He had just finished his three foot long Potions essay and held it up with some satisfaction. Overlooking it, he couldn't even hear a nagging voice point out any mistakes. This was the last of his homework for Easter and from now on it would be mostly revisions. And quidditch practice of course. Luci was decidedly in a good mood, not even bothered by the sprawl of parchment around her in preparation of her Potions N.E.W.T. Nathan was snoring in an armchair, having finished up earlier than the rest. Regulus flipped through his well organized notes with a scowl. By experience, Harry knew that those would be near perfect for the exams ahead, not that he would need to borrow them.
Melissa and Severus were sitting at a table discussing a few things. Harry wondered if he had taken to tutoring her, they seemed very much concentrated on their work. There was a break from using Keldran's library today. He would've never guessed months ago that he'd turn to homework to take his mind off things. But it helped, just to be four apart instead of together. It gave the transient illusion that they weren't fighting against fate every single day.
It came as somewhat of a surprise when Regulus trained his attention on Harry. "Hey, uh… Maybe we should go check maintenance on the brooms. Want to go take a trip to the broom shed?"
"Sure." he said, putting away his work. He knew it was a matter of necessity, but he had sidelined Reg for the company of Lily, Severus and Remus recently. Nathan had mentioned Regulus would meet up with Sirius from time to time, so at least he couldn't feel too guilty about it.
As they exited the dungeons and walked towards the West Wing, he noticed Reg was being awfully brooding.
"So… final match coming." he said.
"Yeah. Can't believe the term is ending soon." Harry said, fondly thinking of his stint as Slytherin's seeker.
Harry knew something was wrong when they stopped at a very conspicuous place at the West Wing. He remembered that archway to his right and James standing there, invited by Lily to give an apology. An involuntary grimace came over him at the coincidence. Reg turned to face him with the frown he had been holding for the last hour. At once it became clear why they hadn't continued to the broom shed.
"I'm… not blind, you know," he said with some sadness in his voice. "You and Luci, just tell me if I'm right."
"Luci likes me." Harry answered after a moment of deliberation.
Reg deflated instantly and put his hands on his knees. "Merlin's tits..."
Somehow apologizing didn't seem like it would do any good. "I'm with Lily."
"And what, you're telling me you never even thought about it? Not even at Slughorn's party?" Regulus asked quietly.
"I'm… not made of ice… but I never did."
Regulus straightened himself and gave a mirthless laugh. "You don't know how lucky you are."
Those words brought something of a dead nostalgia in Harry. Regulus had no idea how wrong he was. "Trust me, Reg," he said, "I know."
"It's just dreadful." he said with a sullen expression.
Harry took out the broom maintenance kit in his pocket and looking at it tentatively shrugged. "Guess we should still check out the brooms, though."
Regulus chuckled. "Can't you read the bloody mood?"
"Broom maintenance is really important." Harry said, trying to hide a grin.
It was to their amusement they noticed on arrival that the Slytherin team brooms were indeed in need of maintenance. If Potions assignments were a distraction, this was a welcome relaxing time-waster. He remembered how his Firebolt had been lost with yet another one of his close companions. This did remind him that, as much as he still wanted to mourn Hedwig, he would have to buy an owl during summer.
They took the Nimbus 1500's out for a spin and got carried away shooting some hoops. Harry's heart filled with glee as he saw two figures approaching in the distance carrying brooms. Luci and Darcy were sauntering over to them with accusatory smiles.
"Maintenance, you said?" she called up to them.
"We had to test them!" Harry answered.
"Yeah, we finished maintenance a while ago." Reg added.
A few first and second years came to watch. They wouldn't have known the drama at the center of the Slytherin quidditch team by the way they had a light bit of practice. Without their gloves and gear it's not like Harry and Reg would be able to go full bore. Harry considered summoning his gear straight from the dungeons, but decided against being a blatant showoff.
The warm water did good to soothe his strained muscles in the shower. When he turned to get dressed he spotted Regulus staring at him, staring at his left shoulder. When Harry's eyes turned, he saw the rounded spider-like marks of his new scar.
"How the hell did that happen?" Regulus asked.
"Got bit by a Chimeara," Harry tried jokingly.
Regulus blinked twice and shook his head. "What do you get up to when I'm not around?" he said pensively.
Luckily that was the end of it. After dinner was spent in relaxation in the dungeons, most of the students taking a break from a tense week of exam preparation and assignments. The time flying did him good and by 9:30 he was ready to go to bed. Again at the edge of consciousness, there was a whisper of footsteps.
A shimmer was steady around a corner, and slowly moved silently in the hallway. The soft steps were only audible because of the complete silence surrounding them. The sound stopped ahead of a tapestry of dancing trolls, the scene bathed in moonlight. There came a scraping along the wall's stones and then the shimmer of a wand tip, flicking. Stones lit with pale light through invisible cracks. A voice snickered excitedly.
