Inheriting a Draconian Mantle – Book 2

By Stargatesg1fan1

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the recognized characters or universes within. If I did…I would have ended the Inheritance Cycle with Arya and Eragon in love and entangled in a heated, naked, and sweaty mess in their bed. Harry Potter would have been smarter and taken every opportunity he had to make love to the gorgeous Miss Granger and when they were old enough he would have made her the next Mrs. Potter.

Females Bonded by Harry Potter So Far (In Books One and Two):

Nymphadora 'Nym' Tonks is played by Sarah Chalke

Hermione Granger is played by Emma Watson

Susan Bones is played by Karen Gillian

Cho Chang is played by Katie Leung

Ginny Weasley is played by Julie McNiven

IaDM – IaDM – IaDM – IaDM – IaDM – IaDM – IaDM – IaDM – IaDM – IaDM - IaDM

September 1st Kings Cross Station…

Harry sat down in a compartment and waited for his friends to arrive. The mage was early. Hermione and Nym had insisted on traveling with their families for the traditional sendoff even if their boyfriend could have simply teleported them to the station. The quiet of the train gave the Potter male time to reflect upon his interesting summer. One particular evening stood out in Harry's mind.

It was the day before Harry's birthday when an interesting visitor showed up in his bedroom. Saphira and her Rider sensed the moment the house elf popped into existence in his bedroom at Number 4. Saphira had quite a bit of room to maneuver in the substantially expanded room. The dragon brought one clawed foreleg down upon the elf, knocking it to the floor and pinning it between her talons. The elf was so petrified in fear he didn't think to pop away. Harry reached out with his magic and held the elf in place using the skill of remote teleportation. The wizard could also prevent others from teleporting using his power.

"Dobby be knowing Harry Potter is a great wizard but not that he is great enough to stop an elf from popping," the elf declared, not fully perceiving the fact that Saphira was on top of him but knowing he was pinned by something dangerous through instinct alone.

"Why are you here?" Harry demanded.

"Dobby is unsure how to say this…it is very difficult," the house elf began.

"I know you are probably restrained by the enchantment enslaving your kind. Just tell me as much as you can. I'm quite perceptive," the warlock assured. A moment later the senses of dragon and Rider picked up a distinctive scent from the house elf. "For example, I can already tell you serve the Malfoys."

"Harry Potter is a great wizard," Dobby declared in awe.

"I have a great nose," the mage replied while going on a hunch and shifting into his natural form, shocking Dobby speechless for several moments.

"An old one!" Dobby cried, before bursting into tears. "Never did Dobby imagine he would see the day that an old one walked these lands again."

"I take it by your reaction you've heard of my kind before," Harry prompted.

"Yes Sir, there be tales of the old ones. The old ones were powerful and tall. One old one named Treyis the Reality Bender saved these lands he did," Dobby declared.

The name Dobby spoke resonated deeply with the Rider.

"Saved these lands from what?" Harry probed.

"Sidhe," Dobby whispered with a shiver.

"The Sidhe were like dark fairies right? They had no regard for other forms of life due to their immortality," Harry clarified, remembering some of the descriptions from Merlin in the history records provided by the golden tome.

"Yes Sir," Dobby agreed. "Treyis saved Britain."

"Why have you come here tonight Dobby?" Harry questioned.

"To warn Harry Potter," the house elf answered. "There is a terrible danger at Hogwarts this year!"

"A danger she can't handle?" The Rider asked as his dragon allowed herself to become visible to the house elf while letting the creature up.

"A dragon," Dobby squeaked before running behind Harry in fright.

"A jumpy little creature," an amused Saphira sent.

"Don't worry Dobby. Saphira doesn't pose a threat to you," the wizard assured.

"Unless he poses a threat," the dragon added.

"Dobby, I can take care of myself. Saphira will look out for me. I will be better able to combat whatever threat you are here to warn me about at Hogwarts. Trust me when I say I can handle whatever your masters are plotting," the intelligent warlock assured.

