The Summer of the Wolf
Hogwarts castle was alive in the summer for the first time since he assumed the role of Headmaster. To make it worse, it was filled with goblins and independent ward smiths. People he had never heard about and who he had no sway over. They walked past him without the slightest inclination that they were in the presence of greatness.
Along with these people, the summer brought a face he thought he would not be seeing for some time yet. The Avalon school sent a team of their best beast masters to conquer the beast lying in the way of the DADA curse. Among them, in fact, leading them was none other than Rubeus Hagrid. Upon seeing the Headmaster, the first thing he did was hand him a resume for the Care of Magical Creatures course at Hogwarts. Dumbledore smiled at the simple-minded man with all his grandfatherly charm. Professor Kettleburn had retired at the end of the last school year so the position was vacant. He had no intention of hiring the Half-giant, even if he had to teach the class himself.
He followed the team to the 2nd-floor washroom where the sink was opened by a woman of Indian descent, she, in fact, looked suspiciously like the Patil twins who were enrolled in his castle. The team, with the Indian woman leading the way filed one by one down a narrow staircase into a dark, dank abyss. One by one as the visibility decreased, the magicians lit the tip of their wands to offer some relief from the darkness.
Finally, they got to the end of the stairs and the sight that greeted them was astounding. The floor was covered with bones from many small and medium-sized critters. There was no place to stand let alone walk. The team set to work like a well-oiled machine. Bags were conjured, and the bones were easily moved into the bags which was then banished.
While the team cleared the way, Julian stepped forward wiggling his wand in the air as if searching for some signal. It appeared as though he found some directive because he led the group across the clean marble floor, through a large tunnel and into another cavernous room where another sight greeted them. Lying in the room was the longest snakeskin Dumbledore had ever seen. It was at least 70feet in length and 8feet radius. The most surprising thing was that it appeared whole as if the snake had just walked right out of it like shoes. A short man from the team who from his physical appearance, was some kind of Veela or Fairie, excitedly skipped forward to examine and the collect the skin, which still had a full set of armored scales attached to it.
At the end of the tunnel was a door with the face of a Gorgon embellished on it. Julian and the Patil woman stood before it in deep conversation that no matter how many wandless eavesdropping charms he cast, Dumbledore was not privy to their discussion. In record time the skin was cut with spells used to cut diamonds (the harshest cutting spells) and placed in boxes with preservation charms. The team huddle together whispering in low tones which Dumbledore again was not privy to.
“Ok Hagrid, what’s the plan?” Julian enquired.
“Ok. So we will enter along with Pamela and subdue the beast. Without its Master her to command it, it should be fairly easy to neutralize. Also, as per our arrangement with your school governors, everything other than the Basilisk and the cursed item, belongs to Avalon. Headmaster, you will remain here. Everyone else suit up,” Hagrid commanded. Dumbledore was shocked at the way Rubeus handled himself. He was nothing like the man that left this institution two years ago and it was almost insulting enough that Dumbledore was ready to protest about his inaction in the plan. All thoughts of protests died when he saw the group now dressed in battle armor and visors covering their eyes. The visors were covered in runes, which from a distance was impossible to decipher.
“What purpose does the visor serve?” He questioned the same Veela/Faerie man, cheeks flushed with his shame at his ignorance.
“The runes allow us to look into the eyes of the serpent without fear of death or petrification.” With that, the team assembled in a formation similar to that of a wedge, with Hagrid in the lead. At Pamela’s hissed words the Gorgon embellished door swung open with nary a squeak.
Tibet
Neville wondered to himself ‘why did he sign up for this torture?’. Three weeks into his second summer holiday marked his second expedition as an aid to a Gringotts treasure seeking team. He and his friends had done such a fantastic job the previous year that they were requested by the same team as the previous year. All five of them were elated to be back.
This summer, the team was contracted by a group of monks to find and retrieve relics of their religion, that was lost when their ancestors had to suddenly flee their temple for fear of their lives. Over the generations, the location of the temple was lost and so the monks needed the help of the Goblins to locate the temple and retrieve their relics.
