Sirius was standing in the middle of a huge cavern with a roof that arched overhead and seemed to have no walls. He spun around, staring. There was a rattle by his foot, and he looked down to see the locket lying there.
"Should have known anything my ancestors thought was valuable was bad news," Sirius whispered, his eyes darting about.
Nothing moved in the darkness around him, but he heard distant voices chanting. The words were in Latin, and Sirius was stunned and fuzzy enough from the Firewhisky that he didn't think he could understand them. He took a step back and tilted his head up, looking for some clue as to where he was.
A gasp ripped from his throat.
Stars rotated overhead on the cavern ceiling, familiar constellations and unfamiliar ones, glittering lines and dots. Sirius's eyes locked on his namesake star, followed by Regulus. He looked away, swallowing, and found himself staring at the floor of the cavern, which had glowing silver lines running across it.
Now he thought he understood what was going on. Someone was calling on the magic of all living Blacks in a powerful ritual. His mother had described it a time or two, but Sirius had hated his magical theory lessons and had only paid attention when forced.
Who would be doing this?
But Sirius had a good idea after a minute of thinking. Bella was in Azkaban and wouldn't be doing anything this complex with Dementors around. Andromeda wouldn't do it unless she thought she had no choice. The other Blacks were dead.
Except Cissy. Except her bastard of a husband.
What are they doing to Harry?
Sirius grimaced. He could well imagine. Perhaps they were trying to drive the memories of being Harry Potter out of him. Or they were corrupting his soul, making sure that he wouldn't object to all the Dark magic they wanted to do in the future. Maybe they were even setting up a situation where he would be forced to be loyal to Voldemort. It wasn't as though Sirius knew for certain or could guess.
"I have to resist them," he breathed. He didn't want his magic being used to hurt Harry like that.
But he didn't know enough details about the ritual to stop it, either. And it seemed that he didn't have a choice, if this ritual would just keep pulling the power from him. Sirius ran his fingers through his hair in frustration.
Then he glanced back at the locket lying on the floor, and smiled grimly. It had to be an artifact of some power, since it was the only thing that had come with him, and he had first seen the reflection of stars in its surface when the ritual began.
"Come on, then," Sirius said, reaching down and picking up the locket to drape it around his neck. "You and me."
The locket seemed to grow warm beneath his fingers. Sirius closed his eyes, trying to seek out Harry with his mind, trying to lend him strength to resist whatever was happening.
Harry ducked beneath the Killing Curse and rolled on the grass.
Riddle laughed again. "Where are you going to hide, little Malfoy?" he asked, and started towards Harry with one hand aiming the wand steadily at him. "It's not as though you even have rocks to hide behind, here."
Harry stumbled back to his feet, glaring, and held up a hand. He didn't know entirely why he was doing that, just that it felt right.
There was a long vibration that seemed to rise from the bottom of his soul, and the holly wand smacked into his palm.
Riddle halted, staring at him. Harry panted, staring back. He didn't think it was his imagination that the stars overhead had grown brighter.
"That's impossible," Riddle breathed. He sounded upset about something. "Fucking impossible."
"Why is it impossible?" Harry held out the wand in front of him and concentrated as hard as he could on a Shield Charm. He could use it pretty well in Uncle Ted's lessons, but he had never tried to cast it silently.
"Because we are in a place beyond reach of anything or anyone but us."
That didn't sound like a reason to Harry, but he didn't waste his breath on asking more questions. He raised the Shield Charm silently, finding that it was easier when he thought of the stars, and backed up a slow step.
"A Shield Charm can't stop the Killing Curse," Riddle chided him, sounding amused. He aimed his wand at Harry again.
And Harry knew he was right, but he also knew this place wasn't exactly the same as the physical world, where the Killing Curse would just kill him and the lack of things to hide behind meant he couldn't dodge forever. So things might be possible here that wouldn't be possible in the physical world.
Harry reached out and towards the sound of the chanting voices, of the eyes that watched him from the stars burning bright overhead.
Help me!
....
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