1,122The finale of the Durmstrang Arc! We'll go on a brief hiatus after this, during which I'll be posting more chapters for Sacred Sight.
P*T*E*N Page is up and running, slightly ahead of FFN and AO3. This pace will change to significantly ahead of FFN/AO3 once we reach the next hiatus point (at the end of the Durmstrang Arc). Visit P*T*E*N / 521dream if interested. Posted stories include A Flaw in Fate and Sacred Sight (A King's Path Rewrite/Remaster).
I've started a Discord. I intend for it to be a small, relaxed server - nothing too fancy or grand. If you have any questions about my writing, want to discuss my work, or simply want to hang out, you're more than welcome to join. The link is in my profile.
Read, review, and feel free to point out any errors/inconsistencies.
The next chapter will be published the Saturday after next.
Harry Potter: A Flaw in Fate
The Desolations of Destiny
XX. Sacrificial Lambs
Harry leaned forward, his fingers wrapping around one of many biscuits in a bowl by the mantle. He gently brought it to his lips -
"Where are you going?"
Harry turned around. Hermione Granger was sitting in an otherwise empty common room, watching him with narrowed eyes.
"Why do I have to be going anywhere?"
"You've got your robes on. Your eyes are wide awake, too," Hermione sniffled, "It's nearly midnight, Harry. We'll be leaving for Durmstrang in about an hour."
"I don't care."
He strode toward the door. Hermione rose from her armchair, perplexed.
"I don't know what's gotten over you, but if you step out that door, I'll tell Dumbledore."
Harry snorted.
I doubt he'd give even the slightest shit.
The door to the Hogwarts Express tumbled open. Harry let out a deep breath, watching as snowfall continued to cover the earth.
"Harry!"
"Colloportus," he murmured. The door swung shut behind him, locking magically with a satisfying click. Harry spared the train one last glance before setting off, his fingers pressing gently against the silver ring he wore.
"I need you, Theo," Harry muttered, his thumb hovering over the gleaming emerald, "We're going on another adventure. Be prepared for a fight."
He felt Voldemort's ring grow hot in response.
"Harry!"
Harry looked up. A familiar silver-haired sight stood just before the Beauxbatons carriage, surrounded by untouched training dummies. The girl smiled at him.
"Sneaking out again?"
"That's my specialty."
"Madame Maxime would disapprove."
"She can be disappointed in the both of us, then," Harry said, "I'm not the only one out of bed."
"I tried sleeping," Gabrielle admitted, her grin returning, "Couldn't, though. I would just lie awake, thinking."
"About?"
Gabrielle sighed.
"These past few days have been amazing," she whispered, "The best of my life, by far."
Harry's eyebrows rose in surprise.
"Really?"
"Really," Gabrielle nodded, "First place in the tournament, spent time with my family - even that little escapade with you was fun."
"What, the pitstop in France?" Harry asked. The girl nodded, "I'll have to remember to say hello to Fleur and Anaïs the next time I see them."
"I'm sure it'll be fine if you forget," Gabrielle snapped, "Though they'll both be thrilled you remembered them."
She paused, smiling up at the stars.
"They thought you did really well, you know," she told him, "My family. Fleur and Anaïs especially."
"Not good enough, clearly," Harry sighed, "It's fine. I'll deal with you in the second task."
"Uh huh," Gabrielle sounded unimpressed, though the edges of her lips quirked upwards, "Sure you will."
"I will," Harry said determinedly, "But, oddly enough, that reminds me of something."
"Go on," the silver-haired girl stared at him expectantly.
"At the feast earlier," Harry stared, "You wouldn't eat with me. Why?"
Gabrielle's face fell.
"It wasn't because of you if that's what you were wondering."
"Rosier, then," Harry surmised, "I heard you two don't get along well."
"It's not us, it's our families," Gabrielle frowned, "I don't know her well enough to like or dislike her. Besides, the gossip would be terrible."
"Gossip?"
Gabrielle nodded.
"If we were seen together it'd be the talk of France. I'd rather eat my dinner in peace, thank you."
"And if it were just me?" Harry asked, "Would you have come over then?"
"That's gossip material too, you know -"
"That's not what I asked."