To act as an aide, the monks sent one of their masters to travel with the group. He was a short unassuming old man named Oolah. He was positively ancient walking with a staff longer than he was tall and so hunched he was almost at a 90-degree angle. His unassuming nature was but a front. On the first night, the man gathered the teens and told them that he was going to give them a lesson. He told them to form a circle and sat in the middle. He then removed a sphere of pure jade and told them to take it from him. The failed miserably.
Since that night the teens were in strict meditation to get in touch with their chi. From what Oolah told them, the chi is the magic that infuses their muscles and governs the ‘animal self’. It was almost like finding their magical cores but taken a step farther. Due to their Occlumency class at the Institute, the teens were able to skip most of the first and second stages of accessing their chi.
The next step was to find their animal self. When Cayden made the mistake of calling it their Animagus forms, he was properly chastised. The animal self was something sacred and not some bastardized ritual to conform the soul to human perception. Though connection with the animal self, practitioners of chi magic, were able to tap into special chi magic and martial art forms dedicated to the animal. Currently, the teen's meditations had fostered a closer relationship and almost familial feeling among them. Oolah pointed out that it might mean that they are either the same animal or closely related. This excited the teens and they were itching to see what animal they were.
Neville was the first to spot his animal self two weeks since their initial searching. He was a russet coloured wolf. Minutes later the others found their animal selves. Harry a pure black wolf, Susan a wolf with red fur. Luna was a grey wolf and Cayden a pure white wolf. Oolah was ecstatic cause they were an entire pack. Harry being the alpha and Neville his beta, they became a true family.
The three weeks before the discovery of the temple was full of exercises in addition to the chores and dueling training from the Shields. Every night they went to bed sore and exhausted.
It took them a total of six weeks to find the temple. And a fulfilling task it was. On the final day with the crew, Oolah presented them with scrolls depicting the different wolf forms they were just being exposed to and details of how to fully transform into their animal selves. He also gave each of them a leather necklace with jade pendants carved to look like wolves. Inscribed in the leather and pendant were runes for protection and ownership that activated the second they were worn, pulling the energy to function from the wearers magic and chi.
Hogwarts Express(Last day of the term)
Cho/Tom quickly exited the train, before it left the Hogsmeade station, under a disillusionment charm. They started a long trek through the forest which was infinitely safer with the removal of the acromantula colony. Their aim was to enter the Chamber of secrets through an alternate but more treacherous entrance meant for the Basilisk to enter and exit. It took them almost 9 hours to find the entrance and climb the waterfall safely towards the concealed entrance/exit. They had exhausted her trust fund to purchase the required venom for the ritual and now needed a ritual room to perform it in. The ideal place would be Salazar’s Chamber. They planned to stay there the whole summer holiday so that the wards would not identify Tom’s presence.
The ritual went smoothly. It only took two days for the pair to recover and wake the Basilisk to assess its readiness and hunger. They deemed the snake sufficiently bloodthirsty and its hunger driving it to the brink of madness.
The next week was spent reacquainting himself with Salazar’s impressive collection of tomes. The first Slytherin was not picky about what was housed in his library, as long as it was powerful magic it could be found among the treasures. The beginning of the next week brought some unexpected visitors to the chamber.
Tom/Cho had just completed their work on Cho’s pitiful Occlumentic shields when the doors to the chamber swung open revealing a group armed for battle. At the helm was the oaf Hagrid who Tom had expelled almost half a century ago.
Hagrid POV
Upon entering the Chamber the Vampyre to his right nose wrinkled in disgust.
“Possession. There is foul black magic in this chamber. It stinks of a person possessed. Rotting.” All this was said in a whisper as to not alert the only person at the other end of the chamber.
The girl at the other end of the Chamber turned to the statue and said something in Parseltongue which caused the mouth to open.
Cho/Tom POV
The shock that his ancestor’s sanctuary had been discovered before his plan could manifest did not paralyze the Dark Lord. He knew by the way they entered the chamber that this group was well trained and there was no way they would escape without a distraction. So, without much thought, he summoned the monster housed in the bust of Salazar Slytherin.
Hagrid POV
The team watched in fascination as the monster slithered from the bust. Almost 90 feet in length and at least 19 feet in diameter, it was a true beast. Some part of Hagrid was sad that the snake had to die, but a look into the eyes of the monster revealed that it was beyond aid.
