Chapter 53
Chapter 52
Five people were already waiting for Harry when he entered the study. “Mr. Evans,” Lucius uttered. “I had feared you would not be aiding us today, what with your recent heroics.”
“Lord Malfoy do you have to antagonize him?!” Elenor asked while nervously rubbing her hands together.
“Of course I do Miss Rowle,” Lucius smirked. “What’s a little ribbing amongst friends? Heh? Severus wouldn’t be so crude as to have a paramour that can’t take a bit of teasing,”
“That honestly didn’t sound like teasing to me,” Elenor stated. “Next thing you know Lord Malfoy you might just be drinking Senna-infused tea and subsequently making washroom visits for several hours,”
“Huh,” Harry uttered before it clicked and Lucius actually moved a step away from the young lady before uttering “Miss Rowle, do remind me not to get on your bad side,”
Harry turned to the three other young men who were present. They had been staying quiet since yesterday, even through dinner. Harry observed them for a while and tried to recall their names from when they arrived and spoke to Snape. There was a young man with short-cropped brown hair, Snyde, Severus had addressed him. A blonde that had been sneaking peeks at Elenor, Lee, if Harry remembered right, and a younger-looking guy Harry vaguely seemed to recognize. Avery, his mind supplied. Harry remembered that he was a seventh year when the whole Chamber of Secret business was going on. “You’re the guy that started a betting pool on how Lockhart would meet his demise!”
“Excuse me what? How do you know that?” Avery seemed startled.
“Oh… uh…,” Harry forgot that technically he looked older and with his new name he couldn’t claim to have gone to Hogwarts. “Severus told me!” Harry replied.
“Is the professor still flaunting his win?” Avery asked shocked.
“His win?”
“Well, yeah mate. Professor Snape put a sack of 50 galleons down on, and I quote ‘The buffoon obliviating himself for the good of it,’. I mean who picks Obliviation? Only an idiot… oh wait… now I get it,”
Harry nodded in agreement. In all his decades alive, he hadn’t met an idiot quite as idiotic as Lockhart, and he’d dealt with politicians on the regular. “Okay, so I will explain the process,” Harry said while trying not to focus on his intrusive thoughts. “This is a spell that I’ve designed myself. Its main purpose is to sear away intrusive magic. I mean it literally. It will burn, and it will not be pleasant, especially considering that Moldy Voldy has attached a magic siphoning aspect to the Mark’s function. Hopefully, Severus will finish the pain relievers soon but I advise you to only drink those once the process is done. I have no clue how the potion would interact with the spell.”
“Magic siphoning?” Snyde asked, his voice a bit shaky. “He’s been taking magic from us?”
“Very likely,” Harry nodded. “Quite some of your professor’s magic was being siphoned off. I’ve been looking through this estate’s library but there aren’t as many books on magic siphoning rituals or spells as I’d thought.”
“I still don’t get it,” Lee now murmured. “My parents fanatically swore that the Dark Lord was the strongest wizard alive. Is he only that strong because he’s taking our magic?!”
“And now he wants our siblings' magic!” Avery sneered. “My little sister is seven. My parents had her late in life after complications and the bastard wants her magic?! Her core isn’t even fully formed! The marking would kill her!”
“You and your siblings are perfectly safe here,” Harry stated. “I have it on good authority that the wards around this estate can never fall. Right now I would like to focus on getting those marks off of you so please find a comfortable place to lie down. I will have to cast the spell individually,”
“So who’s up first?” Harry then asked.
“I… I will go,” Elenor spoke up just before Lucius, while she sat down on one of the plush chairs in the study and bared her arm. “I want this thing off of me,” she uttered. “The thought of what this mark means and what my father wants me to offer the Dark Lord makes me sick,”
Harry took out his wand and his brows furrowed in concentration as he started hissing in that low, sultry tone he had used in the cave. Lucius instinctively flinched back, as did the others upon hearing the parseltongue. A red mist escaped Harry’s wand and enveloped Elenor’s arm. She released a startled breath and gritted her teeth as the spell started working.
Tears welled up in Elenor’s eyes as the spell burned, though she only let out several gasps. She bit her lip as Harry worked on the mark. She bit it so hard that a trickle of blood rolled down her chin.
“Done,” When Harry declared that Elenor let out a shaky breath. Her watered eyes opened to see red and blistered but unmarked skin.
“Now to just…”
“Tibsby here Master Harry!” the elf proclaimed while carrying a basket of potions Harry knew all too well. He grabbed one out of the basket as well as a container of murtlap essence and gave it to Elenor. “Master Princey said that you would need these.”
“Your elf has been here for the last hour and a half,” Lucius uttered.
“Tibsby did not wish to disturb,” she added.
“That’s quite alright Tibsby. Could you thank Severus for me?” Harry asked as he saw Elenor rub the murtlap on the blistered area.
“Tibsby will indeed!” She declared, putting down the basket on the coffee table before departing.
“It’s really gone,” Elenor gasped as she rotated her arms. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”
“You are very welcome,” Harry replied before turning to the group. “Malfoy you’re up,”
Meanwhile, Voldemort, having had to move back to the damp and dingy Riddle Manor, writhed in agony, clutching his heart, as another one of his connections broke.
“My Lord are you alright?!” Pettigrew asked worriedly.
“Of course I’m not alright you oaf!” Voldemort uttered through gritted teeth. Whoever was cutting his connection to his followers was strong. Very strong.
Another twinge in his core caused him to double over. He knew this thread of magic by heart, much like he knew Severus’s. It was one that fed him delicious magic. “Lucius you damn traitor,” Voldemort hissed.
“My Lord, what?” Peter didn’t catch it as it was said in parseltongue, but Voldemort had no time to berate the man as he doubled over. His blood boiled, his nerves on fire. For once, he feared. Whoever Lucius had allied with had the power to make him feel this pain. To connect with his magic on a level that should have been impossible. The ancient tomes of the Lord of Azkaban that he had studied never mentioned any sort of backlash like this. Voldemort gritted his teeth as he did not want to show any weakness in front of one of his pawns, but much like the first time, the pain was becoming unbearable and spots started forming on Voldemort’s vision before all went black.