Gabrielle stared at him. Her deep blue eyes glistened beneath the light of the shining stars.
"I would," she said sincerely, "That's what friends do, right?"
"Friends?" Harry forced his features into a look of surprise, "What made you think we were friends?"
Hurt flashed across her pale face. A moment later it vanished, replaced by an angry scowl.
"Fine -"
"Kidding," Harry's upper lip rose, exposing a line of grinning teeth, "I'm just touched, that's all. Friend. What an honor."
He swayed merrily on the spot. Across from him, the stiffness faded from Gabrielle's body.
"You irritate me," she snapped, glaring at him.
"Why thank you -"
A sudden heat coated Voldemort's ring. Harry felt someone materialize in the forest some thirty meters behind him.
Nott's here.
"Time to go," Harry said, yawning, "I suppose I'll see you at Beauxbatons, then?"
"You're leaving?" Gabrielle frowned, stepping forward, "I thought you were just exploring the grounds."
Harry shook his head.
"I've got something to take care of," he told her, "Shouldn't take too long."
Gabrielle nodded, falling gracefully into the snow. Harry watched as she slowly moved her hands and legs, making a snow angel.
"If you come back before we leave for Beauxbatons, you can watch the stars with me," she offered.
"Something to look forward to," Harry smiled, removing his Language Amulet, "Au revoir, Miss Delacour."
"Get lost, Potter."
Grinning to himself, Harry stalked off, hurrying through the snow and into the forest that lined the outskirts of the Durmstrang grounds. A familiar someone was waiting for him, hiding just out of sight behind a particularly large oak tree.
"That was Gabrielle Delacour," Nott said quietly.
"Well-spotted. What do you want, a trophy?"
"I thought you two didn't get along."
"We . . . we do. She's nice enough."
Nott nodded, a vicious smirk stretching across his features.
"Daphne's going to kill you."
"What?"
"Forget about it, actually," Theo waved his hand dismissively, "Why'd you call me? And don't tell me we're robbing someone or something of the sort -"
"It's nothing like that," Harry assured him, his fingers reaching into his robes. He withdrew an old photograph, "Just visiting a friend."
He briefly inspected Nagel's photograph before passing it to Nott.
"You recognize this place?"
Nott shook his head.
"Thought it was Azkaban for a moment," he murmured, inspecting it carefully, "But there's no prison. There's a coastline in the distance, too."
"You reckon it's somewhere in Europe?"
Theo shrugged.
"You think that because of the dementors, right?" he said knowingly, "Because of that old tale about the bloke from the fifteenth century -"
"Ekrizdis," Harry nodded, "The guy who made Azkaban. They say he created dementors too, right?"
Nott frowned.
"That's exactly the sort of rumour the British Ministry would spread," he whispered shaking his head, "I doubt it's actually true."
"So it could be anywhere, then."
"Probably."
Harry sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. He held the photograph up to his eyes.
"Is that where we're going, then?" Nott inquired.
Harry nodded.
"Why?"
"I met a man in Kalddød, that night we visited for the first time. Said his name was Nagel."
"The old bloke you were talking to, I remember," Theo stared at him, "What about him?"
"I . . . we were talking about Astoria's disease, sort of," Harry paused, "We talked about how I could help her. He gave me a path to follow."
"And you followed it."
Harry nodded.
"Did it work?"
"I don't know," Harry murmured, "It's too soon to be sure. But . . . he knew I'd come to him. He's known for decades."
Nott blinked in confusion.
"How?"
Heterochromic eyes flashed within Harry's mind, colored blue and grey.
Grindelwald and the rose . . . but how? Why?
"That's what I want to know," he said, "Amongst other things."
The rose that hovered within his mind shifted form, turning into a stone as black as night. A simple silver design was inlaid upon its smooth surface.
The jester of Death's court . . .
"You said to be ready for a fight," Nott reminded him.
Harry nodded slowly.
"I'm not sure how willingly Nagel will part with the knowledge I seek," he said, "Honestly, it might be a trap."
"But you don't think so, do you?"
Harry shook his head.
It's Grindelwald. He couldn't possibly be so short-sighted.
