I let Dumbledore know how the excursion to the Horcrux Cave went, along with the events of the following duel with Antonin Dolohov. He listened intently as I recounted the story of the trip and following fight, nodding at various parts and seemingly frowning in thought at others. When I'd finished telling him my story, he insisted on checking me over for various potential lingering effects of my wounds. The Shield Charm Shard Spell wasn't a concern, but apparently, the Gray Lance that struck me in the shoulder was known to cause a particularly horrific side-effect if left untreated by the counter-curse even if the normal damage of the wound was healed.
Apparently, the curse, Miza Inimii, to use its proper name, had its origins in Vampiric Magic. It had been invented as a way to stake rivals from range. Invented by a Vampiric Retainer of Vlad the Impaler's in the fifteenth century, it drew upon a mystical connection between the spell and the power inherent in the land, siphoning an infentesimal amount of magic off the leylines that has the correct resonance. On a Vampiric Body, this meant staking. On a Mortal body? It meant a deep wound and the energy of the Earth slowly converting your own vital energies into more of itself, resulting in the person that had been struck by the spell slowly transforming into a tree.
Fortunately, Dumbledore knew the counter-curse thanks to Grindelwald's Employment of Romanian Vampires as shock troops during his war. A few cast spells later, and he confirmed that I was good as new. With that out of the way, it was time to move onto the destruction of Voldemort's Horcrux, or at least so I thought. In fact, I'd forgotten a key part of the plotline that was immediately brought back into focus the second I had my third eye look over the Gaunt Ring. There were two distinct magical signatures in the ring, the one I'd remembered was there, which my Third Eye saw as a bloody, ghostly, ritually bound, soul fragment, and another one that registered as a powerful piece of life, death, and rebirth magic. Dumbledore must have realized I'd seen it, because he turned to me and spoke.
"So, you see it too, then? The stone set in the ring is not a part of the Horcrux." Intoned Dumbledore.
"I know." I responded.
"And do you also know what it is?" Questioned Dumbledore.
"I do." I answered. What else could it be? It had to be the Resurrection Stone, the third of the Deathly Hallows, three Artifacts created by Death Himself which formed critical parts of the plots of the later books.
"And might I ask how you know that? I am given to understand that there is very little lore about the Deathly Hallows lying around outside of the collections of various powerful Wizards. Is this more timeline shenanigans?" Pressed Dumbledore.
"You could call it that, I suppose. I know all about the Hallows from how the War played out in my Timeline. Incidentally, Harry should have the Stone. It's the only way to destroy the Soul Fragment in his scar while still keeping him alive." I nodded.
"You don't wish for such an Artifact yourself?" Queried Dumbledore.
"If you're planning to die to achieve your goals, then you've already failed. I don't have a soul fragment in my forehead that requires that, so I'm not planning on dying any time soon." I snorted.
"Indeed." Smiled Dumbledore, amused.
I pried the Resurrection Stone out of the Gaunt Ring with a knife retrieved from my bag of Holding and handed it off to Dumbledore. Dumbledore took the Stone with a grateful nod and stowed it away inside his hideously-patterned lime with pink comets on it, robe. Presumably he had some sort of expanded pocket or mokeskin pouch in there. Once that was done, we moved to a section of the Weasley Garden to begin the destruction of the Horcrux. Dumbledore pointed the Elder Wand at a patch of bare earth and immediately transfigured a small pit into the ground, lined with transfigured stone. The Gaunt Ring was dropped into the pit, before Dumbledore turned to me.
"Would you care to do the honors?" He asked.
"I'd love to." I nodded.
I reached into my bag of holding and pulled out a small flask filled with glowing green, Wildfire Jelly. I tossed the flask into the pit, which shattered. Upon the jelly being exposed to the summer heat, it immediately sublimated into a more unstable form and exploded in a pillar of green Wildfire flames. There was a cracking noise, as if a gunshot had gone off as the Horcrux couldn't handle the mystical flames and Dumbledore and I were forced to shield ourselves from a wave of force that issued from the pit, cracking the transfigured stone and snuffing the Wildfire. We both avoided being knocked down thanks to our quick shields bracing us against the wave of force. A once-over with my Third Eye and a few of Dumbledore's more powerful diagnotic charms revealed no trace of the soul fragment remained.