It was obvious Malfoy was plotting some scheme to harm those in Hogwarts. Harry would just have to be on the lookout. It didn't take much further convincing to get Dobby to agree that the Rider was safe after seeing Saphira. The elf returned a stack of letters the little blighter had been intercepting for most of the summer before popping away. Once Harry had realized his mail wasn't going through the mage had simply started teleporting over to his friends' houses and conversing with them in person. In any case Harry had been quite happy with himself for putting some powerful noise cancelling enchantments on his room. The Dursleys had been entertaining Vernon's boss from the Grunnings Drill Company during Dobby's visit.

Harry's room was quite well insulated from the outside world with wards learned from Merlin's golden tome. The wards kept anyone on the outside from detecting the fact that Saphira was living at Number 4 even though she wore a collar that made the wards redundant.

The Rider also recalled the results of acquiring that year's school supplies. Hermione had developed a minor attraction to one Gilderoy Lockhart whose books were required reading for Defense Against the Dark Arts that year. It hadn't taken the witch's boyfriend long to destroy that crush by proving he was far more handsome than Lockhart. The mage had simply transformed quite often into his base elf-like form and walked around Hermione naked under concealment enchantments that made it so only she and anyone else he desired could see him. Harry had already read all of the required material for that year and had surmised that Gilderoy Lockhart was a complete fraud. If Lockhart annoyed the Rider as much in real life as he did via literary form then if the pair ever met Gilderoy might not survive.

Harry had not yet found the time due to school preparation to read the latest issue of the Daily Prophet or he would have known Lockhart was the new DADA teacher at Hogwarts.

It was at twenty minutes past ten that students slowly started trickling onto the Hogwarts Express. Soon Hermione showed up followed quickly by Nym. The two witches took seats on either side of their lover. Susan, Cho, Neville, and Hannah arrived as the clock approached elven. After the train had begun moving the door opened one more time in order to admit a short redhead. Harry had sensed Ginny Weasley coming and had allowed her into the compartment because he found her quite interesting.

"Can I sit here?" Ginny asked nervously while looking at the older magicians and trying to hang onto her heavy and worn trunk.

"Sure you can," Hermione agreed while Harry grabbed the redhead's trunk and easily hoisted it into the luggage rack. "Have a seat."

Ginny sat beside Hermione in the suddenly longer bench courtesy of a Rider's magic. Hermione began introductions.

When Harry was introduced the youngest Weasley's face turned as read as her hair and she stammered, "Haary…Pottter."

"Relax girl," Nym said. "Harry doesn't bite…unless you want him to," the sixth year prefect added with a smirk while sharing a secret expression with Hermione.

"Tell us about yourself Ginny? What do you like to do for fun?" Susan coached the younger witch.

"I like to read," Ginny hesitantly replied.

"What kind of books do you like to read?" Cho inquired.

"Adventure," Ginny said while glancing nervously in Harry's direction.

"Oh ho, we have a fan of the Harry Potter adventure series here," Hannah pointed out perceptively. "You see Ginny we like to tease Harry about the series. He never knew anything about his fame very long ago. Those books are just stories."

"Stories that had others making money from lies about me," Harry pointed out. "But that's all stopped now. My lawyer has seen to that."

The group fell into an easy discussion where they learned more about Ginny Weasley and caught up on any adventures missed during the summer. Harry had visited with each of his friends throughout the summer and spent most of his time with Hermione and Nym. But the Rider had also experienced several pool parties with his best male friend where the witches tortured him and Neville with as much exposed skin as possible without appearing indecent. Hermione and Nymphadora happily relieved their mate's stress after those parties. As the train ride progressed Saphira and her bonded companion mentally probed the magical artifact in Ginny's trunk without giving away what they were doing.

"I can sense the evil from that book. It has an essence to it…a human like essence but not quite fully human," Saphira projected to Harry.

"We'll retrieve it from Ginny's dorm tonight when everyone else is asleep. I think whatever is enchanted into the journal is trying to possess her," Harry suggested, feeling something familiar about the journal.