He turned the photograph over in his palm. Two crudely drawn tombstones stared back at him, Nagel's sharp, thin signature resting below.
"You don't have to come," Harry turned, lowering the picture, "I don't want you to feel forced -"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming," Nott barked, waving a hand dismissively, "Honestly, you really think I want to miss out?"
Harry snorted, raising the photograph to his eyes again.
"Suit yourself . . ."
Harry held out his hand. He closed his eyes as Nott's palm wrapped tightly around his wrist, picturing the photograph Nagel had given him.
The dementor-infested island . . . Nagel's home.
His eyes were clenched firmly shut, and he twisted on the spot -
Crack.
Harry toppled over, falling across something shaped oddly like himself. The world blurred as his glasses slipped from his nose.
"Ouch!"
"Sorry," Harry whispered, struggling to see in the dark, "My glasses -"
A rough hand pressed them against the bridge of his nose. Harry blinked slowly as his vision returned.
"Thanks."
"No problem," Nott murmured, clambering to his feet. Harry watched as the boy brushed dirt from the front of his Slytherin robes, "Where are we?"
Harry shrugged, glancing around. They were stood at the island's edge, the ocean just meters from where they stood. Lights glimmered off in the distance, emanating from a large land mass a sea away. A subtle wave of magic pressed against him as he straightened up.
Wards.
"We're not far from civilization," Nott noted, frowning, "Muggle civilization. How's this bloke not been caught?"
"Notice-me-not Wards," Harry muttered, "They're strong. I can feel them across the entire island."
Nott frowned.
"This can't be legal, even with the wards. Any ministry in the world would have a heart attack if they found out how nearby the muggles were."
"Of course it's not legal," Harry murmured, "What part about a private dementor island sounds legal to you?"
"True," Nott stepped toward the shore. The waves gently rolled in, soaking the soles of Theo's shoes.
"You recognize where we are?" asked Harry curiously.
"No. I'm not very good with muggle cities . . ."
His jaw went slack. Harry hurried forward.
"What is it?"
"Pyramids," Theo whispered, pointing at something off in the distance, "Those are pyramids."
Harry squinted. Sure enough, a number of oversized pyramids sat off in the horizon.
"Bullshit. The pyramids aren't that close to water -"
"Harry, we're on a magical island," Nott snapped, "That dope Nagel probably charmed the place so he could see further! You - you took us to fucking Egypt?"
Harry paused.
"I guess so."
"You'd better be able to get me back, I swear to Merlin -"
"Relax," Harry turned around, heading inwards, "I got you here, didn't I? I can get you back."
A forest of date palms and acacia trees stood before them. Harry pointed his wand upwards.
"Homenum Revelio," he whispered. His wand spun in his hand, eventually resting in a direction to his left, "Come on."
The two of them hurried forward. The humid air grew colder with every step they took, a dreary, depressing feeling hanging in the air.
"Look," Nott whispered, pointing at a small puddle. Harry stared at it.
"What?"
"They're above us. Look carefully."
Harry squinted. The murky outline of something dark and wispy reflected in the minuscule pool of water.
Dementors.
"They won't do anything," Harry assured him, closing his eyes, "The wards are holding them back."
"And if they fail?"
"The Patronus Charm exists, doesn't it?"
"I was hoping you'd say apparition."
Harry rolled his eyes.
The path they walked soon grew from dirt and grass to lazily stacked cobblestone. Harry felt someone familiar sitting just outside the forest's edge.
"He's near," he whispered, waving his wand over Nott, "Abscondere."
Nott vanished. Harry repeated the spell on himself, nodding with satisfaction as his limbs faded from view.
"You're going to hear a lot of strange things right now," Harry whispered into the air before him, "A lot of it won't make sense. Promise me you won't ask questions until we get back."
The grass before him went flat beneath Nott's invisible heel.
"Is there anything I should know right now?" the boy whispered.
"No."
"Then let's go."
"Right," Harry nodded, "After me."
He stepped out from the tree trunks. A vast clearing awaited him. It was practically identical to the photograph Nagel had given him: a small cottage, surrounded by foliage and dying plants.
"There," Nott whispered, "Behind the shack."
Harry looked. A familiar someone sat within a rocking chair on the porch, staring up at the stars above.
