Chapter 22
“Holy Hell, these people love their fucking elevator shafts!” Harry grumbled after, once more, rappelling down an elevator shaft.
Currently, he was navigating the mazelike halls of what was, apparently, Level 10 of the Ministry, guided by his Clairvoyance in an inverted parody of Ariadne’s thread to Theseus, being led deeper instead of out of the Labyrinth.
Following that spectral thread led him to a circular room, one which – once he closed the door he had entered through – spun around, changing the order of the doors. Sighing, Harry ended and recast Clairvoyance, leading him to enter a room with shelves of timepieces, a gargantuan bell jar taking pride of place in the room, a hummingbird running through its life cycle within.
“Nope. Not messing with time.” Harry muttered, moving to the next door.
Opening the door, Harry was confronted by a seemingly endless hall, filled with shelves upon shelves of glass – or crystal, Harry couldn’t tell from the distance – orbs, all of them filled with what seemed to be mist, some dark, most filled with an ethereal blue light. Walking through shelves, Harry came to a stop in front of a palm-sized sphere, a label beneath it, reading
S.P.T to A.P.W.B.D
Dark Lord and (?) Harry Potter
He looked at it for a short time before picking it up and pocketing it. As he made to step to somewhere else's shadows, he paused, dispelling Clairvoyance before casting it again, spurred on by a stray idea.
“Lord Mora, why exactly is there another prophecy that I can be led to?”
“Fascinating. However, I cannot say. This realm is not yet within the Many Paths, thus I cannot see the fates and prophecies within.”
“Okay then, prophecy numero dos, here I come.”
As Harry followed the pale stream that faded off into the distance, he gave the surrounding shelves a few glances, watching as they went from the clinical-looking, metal shelves, to wooden units. Walking on, still with no end in sight, he looked on as the shelves began incorporating stone elements, eventually transitioning to rough-hewn rock, with the orbs of varying sizes slowly disappearing as he went deeper. Vellum scrolls, thick tomes, and aged papyri were carefully placed on the shelves, with those two eventually disappearing, being replaced by stone tablets.
Finally, after what seemed like far too long a time, he came to the end of the stream, facing a stone shelving unit, the actual shelves of which were empty, bar a single tablet, fluid-looking glyphs carved into the stone.
“Well. I feel like I should be surprised.” Harry commented. “But given the other find, I am distinctly not.”
∞༺♥༻∞=================================================∞༺♥༻∞
After stepping back into the shadows of the Chamber, Harry rematerialized himself and went into the small study he had found when converting the main room, putting the crystal ball and stone tablet on the shelves, along with the books and schematics he had taken from the Morag-Tong member’s lab.
“Okay, diary and diadem dealt with, ring purged. That just leaves the locket and cup.” Harry narrated to himself as he opened one of his desk’s drawers and withdrew what looked to be an elongated octahedron made out of a dark material.
In truth, the delicately engraved piece of obsidian was somewhat of a landmark invention for Harry. It took a decent while of consulting the books he had taken from Dumbledore’s study, as well the carving itself, and just the tiniest bit of alchemical finagling, but he had managed to make what he liked to call The Soul Compass.
Walking over to the map of England he had pinned to the stone wall, Harry closed his eyes and began twirling the Compass between his fingers.
“Oh locket my locket, where art thou? Concealed in cave or hidden in house, ensconced in castle or ferreted to forest. Let the compass show the way.” He whispered, twirling it until the end, throwing it forward as he finished.
“Really, London again?” Harry said, opening his eyes to see where the Compass had landed.
∞༺♥༻∞=================================================∞༺♥༻∞
“Well this is… disturbingly normal.”
“Normal is so subjective.”
“Remind me how you knew I would be here again?”
“What was it you said again? Oh! Dimensional hyper-sanity.”
“That’s not an answer, Lovegood!”
“How could it be an answer, when it’s the answer, Curator?”
“Should have expected that.” Harry muttered as he kept an eye on the Compass as it led them through London. “Seeing as this is a business trip, let’s talk business.”
“The shrines?”
“Yes. Mora already has one, the Sepulcher is in motion, so that leaves the Mad God.”
“Along with whichever Aedra Ronald and Hermione select, though that’s rather beside the point.”
“Precisely. Now, where are you planning on putting the shrine?”
“Why, the most ideal of locations, of course. The Shrieking Shack.”
“That-“ Harry said before cutting himself off. “You know, I was going to argue against it on the basis of geoturgic positioning, but no, that actually works perfectly.”
“I know.” Luna commented glibly. “Oh, I think we’re here!”
Looking up from the Compass, Harry saw they had come to a stop in front of a row of townhouses, their facades all identical. Stepping into the shadows, Harry gave the row another look, immediately zeroing in on Number 12 before stepping out of the shadows.
“Number 12.”
“Well, our first adventure together!” Luna exclaimed, skipping up the steps. “How exciting.”
Taking a breath, Harry knocked on the front door and looked at Luna with a raised eyebrow as it swung open by itself, the hinge groaning as it did. Stepping through the doorway, they were greeted by a loud crack, and a house elf appearing in front of them, which promptly collapsed as Harry was preparing an Ice Spike.
“Sheogorath?”
“Sheogorath.”
“Huh.” Harry said, looking at the floor, faint marks of a glyphic circle just about visible. “Didn’t know he could do subtlety.”
There were many, many, more encounters they had to deal with, like the swarm of doxies Harry dealt with by using Flames, or the ghoul that Luna somehow disintegrated. Harry didn’t know how, but it was very colorful. Finally, they made their way to what seemed to be a drawing room.
“Finally!” Harry yelled out as he finished burning the curtains that were trying to strangle him. “Note to self: Enchant jacket into armor.”
“Or you could wear actual armor.”
“Nope.” Harry replied, pulling the Compass out of his pocket and flipping it into the air. “Seek.”
The shatter of a glass case, some Arcanist magic, a word from Luna, and one ritual circle later, Harry had a perfect replica of Salazar Slytherin’s locket.
“Well.” Harry said, facing Luna. “This was productive. You have a way home, I presume?”
“Of course. Toodaloo!” Luna replied, gave a jaunty wave, and apparated away.
“Of course she can do that.” Harry muttered, stepping into the shadows.