Harry wasn't willing to risk remotely teleporting something so evil until he knew more about it, at least in a compartment full of his friends where the backlash could be severe.

The ride to Hogwarts passed quickly. Before too long, Harry found himself sitting at the Gryffindor table beside Hermione and Neville waiting for the Sorting to begin. The Potter mage got a nasty surprise when he noticed Gilderoy Lockhart sitting at the head table. Hermione filled her boyfriend in on the details of Lockhart's new position while the Sorting went on. Ginny was sorted into Gryffindor and sat down beside Hermione with a smile on her lips. The feast passed in an enjoyable meal.

"Mr. Potter, the Headmaster would like to see you in his office," McGonagall informed Harry as the students were filing out of the Great Hall.

After learning the password from the Transfiguration teacher the Rider slipped out of the hall.

"It's time to teach whitebeard a lesson he won't soon forget," Saphira declared while her bonded companion placed a hand on her foreleg and teleported the pair silently and invisibly into the Headmaster's office.

The old man was staring at the door to his office with a smug expression on his wrinkled features. Fawkes was noticeably absent from his perch.

"Light it up Saphira," Harry prompted.

A stream of flame hit Dumbledore's desk. The dragon fire reduced the desk to ash in moments. Dumbledore had leapt back from his desk and erected a powerful shield against fire the moment the flames had appeared. Harry allowed himself to become visible by moving away from Saphira.

"Harry!" The old man shouted. "You will obey me!"

"I don't think so old man. Your potion had no effect on me," Harry asserted, choosing to allow Dumbledore to think the potion had actually been taken and had no effect instead of letting the old man think there was avenue for future attempts.

Harry noticed a silvery and shimmering material buried in the ash of the desk, a cloak. As the Rider flipped out of the way of Dumbledore's first spell he reached out with his magic and remotely teleported the invisibility cloak into his trunk. Not many types of matter could survive dragon fire. A normal invisibility cloak certainly shouldn't have survived Saphira's flame. Dumbledore was quick with his spell work but still too slow to hit the immortal Potter. The dragon Rider pivoted out of the way of oncoming spells before closing the distance with the old manipulator. Faster than Dumbledore could comprehend his left arm came free from his body before the end of the bloody limb came up and smashed him upside the head. Dumbledore crumbled to the ground.

Harry cauterized the wound before spitting on the unconscious old man.

"I thought you said you'd kill him," Saphira pointed out, recalling the last time her companion warned white beard.

"I won't let Dumbledore have the release of death so quickly. He will suffer for his crimes," Harry asserted before withdrawing the Elder wand.

With several flicks of the fabled foci and some whispered words the arm became enchanted so that it would be unable to be reattached either magically or mundanely. The quite strong immortal Potter leapt onto Saphira's back. The pair vanished from Dumbledore's office and reappeared in Gryffindor tower. Saphira entered the staircase leading into the girls' dorms and found her way into the first year room. Ginny Weasley was sleeping in a four poster bed. Harry and Saphira both had no trouble sensing the enchanted journal in Ginny's belongings. The wizard grasped the journal while wearing specially protected gloves. He would store it in his trunk forest when he returned to his dorm. The wards in the trunk forest would keep the journal from causing any harm until it could be studied or destroyed.

With their work completed the immortal pair left the girls' dormitory.

IaDM – IaDM – IaDM – IaDM – IaDM – IaDM – IaDM – IaDM – IaDM – IaDM – IaDM

Dumbledore did not make an appearance at breakfast the next morning but this was not unusual. The old man had in fact already replaced his lost limb with a magically conjured construct that functioned like a normal appendage. The limb was naturally silver in color but Dumbledore had managed to layer it with illusions. This was not some arcane and lost spell but it was an enchantment which required a great deal of power to cast, something most magicals couldn't muster. Dumbledore was spending the morning acclimating to the feel of the new limb and its different sensitivity compared to his original limb.

"It looks like we have double Herbology with the Hufflepuffs first thing after breakfast," Hermione commented as she scanned her recently distributed schedule.

"There's nothing quite as great as starting off the day in the greenhouses," Neville declared with a grin.