There was more scraping, and it stopped at a sound like crackling parchment, slowly revealing a door with a golden handle. A nervous breath turned calm and a turn of the handle clicked the door open. Behind it streamed the light of a fireplace and candles.
Feet thumped low on soft carpet. The room was improbably spacious. Suddenly the shimmer disappeared, revealing a short boy with blonde hair and watery eyes. The boy startled and tightened his grip on his wand, eyes widening. A person appeared at an ebony desk, hidden by a dark brimmed hat and a pipe burning bright red, sizzling at an inhalation. Out came a cloud of gray-green smoke like a whisper, coiling like an eel through the air.
"I– I'm sorry sir, I just noticed the door and–"
The words came out spitting with disdain. "Spare me your acting, Pettigrew."
Peter's eyes narrowed and he brought up his wand. "Who are you? What is this place?"
Standing, the man leaned on a large oaken staff and his lynx eyes settled on the intruder. Peter shot a look backwards and saw a wall where the door had been. His eyes narrowed and he lashed out. "Confringo!"
With a quickness trained to kill the curse reached the other wizard's mocking grin and magic dissipated in a woosh of white turbulence.
"I thought of hiding this place from you, let things play out. Unfortunately, my goals are far too close to leave it all to my four hopeful wards. I knew it when I first sorted you, as incomplete as I was then, I gave you every chance to change. I see now that was foolish thinking. A rotten child becomes a rotten man."
Peter let out a mousy laugh and his eyes flickered with rage. "Adava Kedavra!"
The curse hit and green murderous energies fell upon the older wizard, crackling on fabric and skin. Peter let out a laugh of victory, as the figure buckled, his look turned quickly to confusion as the wizard still stood. Panic seemed to have taken a hold of him. "That's impossible!" he shouted.
"Impossible... No. Such. Thing."
Literal fire burned in the bearded man's eyes and smoke rose from the stitching in his robes. The room filled with scalding steam in an instant. Pettigrew fell backwards in terror, his eyes transfixed on the haze. What spoke was not a voice but a rumbling like flames beneath the earth, hissing with steam and molten fury.
"I have seen within your heart, Pettigrew. There is nothing there but hatred and greed. To betray your friends is sacrilege enough, but to come here, and endanger my plans. Make peace with yourself, your life is mine."
A flash of hellfire and scorching light filled the study white.
He couldn't breathe. His breath was caught in his throat. He panicked, clawed for something – anything to help the feeling go away. His sheets were damp, he gripped them, his knuckles going white. He felt the fear of his dream paralyze his diaphragm, as if he were petrified. After a minute of flailing he felt his lungs abruptly fill with air again. As he calmed he tried to make sense of what he just saw. The realization formed in his mind and he tasted ash.
Keldran killed Wormtail.
He wasn't sure to feel shock, relief or anger. He had lied. Just like everyone else. Just another set of strings to bind him and make him dance. He felt dirty.
Without thinking he grabbed his cloak and quickly made his way out and up the staircase, straight to the 7th floor. He would find him even if he had to blast his way through the castle's stone. To his surprise he found the door with the golden handle already set in the wall. He hesitated for a second before entering.
He did not expect to see what he saw. Keldran was sitting on a couch, leaning on his staff, hands trembling. His features were sunken and his eyes unfocused. The hat was laying next to him and he seemed to have trouble even looking up to see him enter. After the initial shock Harry steeled himself.
"You lied to us!"
Keldran took a deep breath and strained to squint his eyes. "I didn't expect you to awaken your gift so soon… that's my mistake –" His talking was interrupted by a terrible bout of coughing. It took a moment for him to calm himself. He spoke deliberately and slowly. "You didn't – bring your friends – I thought – you knew better."
His accusation cut deep as Harry felt his impulsiveness again a glaring flaw. "Why? Why did you kill Pettigrew? Why did you hide from us now? Why the hell are you in this state?"
"He – would have ended you – you don't know – the dangers of it. You – don't – know what's coming."
"More lies?" Harry said, his face souring.
Keldran seemed to take the time to think what to say, like he had to ration his words. "I'll tell you – the rest of the – story. I need – some tea first." Keldran poured some beverage out of a tea pot and sipped it slowly, his eyes regaining some colour in the process and his ragged breath smoothing out.
"Better. I won't offer you any of this one though, sorry." he said with a weak smile. "You'll forgive me if I don't stand."
"Tell me what this 'gift' is. I've had visions before, I wish I didn't."
"It's just part of who you are now," he said, averting his gaze. "What's happening right now would've awakened it eventually, the library just helped things along. They are true, your visions, but you might not know if they are past, present or future."
"Great." he replied dryly.
"You don't think people travel through time every day, do you? It's rare, it's not even possible like you did without a veritable link to fate. Then again, it's inevitable that you would. It's inevitable that you would find the hat, that you would awaken it and listen to it. It's inevitable that you would free me – as much as I can be freed."
"I thought you were the hat."