Nagel.
"So nice to see the stars just one last time, don't you think?" Nagel sighed, "Away from all that light pollution. So beautiful . . ."
The rocking chair creaked back and forth. Neither Harry nor Nott said a word.
"Don't just stand there. Who's your little friend?"
A flicker of surprise arced across Harry's skin. The Disillusionment Charms faded at once.
"None of your concern," he frowned, stepping forward.
"R-rude," Nagel burped, "You're the one breaking into my home, remember?"
He slowly rose to his feet. For the first time, Harry saw his face. Nagel was a thin old man with dark, sun-kissed skin. Prominent laugh lines and dimples lined the sides of his mouth. Harry watched as he hobbled toward a muggle cooler at the porch's end. He stooped over, removing a bottle of beer from within.
"I went back to the room," Harry called loudly as Nagel returned to his rocking chair, "Grindelwald's room."
Nott's breath hitched beside him. Harry ignored him, staring at the old man across from him.
"Figured out, did you?" Nagel giggled. He raised the beer bottle to his lips, "I was wondering -"
"Depulso," Harry hissed. The bottle of beer flew out of Nagel's grasp, slamming into a tree trunk hundreds of feet away. Alcohol and shattered glass stained the earthen floor.
"Feeling upset?" Nagel laughed, "Surely you're too old for temper tantrums?"
Harry glared at him.
"You work for Grindelwald, don't you?"
"I work for the future," the man corrected, "For your children, and your children's children -"
"Your name was on the list of people Grindelwald allowed into his study," Harry interrupted angrily, "You, me, and Grindelwald. You work for him."
Nagel sighed. Harry watched as he got up again, hobbling toward his cooler.
"Why bother asking if you've already made up your mind?"
He bent over, a silver chain falling out from the opening of his button-up. A triangular pendant glimmered beneath the moonlight.
The Deathly Hallows.
"That's his mark," Harry pointed at the necklace, "Grindelwald's."
Nagel straightened up, a beer clenched in his palm. He held the pendant up to his eyes with his other hand.
"In a way," Nagel admitted, "The sign long predates Gellert, as I'm sure you know -"
"The Deathly Hallows," Harry interrupted again, "I know. Did Grindelwald give that to you?"
Nagels smiled.
"As a matter of fact, he did," Harry watched as he strode back to his seat, falling within it with a relaxed sigh, "Made one for each of his Acolytes. Isn't that nice?"
"Acolytes?"
"Inner circle," Nagel yawned, "The cool kids club, you know?"
Harry frowned.
"You knew I'd visit the room, didn't you?"
"I knew you might," Nagel corrected, "But I had to throw in a few choice words to be sure -"
"Did you know I'd come here?" Harry asked, "Did Grindelwald tell you that much?"
Nagel flashed an easy smile.
"What do you think, Harry?"
Definitely.
"Why?" a frown marred Harry's features, "I don't understand - what's the point? What does he want?"
"What he wants?" Nagel leaned back and forth, slowly turning his rocking chair around, "What he wants? Harry, this is about what you want. Don't you see?"
Harry's eyebrows rose, his expression unimpressed.
"And how is that?"
Nagel glanced left and right conspicuously. He leaned closer.
"The stone! The resurrection stone!"
He traced a circle in the air with his pointer finger.
"Don't you see?" Nagel whispered passionately, "The stone can change everything."
He rose to his feet, his beer bottle forgotten.
"Your mother and father, alive and well," Nagel crooned, "Imagine that -"
"They're dead," said Harry harshly, "They've been dead for thirteen years. I can live without them."
Nagel frowned.
"Is Astoria dead, Harry? Can you live without her?"
Harry grit his teeth.
"Who told you that name?"
"Grindelwald!" Nagel smiled, "Gellert Grindelwald! Sure, Astoria might die - but you can bring her back! You can always bring her back with the stone . . ."
"The resurrection stone is a myth," Nott frowned. He glanced at Harry, "It isn't real."
"Oh, but it is," Nagel waved a finger, "They're all real. You know that, don't you, Harry? You already owned one of them . . ."
"What?" Nott paled, "Harry -"
"The Invisibility Cloak," Harry muttered, "I think mine was the one from the legend."