"Tree hugger," Harry teased.

The two non-magically raised had explained the non-magical term to their pureblood friend the previous year but Ginny, who was sitting with the second years, simply looked confused. Neville took pity on the redhead and explained. Hermione also drew Ginny a map to the younger witch's classes for that first day. Shortly after, the three elder magicians departed for the greenhouses. Professor Sprout, the kindly Head of Hufflepuff House, was waiting in greenhouse three for the class to arrive. The three Gryffindors were some of the first students to show up. The third greenhouse contained more exotic and dangerous plants which was why the second years had never been inside.

"Are we working with mandrakes today Professor?" Neville questioned his favorite teacher after spotting rows of earmuffs lining the work table.

"Five points to Gryffindor Mr. Longbottom. That was an excellent deduction," the pleased witch told her favorite second year. "We will indeed be repotting mandrakes." By then the rest of the class had filed in so Sprout dove right into the lesson. "Who can tell me some of the properties of mandrakes?"

Hermione allowed Neville to answer this question. The book loving witch had come a long way from being the person who had to answer every question first.

"The mandrake works as a powerful restorative to turn anyone cursed or petrified back into their original state. But the mandrake's cry can be fatal if the cry is from an adult mandrake," Neville explained.

"Take another ten points for Gryffindor," Sprout announced. "Mr. Longbottom is correct. Mandrakes are an essential ingredient to the most powerful restoration potions. The mandrakes you see here are too young to be fatal," the educator explained while gesturing towards rows of purplish green plants with tiny roots sprouting out like tufts of hair. "Everyone obtain a pair of earmuffs. When I tell you to, put the earmuffs on and do not take them off until I indicate to do so. Put them on. You want to make sure your ears are completely covered," the instructor explained after having cast a spell which made her words appear in English text in the air next to her so everyone could understand her directions.

Sprout then demonstrated what to do by grasping the top of the mandrake firmly and pulling. A quite ugly baby looking creature was in place of where roots were on other plants. The professor plunged the green skinned creature into a larger pot of compost. Even through the earmuffs Harry's perceptive hearing had picked up the creature's cry. The Rider had been prepared though and had a silencing spell in mind to layer over his elf-like ears.

"Don't neglect your earmuffs or you could be knocked out for several hours. There will be four students per tray. I have a large supply of pots over there next to a large supply of compost. Watch out for the Venemous Tentacula because it is currently teething and is fussy," Sprout directed. As she spoke the Herbology professor slapped the nearby dark red plant which had been slowly extending its tentacles around her arm.

"Well this should be an interesting lesson," Susan declared as she joined Harry and Hermione.

Neville and Hannah worked in another group. There were an odd number of students so Sprout let Susan, Harry, and Hermione work together without a fourth person.

The mandrakes proved to be more resistant to repotting than the professor originally made it seem. The little buggers kicked, clawed, and bit anyone who grasped them. Harry proved superior to the task with his enhanced strength and speed. The mage also discovered that a small bit of stunning magic channeled through his fingertip into the ugly baby creatures put them out long enough to repot them, an advantage he quickly shared with his two companions.

Susan didn't show any surprise at her handsome friend's wandless abilities. She had long ago learned that Harry Potter was just full of intriguing secrets. That lack of surprise didn't mean the redhead wasn't impressed with the skilled celebrity. By the end of the lesson the other groups were all sweaty and tired while Harry, Hermione, and Susan felt fine. Transfiguration class the next period was review so it wasn't much of a challenge for the Rider and his friends. Most of the other students had seemingly forgotten the previous year's lessons but the close group of friends had made sure to practice often over the summer with their magic. With no monitoring on their wands thanks to Harry the group of friends were free to use magic outside of school whenever they liked.

Over the summer Harry had been working on expanding some of his Rider talents. One such talent was the ability to be constantly aware with his powerful mind of the intentions and some of the more passionate feelings of those around him. This low level telepathic/empathic ability allowed a Rider to sense threats in the vicinity. The mage had been doing this unconsciously for some time since his bonding with Saphira. But after working at it over the summer the warlock could sense more than just a few dozen people surrounding him but hundreds. Over time the sorcerer had the feeling he would eventually be able to sense thousands. Through this ability the Potter mage had discovered he had one very overzealous fan in a first year boy named Colin Creevey.

