191 Ch. 190 Harry’s cleansing

The rest of the break before the school year was rather busy.

I began organizing the supplies necessary to defend Hogwarts and contacted my friends to pitch in. They loved the castle as much as Tory and I, so they began looking into what they could to help out.

A few days later, I received another letter stating that Sirius had 'coincidentally' found the last unaccounted for Horcrux in the Black Family vault.

Dumbledore was able to guess that Bellatrix had most likely hidden it within the vault or her own before it was absorbed, as she would be a fitting holder of such an item if Lucius and Regulus were also chosen.

Hence, now only Harry and the Snake were left.

What was rather surprising was that Dumbledore requested I cleanse Harry before school began.

Originally I wanted to mostly keep to canon, then wait until Harry was 17 to get the most benefits as I use Tom's soul piece to help Harry grow stronger and gain some knowledge. But with the accelerated approach of the 'war', things would come to a head by the end of the school year. The trigger will undoubtedly be Dumbledore's death and Snape's 'betrayal'. As such I likely won't have the leeway to wait until next summer or Harry might have to get Avada Kedavra'd.

So it was time to break out my ritual site again.

-Skellig Island, Ritual Site

"Um, what are we doing here?" Harry asked as he looked around the place I had created.

Ever since I basically cleansed myself here, this entire island began to pulse with magic and life, with this site at the center, making it feel like a purer version of Hogwarts almost.

"We are here to cleanse one of Voldie's last horcruxes." I answered as I continued to write the proper ritual into the stone.

"We found another one? When?" A genuinely thrilled and curious Harry asked.

"Harry." Dumbledore softly called as the teen looked at his expression before feeling like something wasn't right. "You are the Horcrux."

"I'm the what?" The now malfunctioning Harry asked.

"You are the horcrux Voldemort never meant to make Harry." The Headmaster gently repeated.

"B-but I c-can't be. I-I'm-" the disbelieving Harry tried to say as he paled.

"To be precise you aren't a true Horcrux Harry." I intervened before my little bro became over emotional or thought too much into things.

He has a track record for doing that. Snape, Malfoy, Sirius, almost Sirius again.

"What?" He simply replied as he focused on me.

"Horcruxes require a very complex and dark ritual to create, while also needing a properly prepared vessel for the soul piece. You fulfilled neither criteria." I explained as I finished up preparing my own ritual. "What happened to you was a series of horrible coincidences which resulted in Tommy boy's already extremely unstable and damaged soul to break off another piece unknowingly after the cold blooded murder of your parents. Said piece was fully separated when his killing curse rebounded, due to your mother's magic, and destroyed his body. To survive, the soul piece went to the only place it could survive in instinctively, which happened to be the cursed wound on a baby who's soul and magic would be too weak to reject it."

Harry totally blanked out.

"This is indeed the best theory we have regarding your situation. Voldemort's soul clung to you. This is why you have a connection to him. Why you can speak to snakes. Why you can feel other Horcruxes near you." Dumbledore further clarified as we laid things bare for the kid.

'I think we might have said a bit too much, but it's better now than never.' I thought as I looked at the black haired teen lost in his thoughts.

I wasn't expecting it to take 15 minutes for him to come out of it, but we did tell him some rather existential secrets, so it was reasonable.

"How long ago did you find out?" Harry asked us both with a shaky voice.

"For me it was only a theory until not too long ago." Dumbledore admitted.

"I knew from the moment I set up the anti-dark wards around mine and Sirius' houses. They rejected you as I had to make them blood specific for you to come in, so I got curious." I answered him with my most reasonable response.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Harry asked in a tone of betrayal.

"Because I wanted to wait until next year in order to let you get the most benefits from this and I didn't want you to think you were somehow a monster because a series of coincidences left you marked." I told him as we entered a sort of standoff.

"What benefits?" He asked with narrowed eyes.

"Doing this ritual will allow us to remove and destroy the soul while taking the magic and knowledge in it for you. You will a good amount of power, likely going through an early magical maturation, and receive much of Tom's knowledge. I'd be surprised if you didn't ace all your classes for the next two years after this." I informed him with a bit of pride.

"I don't want to know dark magic!" Harry hurriedly responded as I almost felt like sighing.

"Don't be stupid. Knowing dark magic doesn't make you a dark wizard or the next dark lord. Hell, you want to be an Auror, so knowing this stuff will actually help you catch dark wizards and fight them a lot better since you know how they fight and what they can do. Plus, Tom doesn't only know the dark arts, he had the best marks in Hogwarts before i came around." I scolded the kid.

"That is true Harry. I, myself, know a good deal of dark magic, even if I do not practice it. And I am sure Aedan has extensive knowledge on the subject as well which has no doubt helped him develop his own White Magic." Dumbledore supported as he did speak the truth.

I mean, I got my knowledge from the same source Harry is about to get his. Except I think Harry will get more of a trial package than the full subscription to V-TV I had back when Quirrell was possessed, meaning more fragmented or limited pieces due to it only being a piece of his soul and the probable damages it has sustained from being in an improper vessel which is also alive and magical.

"Yeah. I studied all facets of magic really. It's just too fascinating to let myself be limited, so I learnt even dark magic while being careful in my practice. It does mark a person after all." I followed up as Harry gaped at the two of us.

Not exactly surprising. We are likely to be the two most powerful 'good' wizards of modern times and we just admitted to being versed in the dark arts at least to a certain degree.

"But-but-but *sigh* fine. What do I need to do?" The teen asked as he seemed to have decided to just go with this.

