DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER, IT BELONGS TO J. K. ROWLING ! (though I would definitely like to) I DO HOWEVER OWN THE PLOT TWISTS AND THE OCCASIONAL ORIGINAL CHARACTERS THAT MAY OR MAY NOT POP UP IN THIS STORY.
Author's Note: Hello, this is me again with the seventh installation of Harry Potter and the Second Chance... Should be the last Gringotts chapter... Just how much power was behind the block? Or was it more than just magical power? Well, people, read and find out =)
Note that:
"blah" - normal speech.
'blah' - thoughts, mental communication.
s$blah$s - Parseltongue.
[~blah~] - written correspondence.
(point A) - location change.
|POV| - indicated from whose point of view one part of the story or another is written.
~previously on "Harry Potter and the Second Chance"~
As the goblin from before returned with a tray that had at least 10 small boxes on it, Harry became rather excited. He shifted in his seat anxiously.
Martin chuckled at the reaction:
"Well, then, Mr Potter." - he spoke as the goblin left once again - "Let's get to it. First, take this. The Potter heir ring."
Harry gingerly accepted the ring. It was a rather plain band with the crest done in gold and blue. He put it on the ring finger on his left and ... doubled over as intense pain washed over him.
~on with the story~
CHAPTER SEVEN.
PLOTS AT GRINGOTTS (PART III).
'Fuck what on earth is going on?' - thought Harry as waves of pain not unlike that of the Cruciatus curse hit him one after another
"Oh, Merlin!" - panicked Mr Fernandes, as he rushed to check on the boy - "This shouldn't be happening!"
Finally the pain subsided and Harry fell on the floor, panting rapidly:
"You didn't say it would be like this..." - he ground out.
The man flushed in embarrassment:
"Such a reaction only occurs when there is some curse, or block on the person, I honestly didn't think something like this would happen."
'Oh, Merlin!' - panicked Harry mentally - 'Curse or block? What the hell does that mean? How can we find out? Damn, why is it always me that this sort of shit happens to?'
"Come here, Mr Potter." - said the man and guided Harry to the couch - "Here is a pain relief potion, it'll help." - he gave the child a vial and went on - "Now, as I was saying, this sort of reaction can only happen if there is some barrier that stops the ring from fully recognizing your magic. Since every heir and Lordship ring is different, it also protects the bearer from different things. Therefore we'll cast a diagnosing charm on you and see if there is anything else on you so that this sort of thing doesn't happen with the other rings."
"Will this charm be able to tell us who cast the curse, or block?" - asked Harry, still panting slightly - "I have to know who did this to me... and why..."
"Naturally, it can be done, but with a potion. The potion takes only an hour to make and needs a drop of your blood. It will then list everything that is out of order and why it is so. This however costs 15 galleons, since it is rather volatile." - replied the wizard.
'Oh this just gets better and better...' - thought Harry sarcastically, as he regained his composure and inspected the ring that was now on his finger - 'Whenever I think that no matter what happens, it won't surprise me, life just throws something even worse at me.'
"Absolutely. I'm willing to pay as much as necessary to know who decided to stick their nose where it doesn't belong." - said the boy.
Martin smiled at the child:
"Well then, you can a have a nap while I see about getting that potion ready for you, Mr Potter."
Harry gave him a grateful smile and stretched out on the couch, deciding that a short nap really wouldn't hurt.
(same place, an hour later)
|dream sequence|
With a quiet thud his body hit the ground and across the battlefield Lord Voldemort gave out an inhuman shriek as he too collapsed, convulsing in agony. Harry had no idea how he could see this, but he knew it was no dream. It was his past, or rather what happened later. He wondered if this too was a part of the spell Weasley cast, if he was supposed to see this, and if so, then what he had to learn from seeing this? The young man walked over to where his enemy lay shaking in pain, as his ruby red eyes were fixed on the dead form of the Savior.
"How can this be?" - panted the Dark Lord incredulously - "He wasn't... there is no way he was..."
Harry frowned, he had no idea what the man was mumbling about, but he could only figure out that it had something to do with him. Then Potter turned around, as a shadow fell on Voldemort, and came face to face with a smirking Dumbledore. The image was a rather disturbing one. The old man sneered at his fallen enemy:
"Well, Tom. This is it for you."
"As if!" - scowled Voldemort - "Your precious Boy-Who-Lived is dead and no one else can kill me."