"Saw the photo of your great-grandfather wearing it, didn't you?" Nagel smiled, "I told Grindelwald it would be a nice touch, adding it to the room."
Harry seethed silently, a slight headache echoing in his skull.
"Why do you want me to get the stone?" he hissed eventually.
"I don't want anything of that sort, Harry," Nagel assured him, "This is all about you. It's always been about you . . ."
He fell back, landing in his rocking chair. Nagel's head turned up in the direction of the stars.
"I have more questions for you."
"Well, go on," Nagel smiled.
"Grindelwald tried replicating the resurrection stone, didn't he?"
The rocking chair came to a halt. Nagel's dark skin suddenly seemed pale beneath the light of the moon.
"How do you know?" he asked curiously. Their was a subtle rigidity to his tone.
Harry stared at him.
"Why do you care -"
"How do you know?" Nagel hisssed, "I asked you something, boy -"
"Moody!" Harry spat, "Mad-Eye Moody! He showed us his memory of Grindelwald from the war."
Nagel seethed silently in his chair, his chest still heaving.
"Ahh," Nagel nodded thoughtfully, "Moody . . ."
He shook his head.
"What about it?"
"Does it work?"
"It doesn't, Harry," Nott frowned, "Grindelwald said so himself -"
"It didn't work as he originally intended," Nagel glared at Theo, "But it works nonetheless. In fact, it works better than any of us could have possibly imagined."
A strange pool of excitement welled up in Harry's chest.
"it works," he whispered, "It can actually raise the dead."
It can change everything.
Nagel favored him with a wicked smile.
"Only one way to find out, isn't there?"
He leaned back in his rocking chair once more, rolling back and forth.
"Anything else for me?" Nagel yawned, "Surely you haven't traveled all this way just for that -"
"One more thing."
"Yes?"
"The flower Grindelwald stole from the Scarlet Prophets -"
"What flower?" Nagel grinned. Irritation flickered beneath Harry's skin.
"The Midnight Rose," he snapped, "How does it work? How did he use it?"
Nagel stared at him, smiling devilishly.
"He used it the same way the hags did," he assured him, "With a few extra steps . . . ever wonder why Grindelwald's got that gray eye?"
"What did he do?" Harry hissed, but Nagel shook his head.
"Nuh uh uh," he said in a sing-song voice,"That would be telling -"
"Depulso!"
Nagel flew through the air like a rag doll, slamming forcefully into his rocking chair. Both he and the chair toppled over as one.
"War tactics," Nagel murmured, wiping a thin trail of blood from his nose, "But you're not doing it right. You've got to use the nastier spells -"
"Crucio."
Nagel crumpled, falling to his knees. His breathing quickly became heavy and erratic.
"That's better," he panted as Harry lifted the spell, "Merlin - it's been ages . . . takes me right back to the wars -"
"Where's the Midnight Rose, Nagel?" Harry whispered, edging closer.
Nagel looked up at him.
"Have you become their lapdog, then?" he barked, "The hags' little bitch -"
"Where's the fucking flower?"
Nagel slowly pushed himself back up.
"Where do you think, genius?" he slurred, "Grindelwald might've gone to school at Durmstrang, but he fought a war in -"
"France," Harry finished, "Of course -"
France. The Midnight Rose is in France.
"I've waited so long for this day, did you know?" Nagel whispered. Harry turned, watching as the man looked between him and the stars, "So long. But it's a sad day, too."
"Why's that?" Harry asked, flattening his irritation.
"Because it's the end. The final goodbye."
"What?"
Nagel turned to face him. Tears welled up in his eyes.
"Do you ever feel like you're a part of a puzzle?" he whispered, "You are, obviously - but do you ever really stop to grasp what that means?"
"What the fuck are you talking about?"
"It means we can't see the finished puzzle, Harry," Nagel cried, "Because we're a part of it. If we step out from the puzzle, it's incomplete. Sacrificial lambs . . ."
Pieces of a puzzle . . .
Nagel scrunched up his face with determination, withdrawing a silver knife from the pocket of his robes.
