112 Chapter 112: The Wolf of Hogsmeade
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I would like to thank my beta, Akisu, for his help in this chapter.
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18 January 1993, Hogwarts
The days following Daphne's decision to involve herself fully in Harry's life were awkward. After the girl's proclamation, he just told her to give him some time to put things together and that he would share what he could with her.
The issue was that the Potter scion was hesitant when it came to how much he wanted to share. Harry's personal magical training could technically be classified as family magic, so he was completely entitled to keep it to himself. But that felt wrong for some reason, to keep so much from her when she had chosen to commit to their friendship.
Honestly, Harry wasn't going to teach her anything from his family crest, so magical circles were off the table, and he certainly wasn't going to share the existence Arcane Hearing. But teaching the Greengrass scion his personal spells, or the magic that he had learnt from the library and from experimentations was his prerogative and made sense for her to learn as much as possible if she was going to be his partner.
And that was what it was all about. Daphne was going to be his partner, and in a way, that added a vulnerability in Harry's life. For one, she had failed his Legilimency test. She had never been trained in the mind arts outside of a few meditation exercises that her father had taught her, and the protection that her family crest would only activate on her thirteenth birthday when it's fully manifested, which thankfully was a couple of months away.
Harry couldn't teach her anything adequate enough to shield her mind before the crest would be able to protect it either way. So, outside of training her in magic, there were very few things that Harry could do.
Luckily, using Legilimency on Luna was a recipe for a headache. The way she witnessed the world was just so alien that it was hard for a normal mind to interpret her thoughts. Harry was more than willing to share a little more with her especially when it concerned the Chamber of Secrets, since that involved her personally. Unfortunately, Daphne just didn't have that advantage.
After a few days, Harry caved and told Daphne an abridged version of the situation of the chamber and the girl was shaken about it. He still remembered the conversation they had a few days prior.
[--]
(Flashback)
After a few days of deliberation, Harry invited Daphne for a conversation that the blonde was obviously looking forward to. They met in the common room and Harry motioned her to follow him. He definitely did not want to have this conversation in the common room now that he knew that the Court of Slytherin was constantly listening in. The two young Slytherins walked in silence until they found themselves on the seventh floor, right in front of the entrance to the Room of Requirements.
As Harry walked back and forth for the entrance to reveal, Daphne had a worried look on her face, as if the Potter scion was insane all this time, but she had visibly relaxed when he gave her a charming grin, and gaped when the entrance revealed itself, "What is this place?"
"This, Daphne Greengrass, is the Room of Requirements. This room is a marvel of magic that turns into whatever you speak of mentally when you walk back and forth to reveal the entrance. Right now, I wished for a replica of our common room, so that's what we got. This is the place that I use to practice magic. Whenever I'm not hanging out with you, I'm probably here."
As he had said, the Room had taken the form of a deserted Slytherin common room. Daphne gave him an awed look, "How does it work?"
"I have no idea," Harry confessed, "To be honest, I think it's a mixture of variable expansion charms, illusion magic, some conjuration, and some kind of mind magic to pick up the intent of the user. But that's not why I brought you here. You said that you want to be all in. Well, this is me giving you the white card. Ask me whatever you want. If there's something I'm uncomfortable sharing, I'll just say so, but I will not lie to you."
"Well, let's start with the obvious. What do you know about the chamber of secrets?"
(Flashback End)
[--]
It was surprisingly cathartic to tell someone about how worried he really was about the whole thing with the Chamber. His and Luna's partnership had started because neither of them had a choice in the matter. Oh, they were friends, but the entire relationship started as an alliance to stop Tom. Daphne was someone who earned Harry's trust. She wasn't forced to stay with him, but she chose to do so, and that made an immense difference when Harry decided to share even a fraction of his knowledge with her.
It was a big step on Harry's part. There was this intimacy at showing her a part of his soul, a part of his world that she was previously ignorant of. For some reason, he was afraid as well from the way she reacted, but all things considered, she had dealt with her surprise well enough.
Harry had told her about him detecting a diary as a very dark and dangerous object in the school, that he made a small trap to find the purpose of whoever it possessed, and that he thought that Lockhart might have been involved because of his sudden change in personality, but that he was wrong. He told her about his game of shadows with the Heir, of losing his encounters with the heir until he got desperate and successfully figured out that Luna was the one being possessed. That they had fought, and he had won, setting his enemy back a few months, but that the heir had hidden the diary, that the attacks would continue again. He told her that he figured out what the monster was quickly enough but that it was Longbottom using Parselmouth that cemented that clue. He confessed to creating goggles that should protect against the Basilisk's glare, but that he hadn't tested it. All this time, the Greengrass scion had remained supportive and impassive, that was until he told her that the heir of Slytherin was Tom Riddle, a sixteen year old version of Lord Voldemort.
Yeah, the girl had freaked out there. The Dark Lord really made himself into a figure of fear in this country. It was merited, of course, since the man was a psychopath who wanted nothing more than to see the world burn and rule over the ashes. The monster was unpredictable, and unstable, and could honestly wipe out an entire family line on a whim.
