Dinner was actually cordial, inside Harry's aunt and uncles' house, for once. The entire Dursley family has begun to heal from the prolonged exposure to Voldemort's malice. Harry had felt the change almost instantly with the force.
He heard whispers of change and regret from the force as it lingered around each of his family members. This wasn't the only thing he heard however... He could hear the symphony of the blood-wards over the house, trying to enhance the effect of all dark magic inside the house despite there being no source of said magic remaining within.
The ward itself tickled the edges of his vision, like floating specks of woven red threads that slowly dripped down the corner of his eyes. Wards were an extensive topic that Sith sorcery spoke upon and thus he could read the intention of the one who had layed such magics... Protection was not the purpose of this ward. A sharp pang of anger spiked inside Harry's heart as he realised just what that meant.
His aunt was explaining what had happened from her perspective but he didn't care to listen, he already knew they had been forced into abusing him. The wards was enough evidence of that conclusion. Whilst he ignored his aunt's ramblings he started poking the minds of his uncle and cousin with the force. Softly, he attempted to peer into their minds... And what he found made him positively murderous.
Dumbledore... That was who he felt within their minds... His magic. The man's magic was prevalent throughout their mindscapes. Harry could feel the erased memories, the manipulated inhibitions, the roiling mass of paranoia that had once existed inside Vernon's mind. Traces of Voldemort were there as well, but isolated, shielded from Dumbledore's work.
'Who is the Dark Lord we're supposed to defeat? Grindelwald, or, Dumbledore?' His thought was interrupted at the last moment as a distinct popping noise reverberated from the front door. In a moment he stood and grabbed the lightsaber from his right pocket, his thumb pressing against the ignition switch.
There was small tinkle of sound before the locks on the front doors all unlocked themselves. Harry raised his saber, ready for confrontation.
"W-what is going on Harry!?" Petunia cried out in anxiety.
"Is that a lightsaber...?" Dudley asked in confusion.
Vernon was just silently standing and moving over to his family, his face pale.
"I feel the presence of someone I do not wish to meet currently." His remaining family all hunched into one another, their anxiety spiking powerfully in the force.
Harry felt the door being pushed open and the outpouring of magical power from Dumbledore before he even set foot in the home. Narrowing his eyes, Harry pulled out his wand and whipped it to the side, creating several small golems that quickly skittered across the floor and hid under pieces of furniture.
"Is anyone home perchance?" The old man croaked out calmly.
Harry flicked his wand once more and imbued his constructs with several commands for if Dumbledore came into the house. Taking a second more to ensure those programs were imbued, Harry then spun around and grabbed onto his remaining family.
"I am sorry but we must flee. He has been meddling with your minds for a long time and this house is no longer safe." His family looked exhausted and scared beyond wits but he pushed on, grabbing each of them and copying what Sirius had taught him.
Footsteps echoed from the hallway as Harry pulled on his internal magic. With a massive yank and a startling pop the four of them were shunted through space towards a house that was currently the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix. The immensely powerful wards shuddered as his magic bypassed them and dropped him inside the living room of Grimmauld Place.
In an instant three wands were flashing towards him. His perception of time slowed. Remus had shot a bone-crushing curse at him, Moody had flung an Incendio at him and Tonks had chosen a basic stunner. With a flick of his thumb his saber sparked and he twirled into a deflective stance that allowed him to send the bone-crusher back at Moony. The stunner was deflected next and sizzled into a nearby lamp whilst he reached his right hand towards the Incendio and simply syphoned all of the oxygen out of the fire. Remus dodged his own spell and was a second away from casting again when he lowered his wand slightly.
Shock crossed all of their faces as he clicked the ignition switch on his lightsaber and stuck it back into his pocket. He really liked his saber... It helped that it was a gift from Drecarios and that he had over 100 years of training in the Sith arts.
"H... Harry!?" Remus yelled out in shock and mild panic. The other two weren't any better as they immediately put their wands away inside their holsters.
"Hey Moony, good to see you again." The werewolf just stood their stumped much to Harry's mirth.
Shaking his head Harry turned to his family and quickly started introductions. They didn't take too long to be settled onto the couches, their expressions and emotions slowly returning to normal.
"I thought you had fallen through the veil Harry..." Remus stated whilst standing next to him as Tonks got the Dursleys settled in.
"I did, along with Sirius." Moony looked at him with some level of dread painted over his features as he spoke.
"I-is he okay? Is he safe?"
"Perfectly fine. We ended up in a different universe and had some help to heal him..."
"Heal...? What happened to him? W-What brought you back?" Harry sighed at the man's continued questioning.
"Sirius was a hairs breath away from dying Moony. It was only thanks to a friend of ours that he is alive and healthy... After I arrived I was pulling so deeply on my magic that I thought I had started hallucinating. There was a piece of parchment before that had a multitude of people listed as members, I was in so much of a panic that I called for help from anyone who could offer it." A few tears dripped from Moony's eyes as he listened to the story.
"Our friend immediately responded and acted. He comes from another universe entirely and is obscenely intelligent... And he dropped everything to come help us. Hell, he even stayed with us to ensure that we could make it back here... He was the one who healed Sirius and repaired several of his organs, with nothing but his mind. Then he leads us through the maze of tombs we had found ourselves in, gets us all 100 years worth of teachings from a fallen civilisation, steals a space ship and he just casually starts piloting it as if he'd been doing it for decades..." Harry huffed at the sheer absurdity of his life.
