"And THAT, was a Daedric Prince." Harry said as soon as they all got their bearings back, even as several of them displayed various reactions to the experience.
Snape had gone even paler than usual, Minerva was trembling, professor Sprout was already chugging a bottle of wine before passing it to Horace, Flitwick had collapsed onto the ground in front of the fire, and Hermione had wrapped her arms around herself for comfort. The only ones seemingly unfazed were harry and Albus, though the headmaster was in deep thought after everything they just experienced.
"Not even the Dark Lord himself felt so malevolent and dangerous..." Snape uttered quietly, his voice barely above a whisper. With everyone so quiet though, they all heard him clearly.
"And that was one of the nicer Daedric Princes too." Harry said, earning him numerous incredulous looks.
"Please tell me you're joking..." Sprout whimpered fearfully.
"Sadly, no. Hermaeus Mora cares only about knowledge, though he will do anything he can to acquire it. The other Princes however have different motivations. For Sanguine, the party never ends, and there are no limits. And when I say no limits, I mean NO limits. Sheogorath just does whatever he wants at the time, and is completely unpredictable. For the most part though, the other Princes like gathering souls for their respective domains. More souls equal more power, and they have NO qualms about how they'll acquire them."
"Then what do we do?" Minerva asked as she tried to sound firm.
"We limit their influence wherever we see it. If anyone seems off, then you need to help them or let me know so I can investigate." Harry told them.
"What if we tried to warn them against the Daedra first?" Sprout asked timidly.
"Absolutely not." Harry immediately shot down her suggestion.
"Everyone on Nirn knows how dangerous and deceitful the Daedra are, yet there has never been a shortage of people actively going to them to seek power. Not to mention those who have parents or relatives here that were once direct supporters of Voldemort. If they learn of the Daedra, or that Voldemort is possibly under their influence, then they can be swayed to their side. We need to prevent that at all costs."
"I agree with Harry." Albus said, speaking up in the conversation for the first time.
"Making the Daedra public knowledge will only invite more problems down the line. We should instead become more vigilant to try and limit their influence as much as possible. On that note, there are several things that just transpired that I feel we must discuss before talking about the future. Harry, are you sure that giving that scroll to him was the right idea?"
At that question, they all turned towards Harry questioningly. After all, with everything he said about the Daedra being untrustworthy and dangerous, why would he give such a dark piece of magic to one so willingly? Even if the Daedra could not read it. Yet.
"I didn't choose that one randomly, if that's what you're asking." Harry answered while lowering himself back into his earlier chair.
"Hermaeus Mora doesn't only seek all knowledge. He is very selfish, greedy, and possessive about the knowledge he has collected. He only allows certain people to peruse his collection, and even then he handpicks what they can and can't learn."
"So we don't need to worry about him teaching others how to make Horcruxes in the future?" Hermione asked hopefully.
"Not only that, but if I'm right, then knowledge of them will slowly disappear from this world as well. After all, it is said that Mora erases certain pieces of knowledge to horde for himself, making himself even more powerful." Harry told them, and everyone perked up at the idea that something as dark as Horcruxes might actually be erased in the future.
"Interesting... Now, do you know anything about the Mrityu-Loka he mentioned as well?" Albus asked next. This time, Harry frowned in contemplation.
"I don't... It's not mentioned in any of the lore that I'm aware of regarding Nirn. But there is so much to learn that there are entire swaths that I know nothing about as well. I didn't really have the luxury to study it at my pleasure after all." Harry told him. But Albus just nodded slowly, as if he expected that, while also rising to collect a book from his collection.
"I was unsure if you were aware of it or not, but the words can be found in our world's history at least." Albus said as he returned with one of his books.
"Mrityu-Loka, or 'The abode of death', was a name given to the planet in ancient Sanskrit. It was called such because all living things on the planet, what they considered to be the physical world, must die at some point. But that begs the question..."
"How does Hermaeus Mora know that name...?" Harry finished for him, prompting Albus to tap the side of his nose in affirmation. It also led Harry to believe that the Daedric prince let that part specifically 'slip', so that Harry would go back to him later for more information. Not that he planned to unless it was absolutely necessary.