Harry easily avoided contact with Colin by telepathically telling the boy that he could not find Harry Potter, even with the celebrity sitting right in front of the boy. This was somewhat like a Notice-Me-Not charm but much more focused. That particular charm was better used for groups while this telepathic suggestion worked well in smaller numbers.

Unfortunately after lunch another unpleasant encounter would be required to occur. The second year Gryffindors had DADA with Lockhart first thing after lunch. Once the class was seated Lockhart retrieved Neville's copy of Travels with Trolls.

"Me," Lockhart had just enough time to say before he collapsed to the floor thanks to the stunning magic delivered by an invisible Saphira.

"Well we're not going to spend an entire year listening to that twit prattle on and not learn a thing," Harry declared as he stood up.

"What did you do to Professor Lockhart?" Hannah inquired, having a bit of a crush on the twit.

"He's just sleeping," Harry assured.

As the students had filed into the classroom a few minutes previous the Rider had taken the time to enter each one of their minds briefly and plant a telepathic suggestion which would ensure they wouldn't talk about what happens in the DADA classroom that year in regards to anything abnormal.

"Then how will we learn?" Seamus questioned.

"I will teach you," Harry announced.

"What makes you think you are qualified to teach us, Potter?" Justin Finch Fletchley demanded.

The Rider turned his gaze upon the second year Hufflepuff while pointing his right fist at Lockhart's desk which was covered in pictures of the blonde twit. Faster than any of the mortals present could comprehend the desk exploded as Harry opened his fist. Telekinesis shattered every bit of the wood and metal structure. Silence pervaded the room for several moments as the second years stared in awe.

"I did that to Voldemort at the age of one year old," the celebrity announced.

After several moments had passed, Justin replied in a squeaky voice, "You're qualified."

As the desk repaired itself under the power of Harry's repairing charm he began with, "Now class, today we will learn the stunning spell. It isn't traditionally taught until fourth year but it's a damn useful piece of magic and I believe you can all accomplish it."

As the lesson progressed none of the second years in the DADA room doubted that their unorthodox instructor was fully qualified to teach them. With his level of telepathy and magical perception Harry was able to tell where each of his pupils struggled with the spell and correct them expediently. As such by the end of the lesson every student had managed several stunning spells with varying levels of power. This lesson would mark the tone for the rest of the year in DADA for that group.

IaDM – IaDM – IaDM – IaDM – IaDM – IaDM – IaDM – IaDM – IaDM – IaDM – IaDM

On the first Saturday of the year Oliver Wood found out it was not wise to try to force your way into Harry Potter's bed curtains. The Quidditch Captain spent the morning unconscious on the floor beside the green eyed mage's bed. The curtains were heavily enchanted to prevent anyone from gaining access who the Rider didn't want in his bed. Harry found Wood when he returned from one of his frequent nighttime wanderings with Saphira. Saphira and her companion had spent the evening in their trunk forest. Saphira had been showing Norbert how to survive in the wild while her companion had been hard at work deciphering the enchantments on the diary taken from Ginny Weasley. Harry was close to figuring out what enchantments were protecting what he by then realized was a Horcrux, a container for a sliver of an evil magician's soul.

"What are you doing sleeping outside of my bed curtains Wood?" Harry queried after sending a silent enervate at the sixth year.

"What hit me? I tried to wake you," Wood explained as he sat up.

"You tried opening my curtains. They're warded against anybody but me," Harry announced.

"And me, and Hermione, and Nym," Saphira added.

"He doesn't need to know that," the Rider sent to his dragon.

"Bloody hell Potter," Wood muttered. "You're only a second year and you already have warded bed hangings. I'm glad I won't be around Hogwarts when you start getting into the upper years. Well we can't skive off practice. Meet me down at the pitch as soon as possible."