"Well done. We have just struck a substantial blow against the Dark Lord. I think, perhaps, some manner of reward is in order, yes?" Offered Dumbledore.
"I wouldn't mind having a look at your spell libraries. My own magical tradition is quite different from yours." I opined.
"Yes, I had noticed. I can offer you annotated textbooks from each of Europe's Major Wizarding Schools up to Seventh Year in a number of subjects. Potions, Transfiguration, Charms, Herbology, and Defense Against the Dark Arts, or Battle Magic as they call it in Durmstrang and Koldovstoretz. I can also offer you the same for up to three electives. I would suggest Arithmancy, Ancient Runes, and Either Enchanting or Alchemy, personally. Durmstrang, Beauxbatons, and Koldovstoretz also have various unique electives, such as Stormcraft and the Mind Arts, but I think you will get more use out of the Hogwarts Curriculum." Mused Dumbledore.
"I'll take Alchemy, Ancient Runes, and Stormcraft as my electives." I stated.
"As you will." Shrugged Dumbledore, before he reached into his robes and began drawing out a number of books.
First a set of forty-three, worn, tomes written and annotated in Victorian English were handed over to me and deposited one after the other in my bag of holding. Next, a set of fifty-six books, written in Norwegian and annotated in Nineteenth-Century German were handed over, followed by thirty-nine written and annotated in Turn of the Century French and forty-three written and annotated in Modern Russian. In total, Dumbledore produced one-hundred-eighty-one books from somewhere within his robes which went directly into my bag of holding. He must have had an expanded pocket specifically for those schoolbooks because there's no way that Wizarding Magic would have allowed so much to be put into a single expanded pocket. That was over a quarter of a ton worth of textbooks, after all.
"Do you keep an expanded pocket specifically for your library?" I questioned.
"Do you not?" Retorted Dumbledore with a twinkle in his eye.
"No. I don't. I have my tower for that. Speaking of which, I need your help to figure out where it is. All I can sense through my connection with the Tower is a direction and distance. It's roughly six-hundred-fifty-eight miles to the North and East." I answered.
"That would put it somewhere around the coast east of Hogwarts. Either at the Clagmar Coast , the Poinsear Coast, or someplace similar. I can entreat Madame Rosemerta to put you up at the Three Broomsticks while you search if you like? I somehow doubt you would wish to stay in a school with children, even if school is not yet in session." Mused Dumbledore.
"I have gold of my own, though it's hardly minted Galleons." I frowned.
"Good news, then. Gringotts purchases gold at the current market rate. As they have the monopoly on banking in Wizarding Britain, as well as the contract to mint Galleons, they prefer to buy up as much of the stuff as they can. Something to do with protecting their monopoly by ensuring the bulk of all Wizarding Gold Reserves in Britain rests with the Bank, as I understand it." Informed Dumbledore.
"Then it sounds as if another trip to Diagon Alley is in store before heading North." I grinned.
Any reply, however, was cut short by the Floo Arrival of Mad-Eye Moody who was cursing up a storm in a foul mood and muttering angrily to himself. His right hand had a bandaged index finger and his left, thankfully, held Salazar Slytherin's Locket, though from the muttering, I could tell that he hadn't been pleased to have to go through whatever travails that Twelve Grimmauld Place had put him through to retrieve it. He fixed me with a sour look as he entered the sitting room of the Burrow, magical prosthetic eye locking onto me with a glare. If looks could kill, I'd at least be mildly maimed right now.
"You didn't mention the bloody cabinet would try to take my fingers off if I tried removing the locket. I've got enough bits missing as it is, thank you very much." Accused Moody.