Dumbledore began laughing:
"So naive, Tom! Did you really understand it like that?" - he chuckled in obvious amusement, as he glanced in the general direction of Harry's body - "Actually, now that he's dead, anyone can kill you. After all, the boy was your last Horcrux... and ..."
|end of dream sequence|
"Mr Potter, it's time to wake up!" - came Martin's voice and jerked Harry back to the present. The boy was glad that the potion was ready, but he wished he could have heard what the old man was about to tell Voldemort. He knew it had something to do with both Tom and himself and he was beyond curious. Still the shock he already received was huge - he was Voldemort's horcrux, he had a piece of the man's soul inside of him... and as much as it should have disgusted him, it didn't it gave him an odd sense of peace, the knowledge that he was never truly alone - and the notion was absolutely ridiculous. Harry shook his head, driving away the ridiculous idea and focusing on what Mr Fernandes was saying.
"... now we only need to add a drop of your blood, Mr Potter. Can you do it yourself, or would you like me to help?"
Harry debated mentally for a moment and then held out his hand uncertainly, figuring that a 10 year old child wouldn't be that eager to make himself bleed, even in such small amounts.
"Okay, then. This won't hurt at all." - and it really didn't... not that Harry thought it would, having already experienced much more horrible things. The boy watched as Martin added the drop of blood into the greenish potion and after a second it became a vivid purple - "Now you have to drink it, Mr Potter. Once you do so, I will cast a diagnostic charm on you, which will list all charms, hexes, curses, blocks and the like on your person as well as give us the magical signature of the caster."
"So we will know who cursed me?" - asked Harry.
"Exactly so, Mr Potter." - came the determined reply - "Now drink up."
So Harry downed the disgusting substance and waited. For a moment he thought the potion didn't work, but then a bluish glow enveloped him. He couldn't see much more than that, but from the expression on Martin's face, he knew it wasn't good.
'Merlin, I really hope whatever they did to me can be undone.' - thought the boy, as he waited for the wizard to speak - 'I swear, whoever is responsible will sure as hell pay for this.'
|Martin Fernandes' POV|
"Holly mother of Merlin!" - thought the wizard as he stared at the scan results in total shock - "Who would even be powerful enough to cast these? And why would anyone put such powerful magic blocks on a 1,5 year old toddler? It's totally inhuman."
"So?" - asked Harry eagerly, but with a hint of fear in his voice - "What else is there?"
Martin sighed and gave the boy a smile, though it was a bit forced:
"Well, there is huge magical block on your core, it holds back at least 60% of your magical potential. Also there is a blood block present, I don't quite understand. According to this, it holds back blood traits of your mother's family. Which should not be possible, since she was a muggleborn... Apart from that there are several memory spells on you. As well as a curse that blocks a Mate's call and dark residue energy, which I believe is from your encounter with You-Know-Who. Whoever did this to you would be in very deep shit, should this ever be made public. "
"So does that mean you don't know who did this?" - asked the child desperately.
"From what the scan says, it seems to be headmaster Dumbledore... but that is plain impossible. So obviously something went wrong."
|end of Martin's POV|
'Yeah, right!' - snorted Harry mentally, trying to reign in his anger. He really wanted to kill the old man. Now more than ever he needed to hear the prophecy word for word and not from Dumbledore either. For if his fears were right, then the real enemy might not be Voldemort at all. - 'I really need to get to that library. The sooner the better.'
"But you can at least get these things off, right?" - he asked desperately.
Mr Fernandes scowled to himself, as he studied the received data:
"Well, the goblins can do a ritual. Or you can continue putting on the rings... either way it will hurt a lot. The decision is up to you, Mr Potter."
'Damn... I want to get it over with, screw the pain...' - thought Harry, trying to pick the right thing to do - 'But what would a 10 year old choose? Especially if it'll hurt one way or another?'
"Just how much will it hurt?" - he asked cautiously, not liking the pitying look he got from the man.
"Quite a bit, which ever option you choose. You can of course choose to leave things as they are..."
"NO!" - came the instant reaction - "I'll go with the rings!" - blurted out the boy.
Four hours later Harry was once again lying on the couch in Mr Fernandes' office, recovering from having the blocks removed. He raised his hand and made hia ring flash through all the houses he was now lord of - Gryffindor, Slitherin, Ravenclaw, Peverell, Emrys, Evans, Blackridge, Evergreen, as well as the two families he was Heir to - Potter and Black.
While the pain he had to go through was worse then Voldemort's Crucio, in Harry's opinion it was more than worth it.
[Author's Note: And that's it for right now. The last poll is still going. The most popular choices are Remus; Malfoys; & Bones.
Waiting for more reviews =)]