"Only when she saw his true face could she truly be reborn . . . take off the mask, Ernst . . . take off the mask -"
"Are all of your friends barking mad?" Nott hissed at Harry, stepping back.
"Only most of them," Harry muttered, "Honestly, he seemed pretty normal at the start -"
"It's time," Nagel whispered, "Goodbye little shack. Goodbye stars -"
"Where are you going, Nagel?" Harry frowned.
The man spared him a watery smile, raising the knife to his neck.
"Home."
The dagger sliced across his throat, and the man fell to the floor, lifeless. A pool of blood grew where his body lay.
"What the fuck," Nott breathed heavily, "What in the fuck -"
Oppressive magic pressed against Harry's skin. He doubled over, panting -
"The dementor wards," Harry forced out, his hands on his knees, "They've crumbling -"
They were tied to Nagel's life.
Frost coated the dry leaves and foliage. Beside him, Nott swayed slightly.
"They can get to us now," he mumbled, "Harry we need to disaparate, we need to disparate now -"
"We can't," Harry closed his eyes desperately, "Anti-Aparation wards."
"Then do something!"
A blurry image formed in his mind. There he stood, tall and proud, an otherworldly rose clenched in one palm and a pitch-black stone clenched in the other.
I have them. I have them all.
He smiled, pointing his wand up at the sky -
"Expecto Patronum!"
A gleaming thestral bounded from the tip of his wand. Harry watched pridefully as it dashed from one dementor to the next, sending them each flying back with a wild kick of its legs.
"There's too many!" Nott shouted at him, shielding his eyes from the glow of the patronus, "We have to leave no, while they're distracted!"
Harry's face was scrunched in concentration, his heavy breaths fogging up in the air before him.
"How?"
"I - I don't . . ."
Harry turned. Nott had sunk to one knee, his head in his hands. Out in the distance, the ocean water had slowly frozen over.
"Harry . . . Harry . . ."
Dark figures swirled overhead. Harry felt his wand arm begin to quiver -
Too many.
"Harry . . ."
Desperation pooled within his chest. Harry closed his eyes, pleading with his mind to stay awake, to fight the unbearable cold -
Focus. Focus . . .
The glowing light of his patronus faded. A sea of despair crashed into him, and he fell over, falling face-first into the dirt.
No.
A scarlet-haired women hovered in his mind, obscured by a flash of vivid green light -
"No," Harry hissed, pointing his wand up into the sky, "Get away!"
Bam.
A whirl of golden flames spewed into the air, bathing the ocean in ethereal light. The shack, the trees, and Nagel's wards all dissipated as one, crumbling to ash. A tattered cloak loomed in the corner of Harry's eye.
More. Burn them all.
The air grew hotter. His muscles relaxed, the picture before him growing quite vivid. Though he struggled to breathe, Harry had never felt more alive. Laughter slipped from his lips as a rush of excitement soared through him.
Crack.
Purple figures appeared at the island's shore. Harry ignored them, watching as the flames overhead took the shape of a gargantuan golden thestral -
"Aurors!" Nott hissed, "The wards are down, we can leave!"
I don't want to.
"هناك اثنان منهم!" a tall man bedecked in purple shouted. He pointed his wand at Harry, "لا تدع شياطين النار يهربون مرة أخرى!"
Get lost.
"Snap out of it!" Nott's voice roared in his ear, "Snap out of it now!"
Wham.
Theo's fist slammed into the side of his head. The golden flames dissipated into nothingness.
"امسكوا بهم!"
A beam of violet magic streaked toward them, missing Harry by inches. His fingers wrapped tightly around his wrist.
Take me home.
The world began to blur, shouts growing louder in the distance -
Crack.
The two of them crashed into a mound of dirt. The ocean, the island, and the wizards in purple were all gone.
"Where are we?" Nott murmured.
"Hogwarts outskirts," Harry replied, standing up, "We're home."
He pushed past the trees, not bothering to straighten out his newly tattered robes. Sure enough, the picturesque castle peaked out behind oversized branches.
"It was you."
Harry turned around.
"Sorry?"
"It was you," Nott repeated, watching him carefully, "You cast the Fiendfyre at the end of last school year."
Harry frowned.
"I thought you already knew."
"I suspected," Theo admitted, "But I wasn't sure."
