly before presenting the parchment to Ron.
“For Harry Potter’s Wheezy, letter from mummy Wheezy.” The little creature said as Ron took the letter. As the house-elf popped away, Bill reached over and took the letter.
“That’s for all of you kids, so let’s wait till Ginny is conscious, shall we?”
They all fell into silence and Bill felt horrible that out of them, he was the only one who knew one of their own was dead.
HPDM HPDM HPDM HPDM HPDM
Draco was quiet as he sat with Harry in the Headmaster’s office. When they had gotten back to the school, there was a lot of yelling on the half of the Order. Draco had half a million things he wanted to shout at them, but none of the words came. It was like he was trapped in his own space.
Harry had slammed the books onto the nearest table during all the yelling, causing a complete standstill as he explained what they were and where the books were from. He then went to sit next to Draco and they hadn’t moved since. That had been a good two hours ago, maybe three. And Draco was still caught in his own space.
Harry had lied to him. All things considered, that wasn’t exactly correct; it wasn’t so much as a lie as a withholding of information and manipulation of facts. Harry had not dragged Draco with him to Alexandria because he simply wanted Draco there; he brought Draco along because of the attack on Hogsmeade. Harry didn’t want Draco anywhere near the attack, like a parent shielding their child.
“You don’t trust me to be able to handle myself in a battle situation, is that it? I’m obviously just a helpless damsel you have to protect!” Draco snapped at Harry, who was looking confused and upset.
“That’s not - ”
“You just said it was! You just said you did this today because you knew there was going to be an attack on Hogsmeade and didn’t want me there.” Draco was going to continue shouting, but Harry cut in when he paused for breath.
“I just didn’t want you to be in danger, is that such a bad thing?” Harry was getting louder, not quite shouting yet, but his voice was at least raised. Draco felt a little smug about it - he never realized how much he disliked Harry’s maturity until then.
“You’re not supposed to - Harry, I’m not your CHILD: I’m your lover, your boyfriend, YOUR PARTNER!” Draco wasn’t really sure where this was coming from. He knew Harry didn’t view him as a child, but sometimes Harry’s constant worry about him grated on his nerves. Harry looked a little taken-a-back from his outburst. It was some time before Harry spoke.
“You’re right, I’m sorry. I just… I didn’t mean for it to come across in that manner. I’m used to manipulating the board around you, moving all my pieces around you, to protect you. But you’re right; you’re not a child anymore. You’re my partner and I should treat you accordingly. I just… I worry, you know? I made sure Ron and Hermione were gone, too, practically bullied Hermione into talking to her parents today so they were away from Hogsmeade.” Harry whispered, looking at Draco.
“Those books… why are you giving them to the Order?” Draco was satisfied with Harry’s explanation. He knew Harry worried, knew the other boy didn’t mean to treat Draco like a child sometimes; it happened.
“They’re important. History is important. This war is much more complicated than they think it is… than you think it is. I can’t just tell them something without having facts to back it up; especially since what I’m telling them is so complicated and hard to believe. I know it’s true because it is and I was there, but I can’t just tell them something like this without having outside sources.”
So, it did have to do with memories Draco no longer had, memories that Draco would regain… eventually. Draco was never sure how to talk about them with Harry - after all, with what little he knew, how could he be sure that Harry knew more then he did? Or that Harry knew how this worked?
‘Because he knows you get headaches when you remember things and he comes to you during those times. Because you know, at the very least, that Harry is the one that remembers. Because you remember things the clearest when you and he are intimate together - you remember more when intimacy occurs.’ A little voice in the back of his mind whispered to him, urging him to just come out and ask the fucking question that had been itching to be asked for weeks, months now.
Harry reached up to fiddle with his hair and briefly the light caught on the diamond bracelet that had a permanent home on his wrist. Blaise had almost choked when Draco told him what the gift symbolized after he happened to catch a glimpse of it during classes. He trusted Blaise with something that important.
He grabbed Harry by the wrist, fingers closing over the bracelet, and pulled the other boy closer.
“When I gave you this, I was professing my desire to pursue marriage one day.” Harry nodded, clearly confused and anxious. “I need to ask you something and I want you to answer me honestly.” Draco paused, staring into Harry’s eyes. After a few seconds, Harry nodded, still looking anxious. “Do you love me?”
“Yes.” Harry didn’t hesitate in his answer. He still looked utterly bewildered.
“My memories…”Here, Harry tried to back away, turning his head to the side and biting his lip. Draco yanked him closer once more, chests touching, and Harry whimpered. “They come quicker, faster, and clearer when we’re together, like this.” Draco pressed their lips together, once, twice, before pulling away. “That’s the reason we don’t go any further, isn’t it? There’s something there that you don’t want me to remember.”
And Harry looked horrified.
“No, no, that’s… no.” Harry shook his head frantically, trying to explain. “That’s not… Draco how much do you know about what happened to me over the summer?” Harry asked. Draco remembered blood and broken bones and Limbo.
“Your Uncle almost killed you.”
“Is that all you thought it was?” Harry asked, looking at Draco’s hand where it’s still curled around his wrist. He cleared his throat. “Your virginity is important Draco. I just… don’t want to rush you, us. Like that.”