"I didn't know. It wasn't like I was there when the locket was retrieved in my timeline." I defended.
"That's no excuse! I can't be properly vigilant if I don't know what I'm walking into. That's how lads get killed!" Growled Moody.
"It was a cabinet. It wasn't going to kill you." I pointed out.
"You've obviously never heard of Crushing Cabinets, then. You need to do better!" Huffed Moody.
"Be that as it may, Alastor, you have returned reasonably intact. I take it that is the Locket?" Cut-in Dumbledore.
"Aye, that's the Locket. Black was no bloody help, as usual. He just stood there laughing as I tried to get the damned thing out of that cursed cabinet. Obviously, his stay in Azkaban muddled his memories. He used to know better than to taunt me. Perhaps its time for a bit of remedial duelling lessons?" Intoned Moody, scowl turning into a savage grin.
"Later, perhaps. For now, Alastor, we have a second and third Horcrux to destroy. Come." Insisted Dumbledore.
We followed Dumbledore out into the garden once again, heading over to the ruined pit from earlier. Another bout of Transfiguration cleared the dirt and cracked stone from the forceful destruction of the Gaunt Ring. More Transfiguration followed on the heels of the second bout, repairing the pit and smoothing out the stone, which was half-melted from Wildfire and shattered from the force of the Horcrux's destruction. Dumbledore even managed to transfigure the stone into steel to try to avoid a repeat of the destruction that had wrecked the pit the first time around. Once all that was finished, Dumbledore reached into his robes and fished out the silvery form of Ravenclaw's Diadem. That, plus the gold and jade form of Slytherin's Locket were tossed into the pit and hit with a writhing snake of Fiendfyre.
Once more, we were all forced to shield ourselves from the force of the destruction of Soul Fragments. The force from the destruction of two at once not only snuffed out the Fiendfyre, but shattered the steel lining of the pit into shards and cracked my shield open, though I kept my feet thanks to my enhanced strength and physical endurance. Mad-Eye Moody wasn't quite so lucky, his shield cracking open and the force driving him to one knee. Dumbledore, on the other hand stayed upright behind his shield, which buckled but didn't break, a testament to the Old Wizard's power, experience, and skill.
"This was a great day for our cause. We have struck a blow against the Dark Lord that will resound in triplicate. No doubt, he will become more cautious now that he knows his Horcruxes are being targeted, which should buy some time for us to further organize. For now, we should make plans to gather strength for the next phase of the war." Remarked Dumbledore as Moody picked himself up off the ground.
I nodded, spending the next three days devouring spellbooks. The first five years of Charms, Transfiguration, Potions, Herbology, and Defense/Battle Magic all shared a lot of spells in common between the European Schools of Magic. It was, apparently, a product of ICW Education Standards. The International Confederation of Wizards had been founded shortly after the European Wizarding Societies adopted the Statute of Secrecy and was a more proactive and less toothless version of the United Nations. They actually had a certain amount of power to enforce their decrees, which led to the adoption of similar education standards. OWLs or Ordinary Wizarding Levels were the ICW Standard, though every Wizarding Nation apparently had their own version of the British Ministry's NEWT requirements.
What this meant for me was that I essentially ran through the first five or so years of spells in two days, my Adaptable and Ever-evolving powers helping me to learn five years worth of magical education in the first forty-eight hours, with me learning the sixth and seventh-year curriculums in the last twenty-four hours. Of course, this didn't cover specialized knowledge outside of what the various tomes taught, but I was at least a fully qualified Wizard now. What's more, I could cast wandlessly and wordlessly thanks to my Adaptable and Ever-Expanding powers adapting the Wizarding Magic to work in tandem with my Marvel and DCU-Style Sorcery.
