They saw the man standing there to be who Harry thought it would be. "Croaker," he muttered.
"And just how did you know that, Mister Potter?" he asked.
"I have my ways," said Harry. "What brings you here?"
"In a moment," he said. "I'll give you an oath, first."
Without waiting for acknowledgement, he allowed his wand to drop into his hand before giving his oath. "I, the Unspeakable known as Algernon Croaker, hereby swear on my magic I am not in the Hogwarts apartment of Harry Potter and his ladies to do him or them or all three harm. As I say, so I swear."
There was a muted flash of light as the oath took affect.
He then raised his wand and asked, "May I add to your wards?"
"With what?" asked Daphne, not giving an inch. He smiled at her and said, "An Unspeakable level anti-surveillance ward."
"Go ahead," she said, after only a moment.
Croaker cast the ward and the four of them felt it settle over them, before he lowered and resheathed his wand.
With a gesture towards the armchair, he asked, "May I?"
Harry nodded and Croaker moved to sit on the armchair, after Crookshanks received short shrift.
The three returned to sitting down as they resheathed their own wands, but spread across three of the couches. Watching them, Croaker seemed amused that they sat themselves widely separated. "I take it no one else knows you're here?" asked Harry.
"No," he replied.
"So, what brings the Head of the Unspeakables to come and converse with us?" asked Hermione.
"Two reasons. First, I received a report from one of my people," said the man who was an enigma, getting to the point. "She received a visit from Missus Greengrass-Potter's father."
Harry wasn't surprised Croaker knew that little tidbit. He was only surprised that the man felt he needed to mention it.
"Mister Greengrass handed to her a transcript of a discussion you had just prior to Christmas at Greengrass Farm. It was on the nature of souls, bodies and magic. I take it you recall what I'm talking about?"
"I do," replied Harry, with a little nod of his head.
"My... colleague... found the information quite startling. And almost immediately brought it to my attention," said Croaker. "That is, after she took time to... absorb the information. She, as did I, found the information quite… unsettling."
Harry just sat there, not responding; which led Croaker, after a few moments, to smirk back.
'Point to me,' thought Harry. "And, why are you here?" he asked.
"I wanted to meet the young man who was capable of such profound thoughts," replied Croaker. "I also wanted to know how you came to such."
Harry sat back and thought about it for a few moments, before he felt the very light tickle of a Legilimency probe. Almost subconsciously, he batted it away.
"Naughty, naughty!" he smirked back.
Croaker just cocked an eyebrow at him. Apparently, not in the least abashed at being caught in the attempt.
Harry eyed him for a few moments more and said, "As a child I was always able to think. And, by that, I mean really think. Because of my upbringing, I also needed to be very aware of my surroundings, at all times. It was only the interference of the Weasley's potions that interrupted that mental flow. Now that I'm free of the potions, I'm once more able to think."
"Besides the nature of your true three-way soul bond," said Croaker, letting them know he knew the truth about that as well, "What made you think about the nature of souls, bodies and magic?"
"That started it, of course," replied Harry. "But then I started to observe my environment again. I take it you understand the first rule of experimentation is observation?"
Croaker gave him acknowledgement.
a
mere
nod
of
"Mmm. So, I started to observe," said Harry. "And to think about what it was I was seeing."
Harry settled himself more relaxed in his seat. "Ghosts only coming from magicals, for instance. Why? If magic is part of the physical 'you' rather than spiritual 'you' that should not be possible. However, if magic is spiritual rather than physical, residing in the spirit rather than the body, it makes sense. But, of course, it's only a hypothesis at the moment.
"To prove my hypothesis, if I could manage it without too many people finding out about it in the early stages of the research, I'd find a way of making a wand free float without the use of magic. Or, just hang it suspended by a piece of string. Then I'd ask a ghost to 'grip' the wand, as if they could actually hold it. And then I'd ask them to see if they could channel magic through it. Of course, as they can't move the wand making the right gestures, I'd ask them to perform something simple that didn't require gestures; such as, Lumos and Nox. "If I'm right and they can, that would... right there... prove my hypothesis. And, my thoughts on it tell me it would work."
He looked right at Croaker again and asked, "Are you aware of what happened in the Chamber of Secrets here back almost two years ago?"
"Tell me about it," he said, neither confirming nor denying what he knew.
"There was an object, a diary, that contained what I've now come to know was a soul fragment of Tom Riddle. In effect it made the diary a soul container, of sorts," said Harry.
What Harry didn't know was that Croaker felt as if his blood had just turned to ice. He was very thankful that his outward demeanour did not reflect his perturbation. "The enchantments on the diary included a compulsion charm to cause one to begin writing in it. Once they did, they couldn't help but… unburden their soul… onto the pages within. From my own contact with the accursed thing, it would also write back, encouraging you to keep going. Through that process you would begin to fall under the thrall of the soul fragment within," continued Harry.
"By the events of the battle with the basilisk within the chamber, that thrall had reached the point where the soul fragment was drawing off, apparently, the life force of the young victim in an attempt to regain a physical body. It seemed to be working, too.
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