His curiosity about the whole situation growing, the conversation then continued on to the most frustrating part of the exchange between him and Mora. But Albus then said something that shocked Harry.
"I think I have an idea who the Champion of Mephala is, though it is just a guess." He told them, earning everyone's complete attention.
"How?!" Harry demanded urgently, as he had already been trying to chase that particular lead for several days.
"The title that Mora mentioned. Keeper of Secrets." Albus told them, and Minerva at least seemed to understand as she turned pale.
"You don't think...?!"
"Its too coincidental to be nothing." Albus said, appearing deep in thought as he spoke.
"Well don't bother to inform the rest of us then." Snape sneered irritably from the build up. And surprisingly, Harry found himself agreeing with the slimeball.
"Well, if my hunch is correct, then it is possible that Mephala's Champion was someone who was once a Secret Keeper. A Secret Keeper who revealed said secret, and betrayed some of his closest friends to their deaths and imprisonment. Mora himself said it. A person steeped in betrayal and deceit, who also possesses an ability that would allow them to sneak around even Harry without him ever being the wiser. Peter Pettigrew."
It was as if all of the air in the room had been sucked out at once as Albus dropped that bomb, and suddenly everything clicked into place to Harry. After all, they all knew Peter was an Animagus now after Sirius's trial, and if someone combined his animal form with the Ring of Khajiit...
"!!!"
Harry suddenly looked up sharply as something else dawned on him, something he never even stopped to consider due to how utterly improbable it was.
"We need to find Ron." Harry said while standing from his chair.
"Ronald Weasley?" Albus asked in confusion.
"Yeah." Harry replied, already on his way out the door with Hermione right on his heels.
"Dinner ended a while ago, so he should be in the common room by now." Hermione told Harry as they hurried through the corridors, Albus hot on their heels as he seemingly realized what they were doing.
"I've told Minerva and the others to wait on standby to contact the Ministry. If it truly is Peter, then they will need to know." He said while moving with surprising agility despite his age.
"Do you plan to tell them about the Daedra as well?" Harry asked as they rounded a corner, ignoring the suit of armor that started laughing at them hauntingly.
"Not at all. But Peter is a Death Eater, so they will need to know he's been in the area." Albus said as they finally reached the portrait of the Fat Lady.
"Pass- Oh! Headmaster!" The Fat lady exclaimed when she saw them.
"Good evening dear Lady. I'm terribly sorry to bother you, but we need inside, post-haste." He told her.
"Of course sir!" She declared, and swung open to allow them entry.
They were immediately greeted by the commotion that usually haunted Gryffindor tower when everyone gathered at night before curfew, until they all noticed Albus standing behind Harry and Hermione. And from there it was fairly easy for them to spy Ron thanks to his bright red hair, playing chess of course.
"Ronald, please come with us." Albus requested calmly, making the youngest Weasley boy gulp worriedly. It probably didn't help that the twins then began to hum a slow funeral march as Ron joined them.
"Maybe Percy as well." Harry added, sending a wave of shock through the room as everyone turned towards the Prefect.
If the headmaster had been calling for the twins, then they could understand it. But why on earth was he calling for Percy and Ron?
Of course, the twins were loving this as they watched their brothers leave the common room with Harry, Hermione and the headmaster. But as tempted as they were to listen in, they didn't dare act out around the headmaster himself.
"What's going on Harry?" Ron asked as soon as the portrait swung closed behind them.
"You're not in trouble or anything." Harry quickly assured him. "We just need to know where Scabbers is."
"???"
"Scabbers?" Ron asked, confusion evident as he and Percy looked at one another. "I haven't seen him for a few days, but that's nothing unusual. He'll show himself when he gets hungry enough."
Harry's resisted the urge to roll his eyes when he heard that, as he had NEVER heard of such a well-behaved and trained rat before.
"How long has your family had Scabbers?" Albus asked Percy in particular, as the older of the two.