For advanced skills, I also had some basic Wizarding Alchemy capability, which when combined with Amestrian, Dresden Files, Dominarian, Marvel, and Planetosi Alchemy all allowed me to craft concoctions unlike anything anyone outside of possibly Nicholas Flamel himself could match. I also was a fully-qualified Runesmitg and Stormcrafter. I was able to invoke the mystical properties of Norse Futhark and Irish Ogham Runes to enchant items permanently, which added to my Dominarian Artifice, DCU Enchanting, and Planetosi Crafting, enhancing the finished product substantially. Similarly, I could use Stormcrafting to call down lightning, call up winds, and summon up rain, snow, hail, fog, and sleet. All of that combined with my various elemental magics to create storms that were greater than the sum of their parts.
The day after I finished devouring the school curriculums, I made my way to Diagon Alley, exchanging gold ingots mined from my Tower Mines and smelted in my workshop for Galleons. I exchanged a hundred of those, five-pound, gold ingots for the equivalent in Galleons, gaining thirty thousand Galleons which went into my bag of holding. I then went on a shopping spree. I bought a number of tomes on other subjects at Flourish and Blotts, from Wandlore and Enchanting to Curse-Breaking and Arithmancy. A full suite of potions ingredients was next, especially the animal-based ones which were harder for me to obtain from my Tower. I also purchased a Mokeskin Pouch, Nimbus Two-Thousand Broom, boxes of Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder, Sneakoscopes, and a half-dozen other things.
By the time I was ready to head north to Hogsmeade, I'd managed to whittle thirty-thousand Galleons down by around one-thousand-five-hundred Galleons. So fortified with equipment, supplies, and new knowledge to look through, I apparated away to the North. My stomach lurched and I stumbled coming out of my Apparation slightly, finding myself not in front of the Three Broomsticks as I expected, but in a field outside of town, my stumbling feet digging furrows into a neatly planted row of dittany flowers.
"Oi! Careful, clumsy git!" Called out an older Wizard sitting on the porch of an aged house on a heal overlooking the field.
"Sorry. Still not used to Apparation." I apologized.
"Bloody Yanks. Be more careful next time!" Snapped the Wizard.
I nodded and assured him I would before setting off into town. It turned out I'd been about one-hundred-fifty meters off of my intended target to the North, though that had probably been a good thing as the streets of Hogsmeade were bustling with afternoon traffic as Witches and Wizards hurried to get their shopping done before dinner. This close to Hogwarts, the start of the Second Wizarding War had practically passed everyone by. I knew that was deceptive, however. The War would come to Hogsmeade sooner than the Village thought, though our destruction of three of Voldemort's Horcruxes might have delayed that, or even put things on a different path entirely. Only time would tell, though that wasn't really my concern. I'd done more helping than I'd planned already, after all. For now, I headed for the Three Broomsticks, eager to establish a Base from which to look for my Tower.
I just hoped I would find it soon and be able to return to Earth-Six-One-Six in time for Tony's party. . .
XXXX
AN: The next chapter is already up on my Patreon, so check the link in the threadmarked post if you guys feel like throwing me a couple bucks to get chapters in advance. Everyone who does is super appreciated and I can't thank my patrons enough.
All right, here we see a bit more of an alteration from Canon. The destruction of three Horcruxes in the Summer between fourth and fifth year for Harry means the Order is actually starting the war from a stronger position than in canon. Voldemort's going to have to play his own movements more cautiously from now on to avoid more lost Horcruxes. That, Ironically, buys the Ministry breathing room to sort itself out and buys the Order more time to mobilize. Not that the Ministry is capable of doing much to sort itself out with how infiltrated it is, but it at least has the chance as opposed to in canon where it stuck its head in the sand for a year before falling.
At any rate, Jan is about done with this trip to the Wizarding World. He's looking to find his Tower and GTFO back to Marvel. Mind you, with Dolohov returning to Voldemort's side with news of Jan hitting the Horcrux Cave, and Voldemort immediately sensing the destruction of three Horcruxes later the same night, it's likely Voldie has made Jan a priority target. He may well be attacked by more powerful Death Eaters again before finding his tower.
Speaking of Voldemort, next up will be an interlude featuring his Inner Circle. Then we'll be back with Jan.
Stay tuned. . .