The dragon Rider hadn't lost any of his touch over the summer. When the other Gryffindor team members learned of their Captain's run-in with Harry's enchanted bed hangings they teased the sixth year mercilessly and thanked the celebrity profusely for the slight reprieve from the before dawn awakening. The green eyed sorcerer was most happy to have helped his friends escape some of the harsher effects of Oliver's zeal for Quidditch. Oliver was just pleased to see his star Seeker was in prime condition after summer break.

Oliver wouldn't have been so pleased if he had been made aware of the Slytherin's new broom acquisition. Lucius Malfoy had purchased his son's way onto the Slytherin team by buying the entire team new Nimbus 2001 brooms. When Oliver had booked the pitch for the morning practice Snape had written a note giving the Slytherin's permission to use the pitch instead to train their new seeker and to rub the new brooms in the faces of the Gryffindor team members. But thanks to the later practice time and a little telepathic manipulation of the weak minded Slytherin Quidditch Captain, Markus Flint, the Gryffindors and Slytherins had not encountered one another.

October rapidly arrived sooner than the students of Hogwarts would have expected and with it a chill in the atmosphere. Numerous magicians came down with colds due to the weather but Madam Pomfrey ensured the magical populace of the castle was well supplied with curative potions. By then Oliver had discovered the Slytherin team's new advantage and was working the Gryffindor team ever harder in response. Harry didn't mind. The elf-like Rider had much greater endurance than his mortal school mates. Still, when he became drenched and muddy from a rainy practice the warlock loved to teleport back to Gryffindor tower where he would enjoy a hot shower.

It was on one such Saturday that Harry came down into the common room to the sight of a large magical salamander shooting around Gryffindor common room with a Filibuster firework propelling it and shooting off sparks and loud noises.

"Those Weasley twins certainly know how to keep things interesting," Neville mused.

"No doubt," the freshly showered Potter agreed while amusedly watching Percy yelling at the two Gryffindor beaters whom Harry had gotten to know quite well from Quidditch.

Later that night Harry was working on one of his newest projects. During his nighttime wanderings of the ancient castle with Saphira the Rider had located a cabinet which hummed with magical energy to the two beings highly sensitive to arcane energies. It had taken a few days before a magical analysis with many different types of diagnostic spells and potions revealed the cabinet was tied to another object. Harry wasn't quite sure what the tying enchantments were meant to do but had his suspicions. To confirm those suspicions the mage had created a test device which would resonate with a certain magical signature once activated that would draw dragon and Rider right to it.

"Are you ready?" The sorcerer asked his dragon.

"I am ready," Saphira confirmed.

Harry remotely teleported the test device into the cabinet and sensed the burst of magic signaling the device's departure from the room he was working in. Immediately the Potter mage followed suit and took himself and his dragon towards the location he sensed the beacon resonating strongly. The pair appeared several hundred feet above the beacon's location so that there wasn't any chance of appearing inside of solid matter. Although in most cases a magician's arcane instincts kept them from having such accidents it was best not to chance it.

The two bonded beings immediately recognized the location below them as Diagon Alley. More specifically the pair was hovering over Knockturn Alley. As Saphira glided towards the shop where the beacon was contained within her Rider slipped on an enchanted pair of glasses which allowed him to see through solid matter and even enchantments. There were quite a few wards over the shop, most of them highly deadly. But the shop's wards were designed to keep intruders out. Once inside the shop the wards weren't an issue. When he had a good view of the inside of the shop the wizard teleported with his dragon into a clear space which had already expanded to accommodate Saphira by the time she fully reentered normal space.

"It's identical to the one we have," Saphira commented after examining the cabinet standing before her where she could sense the beacon coming from.

"We'll be able to experiment with it later once we get it out of here but I suspect the cabinets transport objects between them. This transportation method goes through Hogwarts' wards. This magic could be quite useful if we can duplicate it," Harry suggested while placing a hand on the cabinet.

"It could indeed," Saphira agreed just before the pair along with the cabinet disappeared from the shop.