Keldran scoffed. "The hat was a prison, intended to keep two halves of me enslaved. This is not a pleasant story. It's one you will most likely feel some understanding for. Maybe at the end, you will even forgive me."
Keldran seemed to be waiting for some reply, or a reaction, but Harry's jaw was set anxiously and his wand was steady in his hand.
"I found the Founders just like I told you, they were nothing but a potential back then. They had ambition, dreams, even goodness in their hearts. What they didn't know was something was coming, a reckoning, one I couldn't fight myself. So I taught them, trained them. I let them become who they would be, the icons of magical understanding in our world today.
"I must tell you what we faced was no small thing. Even if I told you, it would mean nothing, but with your gift, you will probably see it yourself fairly soon. It's inevitable like so many things are. So, the five of us set forth at the end of their awakening to face our foe. They fought brilliantly, bravely, with wit and such regard for each other I was full of awe.
"Sacrifices were made. I thought I could let them take over, finally pass on, so I took a heavy blow, weakening me. We won. I was ecstatic! I had lead them to victory and pride overwhelmed me, but I was still alive."
A look of bitter disgust came over his features. "You don't know someone until you know them in times of peace. They built this school, and I did too. I weaved its enchantments, hid its secrets and helped them make it into a true fortress of knowledge. Then my pupils started taking on apprentices themselves. They grew apart, from me. I was an inconvenient remnant of their past. With me here, they couldn't shine quite as brightly. Perhaps they grew scared, or bitter that I would share only so much.
"But I couldn't leave, I was too weak. I felt their rancor grow, but I chose to trust, despite my fears. I shouldn't have. They found out how to hide their thoughts from me so I wouldn't see them plot. They visited my study on a cold winter night, I remember it like it was yesterday, they came in the guise of a celebration of Yule. They trapped me.
"They knew they couldn't kill me fully, not without suffering damage themselves. So they separated my being into two prisons. One was a dirty old hat, one was a gleaming black gem. Do you know what it's like to have your consciousness split in two? Unable to enact your true will? I despaired that I would stay there forever, they had taken enough measures. But I created the Chimeara, it would let anyone pass if they had pure intentions. Your will to save this world is what freed me.
"You would never have succeeded if they hadn't left a few fatal mistakes in their plan. I had limited influence as the sorting hat, but once awake I could guide you with a riddle. You don't know the patience and luck that comes with seeing you four come to me. And I guess, as they say, the rest is history. Your coming made it possible for my old nemesis to rise again, and with them, so did I. I lost no time in preparing you, because if you fail it won't just be the world of magic that's at stake."
Keldran leaned back exhausted on the couch.
"We're fighting Voldemort, not this nemesis of yours, that's who's threatening our lives."
"Not for long. I'm trying to hold them back, and failing. That's why the room was closed, I was too weak for anything else. My apologies."
Harry was reminded of the words in his dream. "Is it that… beast, the one you're talking about?"
"No matter if it was or wasn't. It can't be stopped, I can only hold it back so long. Voldemort is already unknowingly its faithful puppet, bound by his fear of death, he is already doomed. I saw them start to dig their claws into Riddle, that's why I led you away from the horcruxes. Silly bit of magic if you ask me."
Harry had to take a second to take all of this in. Keldran didn't seem dishonest, but he had fallen into that trap before. "So what do you want us to do then? What's your great plan?"
He gave a hopeful smile. "It's like I told you in my split state. I want you to grow, it's been nothing but my greatest wish to see man grow and thrive. When you've deepened your understanding with my library, I'll give you the tools. Then it's up to you what to do with them."
"I have to lie now? Remus would never forgive you for killing Peter."
"I'm sorry." Keldran said, and Harry almost believed it.
There was no part of him that felt anywhere near okay with being held hostage by some apparent greater evil. He wasn't even sure he believed him. There was no fiber of his being that was even remotely fine with piling on more lies. In this second he felt like he somewhat knew what Dumbledore felt like when he had to so elegantly twist the truth. And Harry wasn't Dumbledore. He was done lying. If Remus wanted to be done with this, that was his right.
"Going to kill me too now?" he said, knowing full well that his mind was being read despite his occlumency.
"Don't be ridiculous!" Keldran shouted. "I realize it's difficult to trust again, but I really do have your best interests at heart. Do you want to tell the Lupin boy? Go ahead. Your conscience is worth preserving. I just didn't think anyone would have it in them."
"What if I don't just tell Lupin, what if I come out with everything? What then? What if they send the Aurors, Curse Breakers and Dumbledore in here? What if I'm done with this? You said Voldemort was finished, why should I believe you now you say something worse is coming?" he said, defiantly.
"Then all is lost, and my work has been for nothing." Keldran said with sadness in his eyes.
"I'm leaving." he said, turning towards the door. He half expected it not to be there, but it was.
"Harry..." Keldran called after him. "Please, please, try and think things through before giving up. Give it some time. It's all I ask."
Harry exited without looking back and made his way to the dungeons under cover of the cloak.