“James, Victoria, do not let that girl escape the chamber. We will deal with the beast. Do not kill her under any circumstance,” Hagrid instructed the two Vampyres on his team. With inhuman speed, the two were off across the floor sealing all the places that led out of the chamber as they went. They moved so quickly they were a blur.
As the Vampyre moved closer to the girl, they quickly realized that the stench of possession came from her. They knew that if they confronted her, the spirit might forcibly leave her and kill the child in the process. And so they prepared to cast a runic spell to seal the spirit and prevent it from leaving the girl without the aid of an exorcism.
The other members of the group wasted no time assaulting the beast.
Cho/Tom POV
They felt more than they felt the spells coming their way. Tom raised the most powerful shield he knew. It was all for naught. He felt the spell, which he recognized as runic in origin, rip away his connection to the diadem, effectively trapping him in the teen’s body. Given time to process and analyze the spell would allow him to break it and flee, but they were dodging and shielding against the spells being flung by two assailants.
Taking in their surroundings, Cho/Tom realized that they were boxed in and no physical route of escape was available.
Shit just got real.
Hagrid POV
The issue with Basilisk over 200 years old is that they lose their aversion to the rooster's cry. By that advanced age, the cry is more irritating than anything else. This does not mean that roosters are not helpful. The other 8 people on Hagrid's team had conjured or otherwise summoned roosters to annoy and distract the snake, while the magicians worked to contain and kill it.
Such a task required quick thinking and even quicker casting of transfigurative charms. And the team was up to the challenge. It took them almost twenty minutes to transfigure and reinforce enough bands of rock to anchor the snake to the floor of the chamber. Hagrid then walked forward and skilfully killed the beast by stabbing it with a dragon forged sword made from Diamond.
It was only slightly anti-climatic. Thankfully all the team member survived with minimal injuries and all limbs intact.
There was only one thing left to do and it was to subdue the teen.
Cho/Tom POV
One thing Tom did not account for is the fragility of his host. While her capacity for magic was increased, it could not stand against two fully trained and obviously powerful Vampyres. The number of spells and strength of the shields needed to rebuff them was draining the girl faster than he could believe possible.
He had one of two choices, surrendering or death. He chose the latter.
Gathering the last of the girl’s reserves to slit her throat to silence her forever, he did not notice the overpowered stunner from the Veela approaching him from behind. All he knew was the darkness of the teen girl’s mind as she struggled against the cage she was sequestered in by the possessing wraith.
He knew this game would be up soon and he was not happy. If the girl were only more powerful and driven then he would have succeeded. Harry Potter will live to see one more day, or at least until another of his Horcrux has the honor of ending his miserable existence.
That’s when he felt it. A weak link in the runic spell. This was his chance. He walked over to the girl ready to kill her and take his leave. As soon as he raised his hand to end her, the runes flared forming a shield around her consciousness. He would not be able to physically harm her. He could, however, seal her memories of their encounter and plans. He knelt and began writing a series of runes aimed and sealing the knowledge of his existence.
Hagrid POV
The first thing the did was escort the teen out of the chamber to the Hospital wing. The Headmaster trailed them asking questions as he was unable to get into the Chamber even after the skirmish was done.
After securing the girl in the Hospital wing, he explained to the Headmaster what they encountered (omitting the presence of the diadem).
Dumbledore’s POV
‘Tom must have possessed the girl. But it was not the time for his existence to be revealed. All the plans were not yet in place. He had to free Tom.’
He quickly raised his wand and fired a spell to weaken the binding of the runic spell.
“What the hell do you think u are doing,” it seems as though the half-giant was more knowledgeable than he was expecting.
“Its just a simple diagnosis char…” he did not get a chance to finish his statement. A grey wraith flowed out of the girl’s mouth and nostrils. It gathered and congealed into a blob the radiated evil. It wasted no time fleeing the castle grounds with a haunting scream.
Hagrid POV
‘The fool Dumbledore had freed the wraith intentionally. After all the energy put into keeping the girl alive, the aging fool almost killed her with one spell.’
But why would Dumbledore do such a thing? This would have to be further investigated by the DMLE and school governors. His work was down in the Chamber, and that’s where he headed after giving Dumbledore the stink eye.