'Huh. That was significantly less convincing and whining than I anticipated. I guess he matured more than I thought.' I thought as I put away my expectations.

"Change into this, leave everything including your wand and glasses, then sit down in that circle over there and let me do the rest." I instructed him as I made some draps appear around the kid after I handed him a ritual gown.

"Really?" He asked from inside the draps.

"Yup. Get changed now or after I lower these things." I replied with some amusement over the now hurried sounds of Harry changing.

By the time I dropped the draps Harry was wearing the loose white pants, shirt and underwear I had handed him, while a pile of clothing laid on the floor.

"Why did I have to change my underwear?" He asked in a deadpanned manner.

"Because I'm not taking any chances of things messing with this ritual involving your soul. Now glasses off and in the center." I answered swiftly as he obeyed the order.

"What now?" Harry asked as he squinted from his now seated position.

"Now you stay there and brace yourself. This will not feel pleasant and I doubt the soul piece will go down without a fight." I told him in a serious manner as I could see some worry on his face.

"Worry not Harry. You are safe with us here. Voldemort himself would not win, much less a piece of his soul." Dumbledore reassured, which did calm Harry down.

"Alright, let's begin." I declared as I clapped my hands and the intricate circles around Harry lit up in a bluish white color.

Harry was looking around with a bit on wonder while Dumbledore was gazing upon my work with the eyes of a scholar.

That was until wisps of dark smoke began escaping from Harry's scar and he began to grunt and groan uncomfortably as more and more smoke came out.

"Bloody- GAH!" Harry yelled out as there was a sudden rapid release of black smoke from his forehead.

It left Harry gasping from the strain as the mass of smoke disconnected from him.

*HOWL*

The smoke took shape of Tom's noseless face as it screamed out in defiance, only to be assaulted by the radiant light of my ritual.

It tried to resist, to fight back, tried to escape, even return to Harry, but nothing worked as I refined everything it is into what I desired. And right now, I wanted to distill the strength and knowledge of Tom Riddle for Harry.

'Tom was way overdue on his rent anyway, so an eviction wasn't out of order since the only down payment he had made was Parseltongue.' I thought with some amusement over the comparison.

A few minutes passed and soon only a pure white smoke was left peacefully floating around Harry.

I then gathered it all and started to slowly, but surely, channel it into the famous scar. This was a steady process as I gently helped ease Harry's magic core into evolving and placed the knowledge into his mind.

The magic core required most of my attention since Harry didn't have the control I had when I underwent my rituals and couldn't properly manage the abundance of energy on his own. But I knew exactly what I was doing as I helped the core shape itself without any sort of lost energy, while helping it expand at a perfect pace.

As for the knowledge, it would be stored in Harry's subconscious for now. This would essentially make it so Harry wouldn't technically be 'learning' anything that Tom's knowledge contained, but 'relearning' it, which is a lot easier and would improve Harry's learning speed a lot. But that would change should Harry become a capable enough Occlumen to organize his mind properly and absorb the knowledge as his.

That last bit was a much more possible option for him now that he didn't have an open door to his mind and now had the subconscious experience and knowledge of Tom in this field.

Although it was relatively easy for me, it still took over three hours of steady effort to properly get everything down right.

And once it was done, the ritual stopped emitting light, I lowered my hands, and then Harry slumped done into unconsciousness over the still rapid expansion of his magic core and all the things I basically crammed into his skull. It didn't help that taking the piece of Tom out strained his soul a bit as well.

Dumbledore rushed forward to check on Harry, but I knew that after a few days of proper rest, he would be right as rain.

"He will be fine Headmaster. His control over his magic might be a bit shot for a few weeks, but I can give him exercises for that." I reassured the old man as he lifted Harry with some magic.

"That is good. And the results?" He asked out of curiosity.

"He should be over halfway between his second and third maturation, now has a subconscious grasp of Tom's knowledge, should have kept the parseltongue, and the negative effects that having the soul piece in his body should be reversing during the next year or so." I answered as I gave the unconscious floating teen a good look.

"What can we expect?" Dumbledore asked with curiosity.

"Improved eyesight for one, as well as a growth spurt and an increased gain of muscle mass if he continues his regular exercises and quidditch training. I also believe his temper and general recklessness should mellow out, with an increase in retention and learning speed. Beyond that I can't really say. He had that soul piece in him nearly his entire life and it could have affected more things." I answered as best I could.

I honestly wasn't sure the extent of which what I did would impact Harry. It certainly would be for the better, but Tom's subconscious knowledge might gradually shift his behavior and personality slightly as he becomes more mature and less temperamental. Not in an insane dark lord way, but more in cunning and analytical manner which will let Harry not be blinded by emotions. He might also become more polite or refined as some of Tom's knowledge of etiquette and manners might seep through as well.

I couldn't say this was bad for him since it should help curb his self-harming habits, while also helping him become a more suitable future Lord. I mean, the kid is already going to be the Potter Lord and I'm pretty sure that Sirius put him down for the Black Lordship if he doesn't have any kids with Amelia, so some cunning and manners will go a long way to not piss off everyone and be taken advantage of.

'Now that I think about it, I might have to start him on some proper lessons on this stuff because I know Sirius won't. I'm sure mother would be happy to crack the whip, but she is too busy at the moment. I'll see what I can do.' I thought for a moment as I realized that Harry was indeed almost of age.

Oh well. For now I will focus on turning Hogwarts into a killing field and helping Harry recover properly. I also have to to my final check on my teaching material this year.