"Nine...ten years I think." Percy answered dutifully. "Ever since I found him in the garden as a child."
"And is he missing any limbs? Specifically a 'finger'?" Albus pressed next, making both Percy and Ron frown.
"Yeah actually... We thought he lost in a fight with another rat or something." Ron answerd this time.
"Which one?"
"I don't know which finger exactly, but it's on his right forepaw." Percy answered again, and Albus's eyes sharpened as he straightened up.
"Sir? Is there something wrong with Scabbers?" Percy asked worriedly.
"Oh young Percival... If only there was an easy answer for that question..." Albus said while shaking his head wryly.
"Harry, what's going on?" Ron asked Harry this time.
"I'm sorry Ron, but Scabbers is more than likely a Death Eater in disguise. Peter Pettigrew." Harry told him bluntly, and both Weasley boys turned a sickly green when they heard that.
"A Death Eater... But that can't be..." Percy uttered, looking entirely unstable on his feet as he reached out for the wall to balance himself.
"I am afraid it is." Albus told him with a nod.
"We thought he went into hiding somewhere else in the world, and it turns out I've been sharing a room with the fucker for the last eight months." Harry swore angrily.
"I do admit, not even I could have seen this coming. Peter was never one for such daring schemes, as evidenced by how little he ended up in detention compared to your father and Sirius." Albus told him with a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. It was obvious that he too was mentally kicking himself for the oversight.
"Is it possible he's still in the castle?" Ron asked while glancing around, as if they would see a rat scurring about right next to them.
"HA!"
Harry let out a dry, mocking laugh at Ron's question, before his eyes sharpened as he turned compeltely serious. "If he has any brains, that rat will have fled the British islands altogether already."
***
"Papa! Bitte nicht, Papa!"
A little girl screamed in german as she cowered in the corner of her room, watching helplessly as her own father slowly advanced on her.
His body was already covered in the blood of her mother and brother, and his eyes were completely vacant as he loomed over her threateningly. In his hand was a long sword that seemed to pulse vibrantly, reddish veins glowing eerily along the entire blade.
Sitting by himself, down in the kitchen, a portly man with a rattish face remained impassive as he listened to the little girl plead with her father upstairs, and then screaming before her voice fell silent forever. Then, in the silence that enveloped the house, he could only hear the groan of the flooring as the man wielding the sword returned to him.
"Excellent." The man drawled with a confidence and arrogance that none would have expected from him even a year prior. And why wouldn't he be confident?
He was the chosen Champion of a goddess, who had gifted him her own relics to use as he saw fit. On one of his fingers was a ring that guarenteed that when he did not want to be seen, none would see him. And the sword being held by the man he had under the Imperius curse was a blade that strengthened the user significantly for every person killed by one they loved or trusted. Strengthened, by betrayal.
With a wave of his wand, the father found himself returning to his senses as the realization of what he had done filled his mind.
"Nein... NEEEEEEEEEIN!" The man screamed with both despair and horror at what he had done. But he wasn't finished yet.
With another wave of the wand, the father's arms betrayed him as they began to move on their own to raise the sword to his neck. Ignoring his pleas the entire while.
Then, with a quick jerk, the blade sliced through his own flesh all the way down to the bone.
Peter pettigrew only looked up as the body dropped to the floor, and only moved to collect the Ebony Blade from the hands of the corpse as blood spread out to cover the floor.
"Such a marvelous weapon..." Peter said as he admired the blade, which was easily the second most beautiful thing he had ever seen. As for the first...
"Well done my Champion... The blade grows strong under your care." A voice whispered in his head, and Peter looked up with eyes full of adoration.
"My lady!" He exclaimed with fervor from hearing her voice.
"Later, my love..." She whispered, her voice soothing his mind while igniting a fire in his body. "There is work to be done. Shrines and monuments to be built."
"Yes... My mistress..." Peter Pettigrew uttered in affirmation, and then the voice was gone.
The rat in human form then turned his gaze eastward, further from Britain and Harry Potter, whom his mistress warned him so extensively NOT to antagonize. He had work to do.