Neither Rider nor dragon felt bad about taking the cabinet given the dark nature of the shop it had been in. The shop Borgin and Burke was infamous for the black magics it bought and sold.

IaDM – IaDM – IaDM – IaDM – IaDM – IaDM – IaDM – IaDM – IaDM – IaDM – IaDM

Halloween had soon arrived. After a very tasty and filling feast Harry was ready to carry out the next step in his investigation of the black magic saturated diary of one T.M. Riddle. It hadn't taken too many testing spells for the Rider to figure out what the diary was. Wizards called the black magic construct which contained a piece of a magician's soul enchanted into an object a Horcrux. Merlin's tome contained quite a bit of information about Horcruxes including how to destroy them. Saphira's dragon's breath could destroy a Horcrux easily enough.

A useful charm revealed the diary's date of creation. By searching the school library records for any mentions of a person named Riddle in that time period Harry learned T.M. stood for Tom Marvolo. Riddle was the head boy of Hogwarts in 1943 and had won a special services award. The photograph in the periodical which announced the award had been quite revealing. Riddle's eyes were familiar to Harry. Saphira and her companion recognized Riddle's eyes from their encounter with the possessed Quirrell the year before. Tom Marvolo Riddle was none other than Lord Voldemort.

Harry had identified many of the enchantments on the Horcrux diary and knew it was set to interact with whoever wrote inside of it. There was a life draining enchantment on the diary that would slowly drain the life out of whoever possessed the diary and feed that life force into the soul fragment contained within the Horcrux. The life draining enchantment took a long time to work and was quite weak over the short term. An adequately prepared magician could defend against it. With his bond with Saphira there was little risk at all of Harry becoming possessed or having his life force stolen.

Saphira and her Rider felt it was worth the risk to find out if Riddle had made anymore black soul containers. Additional wards had been created within Harry's trunk forest to ensure his safety. Norbert and Saphira were both ready to destroy the diary and soul fragment within using their magical fire should anything go wrong.

"Be careful little one," the large female dragon cautioned.

"Of course," Harry agreed while opening the journal at a desk transfigured in a clearing in the trunk's forest.

Using a non-magical pen the wizard began to write in the diary.

The wizard's words glowed brightly for several moments before vanishing into the page.

"Hello, my name is Harry Potter," Harry wrote.

Several moments later the ink reappeared forming different words.

"Hello Harry Potter. I am Tom Riddle. How did you come by my journal?" The soul fragment inquired.

"I found it thrown in the fire hearth and thought it interesting the journal survived," Harry lied.

"Then it was lucky I recorded my memories in a way harder to dispose of than ink. I always suspected there would be those who didn't want this journal read," Riddle declared even as the Rider felt the life force draining ward activate.

With Saphira's help the mage channeled a small amount of magical energy, just a trickle, into the diary while willing the energy to mimic life energy.

"Why wouldn't anyone want this journal to be read?" Harry probed.

"The memories contained within this journal tell of terrible events covered up at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry," Riddle bragged.

"Someone with as much forethought as you would surely have created other repositories of your memories to get the word out about the cover up, surely?" The Rider suggested in an inquiring tone, playing up to the dark sorcerer's ego.

"I had planned to after I left school and am sure I succeeded," Riddle revealed, confident that the boy writing in the journal didn't know what a Horcrux was and wanting to brag a bit about his achievement.

The soul fragment stored in the journal was from a Tom Riddle in his youth before he had learned much caution and subtlety.

"What horrible incident of cover up are you referring to Tom?" Harry questioned, drawing attention away from the subject of Horcruxes now that it had been revealed that the future dark lord had planned on making more.

Harry didn't want to draw the soul fragment's suspicions after all.

"In my fifth year the legendary Chamber of Secrets was opened and the monster within was let loose on the non-pureblood portion of the school," Riddle explained. "At first it was just students being petrified. But then a student died. I was responsible for catching the person responsible for opening the Chamber which resulted in the guilty person's expulsion. But the headmaster at the time, Professor Dippet, was so ashamed of the truth of the matter that he forbade me from revealing what really happened. I was given a nice shiny trophy to shut me up but the truth is I was still worried about the incident repeating itself. You see the monster in the Chamber lives on and so does the being responsible for releasing it as a free creature."