He hadn't given himself much time over the last several days to process what had happened but now that he had time he was understanding just how crazy his tale was.
"T-that sounds crazy... Only you could manage something like that Harry." He chuckled at Remus's tired attempt at humour.
"You think I'm crazy, you should see Elsa... The guy just fucking bathes in the madness. Hell, he teleported from another universe just to help some strangers all because I was a part of a chat group he's a part of." The man shook his head in disbelief.
The house was starting to wake up fully now, Tonks having grabbed some food for the Dursleys whilst Moody continued to look outside one of the many windows in the house. Distantly he could heard Molly cooking in the kitchen and the complaining of his best friend Ron as he was set to do another round of cleaning.
He dipped his consciousness into the force for a moment and recoiled a touch as the living force surrounded him immediately. Grimmauld place was brimming with power and shuddering under the strain of it. Harry looked at the walls and found them almost groaning in pain.
'A force Vergence...' His eyes lit up in excitement as he spread his mind throughout the entire house, feeling every single person present as well as the massive foundations beneath that housed millions of runes that had originally created this vergence.
With a groan Harry spread his intention into the wards surrounding the house and requested that Dumbledore be removed from the allowed list, as per his right as heir of House Black. The response was instant and, if one could give emotions to a house, pleased. The old miser was removed immediately and the wards snapped back into full effect, the presence of Dumbledore's influence fading immediately.
After a few seconds of shock Harry couldn't help but guffaw at the personality the house showed and at the fact that the house had just usurped the Fidelius from out under the Headmaster's crotchety old fingers.
With a smile upon his face Harry simply explored the rest of the wards around the house and slipped his intent inside of them. Wards, as he had been taught from Apocrypha and other Sith, usually had a singular purpose unless they were layered. Sith used wards throughout their private chambers and their places of power to deter intruders and protect the contents within... What many didn't know was that the majority of the Sith refused to use wards in combat...
Some Sith saw wards as cowardly or weak. Others had much greater concerns with regard to their secrets being unveiled and shared amongst their rivals. Wards could have won them several wars and yet they let pig-headed arrogance, paranoia and stupidity rule over the logical option. Harry disagreed with all of them. Wards were excellent and from what he could currently see, were perhaps the only force power that could fully utilize a vergence in the force.
His musings lead to him bleeding intent into the wards, changing them on a fundamental level that allowed the wards to adapt to create the best environment inside the property's boundaries. The result was instantaneous and somewhat terrifying.
Every single wall, floor, ceiling and furnishing in the house immediately started brightening, healing, repairing, changing and flexing. The house was metaphorically stretching a muscle it hadn't been able to use for a long time and from what he sensed from the force, the house was ecstatic.
Kreature popped into existence in front of Harry and was kneeling on the floor. The little elf's features were slowly morphing and his magical power was being strengthened. Grimmauld place, under the governance of ignorant fools had fallen to disrepair and darkness... Harry started to think it was his time to flex some of his knowledge to make a better world.
~~~
Privet Drive, Number 4...
Dumbledore grimaced at the wound on his right hand, blood dripping slowly from the bite marks. The golems had been a challenge to put down and even harder to ascertain how they were created. Someone had used the ambient magic in the air to form them and command them... A skill that was even beyond his capabilities.
His first assumption was his old lover, but that was instantly put aside as a possibility. Grindelwald was a genius and a very powerful occultist, of that he was certain, however, this was beyond even his ability to manufacture. Someone had knowledge that he didn't. That irked him.
'Perhaps I should go back to Gr-' The thought cut off. Where had he been wanting to go back to? He knew it was the headquarters of his Order of the Phoenix but he couldn't remember where it was...
'The Fidelius!?' A growl escaped his throat at the idea of someone undermining his work.
'I need to assemble the order at Hogwarts!' He spun on the spot and slammed the elder wand upwards, the house and wards shattering under his magical might. A moment to make sure that his work was done and he apparated straight through the immensely powerful wards of Hogwarts.
~~~
Paris, France...
A man that looked younger than he should have stood atop the Eiffel Tower, the wind whipping his coat back and forth as he stared down at the horrible state of the city. It had been years since he had seen Paris.
Originally he had loved the city for it was one of the central regions of power for Magical kind. Now he disliked it with a passion. The fall of his ideology started here, his first defeat started here, and now the muggles were ruining the country with their extensive breeding.
The city was suffering under the weight of unrestrained immigration, he could smell it. He had been here for a long while now and could tell that crime was on the rise, rapes were a constant and the magical population was under threat... His agents had even spoken to him about the disgusting muggles and their raping of single witches who lived in nearby apartments... It was, unpleasant, to consider.
The purebloods frothed at the mouth to eradicate the muggles. The Muggleborn sneered at the purebloods for being 'bigoted' when magicals were being hurt. The half bloods, the true shakers of the Wizarding World, were becoming angered at the lack of action. It was an atmosphere perfect for ideology to grow... Perfect for his new platform...
He wiped a hand through his white locks and watched the world go by...
"Paris pleure sous des étoiles étrangères. Pourtant l'aube viendra... toujours..."
(Paris weeps beneath foreign stars. Yet dawn will come... always)
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