Harry nodded, allowing his gaze to finally return to his robes. They were a mess. The silk at his shoulders had practically melted, exposing his pale skin. Tiny rips snaked all the way down to his ankles.
"Is it always like that?" Nott asked curiously as Harry continued to inspect himself.
"Like what?"
"So . . . addictive," Nott frowned, "The Fiendfyre. It took a while for you to snap out of it."
Harry thought for a moment.
"Yeah," he realised slowly, "Yeah, I suppose it is."
Bella had to beg me to stop last time.
Harry shook his head. His headache from earlier was slowly beginning to return.
"We should hurry," he said quickly, striding forward, "We can't let anyone think we were anywhere near Egypt -"
"Shit," Nott paled, "Holy fuck - we just broke about a thousand different laws -"
"Shut up," Harry barked, "Just stay calm and get a move on."
He dragged Nott through the Forbidden Forest, hurrying along a winded path he knew would lead toward the castle.
"You think they saw us?" Nott whispered quietly.
Harry shook his head.
"The heat was too oppressive," he muttered, "Besides, we were too far away. Interesting color choice, though, don't you think?"
"What, gold?"
"No," Harry frowned, "The purple robes."
"Oh," Nott nodded, "I heard that's the color most Aurors in Northern Africa wear. It's tradition or something."
Harry nodded, leading them in silence. They hopped over a number of low-hanging vines, clambering over a fallen tree and heading back onto the cobblestone path.
"You shouldn't go after it, by the way," Nott whispered eventually.
"Go after what?"
Nott stared at him.
"The Resurrection Stone."
Harry said nothing. He continued quickly striding down the path, painfully aware of the look Nott was sending him.
"He's using you, Harry," Nott told him, "Nagel said it himself - you're a piece of a puzzle. Don't let him play you -"
"Yeah, yeah, I got it," Harry snapped, "It's hardly that big of a deal. Grindelwald wouldn't be the first Dark Lord I've had to deal with."
Nott frowned.
"Might be the last, though."
Harry looked away. The evening breeze danced through the forest, pressing soothingly against his skin.
"We're meeting up again, soon," Nott informed him as the Hogwarts Castle loomed before them, "Once everything has died down. You owe me an explanation."
"About?"
"Grindelwald. Nagel. The stone, and the flower, and whatever the fuck else is going on."
"Fine," Harry nodded in defeat, "Just - don't tell Daphne."
Nott rolled his eyes.
"Think she'd be upset?"
"Definitely," Harry muttered, "But, more than that, I don't want her to know about the stone."
Nott grimaced.
"Don't want her thinking you're trying to resurrect your parents?" he whispered.
Harry paused.
"Don't want her thinking I've found a way to save Astoria when I haven't."
Nott nodded slowly as the two of them stepped out of the forest and into the open grounds.
"Fine," he let out a heavy breath, "Fine, fine, fine -"
He trailed off. Harry looked up, squinting to see whatever he was staring at. A tall girl stood at the entrance to the castle, watching them carefully.
"Who is that?" Harry whispered.
"Weitts, I think," Nott murmured.
"Grace?"
Nott nodded. Harry grit his teeth.
Cerise's friend. Why in Merlin's name is she still up?
"We'd best fix our robes before we get any closer," Nott added off-handedly. The two of them continued walking toward the castle as though nothing were amiss, "Can't let her know they're burnt."
Harry nodded, waving his wand behind his back. Their robes slowly shifted, seemingly returning to their original state.
"It'll only last a dozen minutes or so," Harry muttered, an ache swelling in his chest, "The Fiendfyre really fucked up the material."
"Shock, that is."
The two of them came to a stop some twenty meters from the entrance.
"No need to stop and chat to her," Nott whispered decidedly, "Gives her an extra opportunity to gain information."
Harry nodded. Grace's grey eyes loomed from behind Nott's head.
"You're burnt," Harry noted, his eyes sliding down the back of Theo's palms.
"You are, too," Nott murmured, "You really should go."
"Right. Until we meet again."
He shook Nott's hand, and after a quick wave to a blank-faced Weitts, Harry spun around, heading back toward the dark depths of the Forbidden Forest.