"Who was the perpetrator last time?" Harry questioned even though he suspected Riddle was the true culprit.

"I can show you if you would like. You don't have to simply take my word," Riddle proposed.

Harry knew exactly what Riddle meant. The journal had been enchanted with a variation on the pensieve effect. The Potter mage would be drawn inside the book and relive the memory. There was no need. The Rider already had all of the information he needed.

"I'll think about it," Harry wrote back before using his powers to remotely teleport matter to transfer the journal into a special container which suppressed any abilities the soul fragment had.

Harry's investigations had determined that his remote teleporting abilities wouldn't react negatively with the black magic on the journal.

"That was quite revealing," Saphira pointed out.

"Yes, it was," Harry agreed. "We now know Riddle intended to make more Horcruxes after he got out of school."

"We also know who was killed from the news records of that period when Riddle received his award," Saphira added.

"Yes, Dippet might have been able to cover up the true cause of her death but he couldn't hide the fact that Myrtle Moria was killed. She's the ghost everyone refers to as Moaning Myrtle. Ghosts who die violent deaths will sometimes haunt the place they were killed in. I would speculate that Myrtle died in that bathroom," the dark haired wizard stated.

"Let us see what can petrify magicians," Saphira suggested.

Nodding in agreement, Harry summoned Merlin's tome down from the tree house. The mage opened the book and used the enchantments on the book to look up the subject of petrification. There were several enchantments and potions lost from common knowledge in modern times that could accomplish the feat. But most interestingly was a creature called a Basilisk, King of Serpents.

"Basilisks are fabled in Greek and Roman legends of old as well," Harry pointed out, recalling some of his readings from years ago.

"The Chamber belonged to Salazar Slytherin whose house mascot is a serpent. It would be logical for the monster in his Chamber to be the King of Serpents. A basilisk's indirect stare petrifies while a direct stare kills," Saphira summarized.

"There's more…the tome says the basilisk's stare works by enchanting the victim in a field starting at the surface of their skin which slows time to a near standstill, making it seem as if they had been petrified solid. When the full enchantment falls in place coming from a direct stare the field volume decreases to encompass only the victim's heart but with the reverse affect. The victim's heart is rapidly aged until it stops working of old age," Harry read.

The book also went on to list several spells that were not commonly known but which would break the enchantment from the basilisk's enchantment if implemented within minutes of the initial exposure to the King of Serpent's stare.

"Little one, I have the feeling that we are immortal. Once we reach a certain physical maturity my instincts tell me we will stop aging physically," Saphira declared.

"I have the same feeling," Harry agreed. "So if we are hit by the basilisk's sight our hearts would just age to full maturity and no more. But I think there are some wards I've already learned about in some of my other readings which should prevent the magic from taking hold even if we look directly into a basilisk's eyes. It will take some time to study them."

"That sounds like a plan to deal with Slytherin's pet, little one," the dragon agreed.

IaDM – IaDM – IaDM – IaDM – IaDM – IaDM – IaDM – IaDM – IaDM – IaDM – IaDM

The Beginning of Book Two

Posted: 7/4/2013 (Edited Version)

Author's Note:

Well I suppose I should wish everyone who cares a happy 4th of July. Unfortunately I'm not in a very festive mood. Having your home burned down and then living in a state of limbo for several months can be quite emotionally taxing. I was so irritated today that something a reader did set me off and I had the strong urge to delete all of my ff profiles an my group on Facebook. All I can say is Alex Quill talked me down. He's the author known as Leonineus who is writing Lightning Among the Stars.

Maybe next month will cheer me up. I'm attending the annual Chicago Stargate convention with one of my best friends. The second Percy Jackson movie comes out. And the third book in the Lorien Legacy series (you might know it better as the I Am Number Four series) is being released. It should be a good month.

~Deserdi Etere Lume

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