But his damage paled in front of what Grindelwald had done. Voldemort had terrified a nation, but Grindelwald had divided the entire magical world on an issue that they didn't even know they had. When Grindelwald walked a battlefield, all that remained was ash and death. The duels between Dumbledore and Voldemort were short, which made sense considering the guerilla attacks that the heir of Slytherin assigned. Lord Voldemort attacked people in their homes, and overwhelmed them quickly, before getting away and leaving only his cursed Dark Mark. However, Grindelwald, the real Dark Lord, just faced entire legions of opponents head on and came out the victor without issues. In the battles between him and Dumbledore, no one got involved, because that would spell certain deaths. Voldemort thrived on fear, which was so engrained in everyone's mind that it passed down to the next generation. He was the boogeyman who could attack at any time for any reason, while Grindelwald thrived on his ideology of creating a new world for the greater good.
So, the bottom line was, the moment Harry told her that he was fighting a younger version of Lord Voldemort, the girl started trembling in fear, with tears in her eyes, as if Harry was fighting to his doom. Honestly, Tom Riddle wasn't that big of a deal compared to the fucking Basilisk. It was funny how the idea of fighting a weapon of mass destruction was more appealing to Daphne than just duelling a teenager with prodigal magical talent.
It took the girl a few days to calm down before she finally decided to go back to Harry and speak about their plans forwards. At this time, Harry started to build a new pair of goggles for Daphne. If she was going to get involved with the mess concerning the Basilisk, then it was only right that she be protected adequately.
Of course, when the Greengrass scion realized that Harry couldn't do anything about the issue until Riddle resurfaced and the attacks started again, she almost had another breakdown. Of course, Harry didn't tell her about the Colt. He wasn't going to tell anyone about the weapon. It was his ace, and he wasn't going to risk someone stealing it or try to use it for a useless reason. The Colt was insurance if things went to shit, and Harry wouldn't use a bullet unless he was forced to do it, because he felt deep down that he was never going to replicate this feat again. He couldn't explain it, only that he could feel deep down that making more bullets or another gun would be out of his hands.
This brought them to the current situation, where they were both in a classroom on the third floor. The Greengrass scion gave him a wary look, "Are you sure about this?"
Harry rolled his eyes, "Of course, I am. I'm just sneaking out of the castle and meeting someone at Hogsmeade. The Weasley Twins do it all the time."
"Fine, but don't come to me and whine when you get caught. I don't think that Snape would be understanding if your only justification is that you 'had business in Hogsmeade'."
"But that's the truth! He should be appreciative of my ambition, not try to stifle it" Harry protested with a teasing smile on his face.
"Dork," Daphne muttered back.
The Potter scion snorted and put on his invisibility cloak, "Wish me luck!"
He turned and left towards the statute of the one-eyes witch, tapping it with his wand while muttering, "Dissendium!"
The statue creaked to the side, revealing a narrow passage, and he slipped inside. The tunnel was dank and musty, and the air was thick with an earthy aroma. Torches lined the uneven walls, casting flickering shadows that seemed to come to life with every step Harry took. Cobwebs brushed against his face, remnants of the many years that the passage had gone unnoticed, but there were obvious signs of someone having cut up a path forward, it was probably the Weasley twins.
The tunnel twisted and turned, leading him deeper beneath the castle. He walked for what felt like hours but after a quick 'Tempus' he realized was just thirty minutes. The passage began to rise. Panting, Harry sped up to find himself at the foot of some worn stone steps, which rose out of sight above him. Careful not to make any noise, Harry began to climb.
He really needed to exercise more.
Finally, the stairs seemed to end, revealing a trapdoor above the Potter scion, which he opened very slowly. He found himself in a cellar, which was full of wooden crates and boxes. Harry climbed out of the trapdoor and crept slowly toward the wooden staircase that led upstairs.
He had never been to Honeydukes, but it smelled wonderful. Still, he had a meeting to get into. Harry exited the cellar, emerging onto the familiar cobbled streets of Hogsmeade. The village was quiet, the buildings bathed in the silver light of the moon.
The Potter scion walked towards the location of the Three Broomsticks. This was technically his first time in the village, and it was a shame that he was coming here for Business and not pleasure.
The bell above the pub's door jingled softly as Harry stepped inside, greeted by the cosy atmosphere, the chatter of patrons, and the crackling fire. Harry slowly surveilled the room and found his target. It was a somewhat young man, probably in his late twenties. He looked unassuming from afar, with his brown hair and brown eyes.
Harry slowly walked forward and sat at his table. The man protested, "I'm sorry, but I'm waiting for someone."
"Yes, I know. I'm the one you're waiting for, Mr. Smythe. My name is Harry Potter, and I'm the potential investor in your company."
"You? But you're so young." The man protested.
"Yes, I am. But gold is gold, and we wouldn't be breaking any laws. Now, I don't believe in idle chatter, so let's get right to business. Tell me why I should invest in your broom. Tell me why I should invest in your Firebolt."
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I tend to upload drafts of early chapters on there to get people's opinions of them so you can read up to 20 chapters ahead as a bonus.
Thank you guys for your support in these hard times.