And that old suspicion was starting to creep up along Draco’s spine because he had been wondering about this for months.
“You want my first time to be special, because yours wasn’t.” Draco said quietly, trying to push the subject to the surface. Harry took a deep breath before closing his eyes.
“I was seven. I was a baby. He had no right to… it was wrong, it was wrong, and I just want to make sure you don’t ever feel that dirty and used and abused and disgusting. It wasn’t right.” Harry didn’t cry and he didn’t have glassy eyes or anything like that. He just looked revolted and enraged. And Draco didn’t ask any other questions, because they weren’t important.
He was brought back to the present by Albus Dumbledore clearing his throat.
“Somehow I think you’re about to explain all this rather horrifying but interesting pieces of history, Mr. Potter?” He said, looking at them. Harry took a breath before explaining.
“Merlin tried to create a Guide - it wasn’t that hard, they’re really nothing more than glorified human sized dolls. They have no soul and they can’t really die - if they break they just fix themselves. And they’re fanatically loyal. And, because of how they’re created and how much magic goes into them they’re also very, very powerful. It’s why they made perfect soldiers for warring families.
“But Merlin wanted to put something powerful into his Guide, wanted it to be the most powerful. He experimented for decades before he came across an idea. A wonderful, horrible idea. He would create the strongest force of magic and put it into his Guide - he would create a demon and seal it inside a Guide, so it would be forced to obey his whims.
“It would be perfect for Rome - no longer would they need to use the Legion to conquer nations, this single Guide would do more damage then any army of man. That was the idea, anyway.” Harry stopped here, running his fingers across the books. The only reason the books were even there was to prove what Harry was about to explain, to prove that he wasn’t just making this up or insane.
“He used and created many Magicks of Heaven rituals to create this demon - he massacred villages and nations and his own people. He devoted everything he had to this project and it was eating him alive from the inside out. He wasn’t the same, he became twisted with power and greed and obsession. He invaded Khemet - Egypt as it’s now known - and took some scriptures from the Palace in Cairo depicting how to summon bits of Egyptian Gods inside you. With a few tweaks his masterpiece was almost done. All that was left was to go through with it.”
“Muggles say it was a plague that swept through Rome. It wasn’t a plague, it was a massacre - people screaming and buildings being ripped open and the horrible laughing. So many people…” Harry was looking off, seeing something only he could see. “And I was screaming ‘what have you done, Merlin, what have you done?’ because it wasn’t stopping, it was spreading and eating everything. It was like the ultimate Magick of Heaven ritual gone mad and Merlin was laughing, oh Circe, he was laughing… And before him his doll stood up and Merlin started to chant and then nothing happened. It had gotten away from him; it was destroying the whole Western portion of Rome and beyond.” Harry blinked, seeming to come back to himself.
“He is the reason the Roman Empire split in two and later fell. If he hadn’t unleashed that… thing none of it would have happened - or at least it wouldn’t have happened in that era. Men, woman, children - gone - ripped apart and devoured for nothing, for curiosity. For shits and giggles, essentially! And he didn’t even know what he was doing!” Harry was yelling, sounding half hysterical. He gasped a few times, body shaking, before he sat down; blinking as if confused. Draco knew the feeling well - the dizzying, almost double vision; the knowledge that what he was seeing was both the present and the past.
“Reincarnation isn’t unheard of: it’s very rare, but typically it’s only ‘this person was alive 5 centuries ago and is now reborn in the same family’ deal. You sound… much older.” Albus said, calmly staring at Harry over the top of his spectacles.
“I was a general in the Roman Legion and an adviser to Merlin.”
“You’re the reincarnation of Lady Saliar?” Albus asked, which made Draco wary because how did he know that name?
“How do you know that name?” Harry asked sharply.
“We have another book, a journal we found through our own sources that confirms much of your story. It mentions Lady Saliar and I connected her to you. Black hair, green eyes, and a lighting bolt birthmark on her shoulder - it seemed like a few too many coincidences.” Albus said, smiling at Harry.
“I like my hair and eyes. The lighting bolt this time around was a freak accident.” Harry says dazed.
“Not that I don’t like finding out more about you, Mr. Potter, but I’m afraid I don’t see how this applies to today’s current events.”
“When Merlin’s doll broke and he realized he had no control over the thing he created and as he lay at my feet, broken and believing I had taken everyone he loved from him, he invoked another ritual - sealing the thing into a staff. His staff. Doing so ripped his soul apart and his body froze completely from the inside. I had realized what he was doing, so I helped.
“Between the two of us, we got it sealed. Merlin will never touch these shores again because there is no part of him left that exists as we know it. I hid the staff, for centuries, trying to figure out a way to ensure the thing inside of it never escaped, trying to figure out how to destroy it. When the Byzantine Empire was breathing it’s last an upstart politician somehow found it.
“I still have no idea how he did it, but he broke the staff, the incompetent fool. Being locked away without food weakened it, so it possessed the fool and that’s what caused the last massacre before the Empire collapsed on itself. It possesses people, fuels their desires and greed, and urges them to kill as many people as possible in short amounts of time - to bask in bloodshed and carnage, because it feeds off that.
“It’s the thing that attached itself to Tom Riddle in a moment of great weakness.”
Part two here.