Published at 27th of May 2024 12:14 am

Chapter 209: Nevermore

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1 May 1994, Hogwarts, Scotland

"I wonder, have you always been under Dumbledore's thumb, or are your loyalties that fickle? What is it, Wormtail?"

For the first time in the encounter, the impostor's formerly smug face turned into shock, "How?"

"Daphne would have noticed someone following her. It had to be something that no one else would pick up, that the wards wouldn't even recognize as a person. So, you couldn't be invisible, and you didn't come from the top; Dumbledore put some extra wards to stop people from being smartasses and go over the walls. The only method I could see happening is by just being recognized as something mundane from the wards. I was curious about Animagi once and they need separate detection charms, so that was probably the way you snuck in. I know the list of every registered Animagi and none of them are small enough to be dismissed by hand. That left unregistered ones and there could be a lot of them. From the expression on your face, you feel proud of getting one over me, no, you feel vindicated in some way. This means that you recognized me, more than that, you are familiar with me intimately. From the tremor in your hand, you're nervous. You're sweating, so you're feeling regretful and ashamed for some reason, a paradox of your actions."

The impostor flinched imperceptibly whenever Harry made a correct guess, "Now, which Animagus would have so many complicated feelings about me? Then I remembered, weren't the Marauders Animagi? The only one with a form enough to sneak into the maze would have been Peter Pettigrew also known as Wormtail, a previous member of Dumbledore's Order of the Phoenix, which matches up with the fact that you're under the headmaster's orders."

After giving the man a disdainful look, Harry continued, "I have to say that you're looking rather spry for a dead man, Pettigrew. My guess is that you somehow got out of Godric's Hollow. Or maybe you were never there, and Dumbledore just urged you to stay hidden when you came to him. There are many uses for Animagi with a common form as yours after all."

"You're clever. Just like Lily. Just like James. But you're not clever now, are you?"

Harry sneered, "I could kill you with a wave of my hand."

"But you're not going to. You see, I didn't come here to kill you. I was never the fighting kind and Dumbledore would have sent someone a bit more martially inclined to go after you. Which is why, instead of violence, I'm going to give you a choice."

Pettigrew then slowly walked forward and put some kind of golden disk, filled with glowing runes that Harry didn't recognize, and raised it towards Harry.

"What is that?" Harry asked.

"I have no idea. This was Dumbledore's penance for me, for joining the Dark Lord. He found me a couple of years after the fire of Godric's Hollow. It was a surprise visit to the Weasleys, and he recognized my form. He promised to let me go, to set me free if I do this. I'm sorry, I might not have been resentful of James and scared shitless of Lily, but you're not them. He bound me to this artefact and told me to bind it to you to escape its judgement. So, instead of fighting you, as I said, I'm going to give you a choice. At any time, this thing will activate. I have no idea what it is going to do but it will definitely screw with my concentration, and that will definitely kill your friend here. Take it off me. Allow it to bind you and I'll let her go, just like that."

"How am I supposed to trust you?"

The impostor snorted, "Potter, I'm a dead man walking. I literally have nothing to lose. I have no home, no family, no gold, nothing. I wouldn't blink an eye if I killed you and her just to save my hide. But I'm not a monster. The girl did nothing wrong. If you save me, I have no reason to not keep my word."

Harry gave him a dubious look, "You're asking me to trust the words of a traitor and a coward?"

Pettigrew responded by opening the pocket and revealing a piece of parchment brimming with magic, "This was very hard to find… Geas paper is very rare nowadays, especially now that it's been banned." Pettigrew cut his palm and made blood drip on the paper which started to physically glow.

"Mark me now with thine own ears and witness this solemn vow I inscribe," Pettigrew began, with Ron Weasley's voice taking on an uncharacteristic gravity, "Hearken unto my oath, scribed in blood and sealed by magic most binding."

"By the powers that govern us, by the unseen threads that bind our fates, I, Peter Pettigrew, do solemnly swear: Should Harry Potter accept upon himself the binding of yon accursed disk, then shall I, with no delay or deceit, release Daphne Greengrass from her unjust captivity and see to her wellbeing outside this Labyrinth. Let this be my unbreakable bond, my word given in blood, witnessed by forces both seen and unseen."

"As stars do hold their course, steadfast in the firmament, so too shall my promise hold true. Should I falter, should I break this sacred trust, then let my own magic forsake me, let my fate be cast to the winds, scorned and accursed for all time? This I swear, with blood as my witness, where lies and deceit hold no sway."

The blood from the rat Animagus' palm seeped into the parchment, causing the ancient runes inscribed upon it to flare, the magic seeped from the parchment and chained themselves to Pettigrew's magic.

"Happy now?" the man uttered mockingly.

Harry gave him a sour look, "Fine."

He recognized a Celtic Geas when he saw one. He just didn't think anyone would be insane enough to bind themselves to one. Pettigrew must be really desperate to rely on that. Harry slowly grasped the artifact and felt its ownership accepting him and letting go of Pettigrew.

With a sneer, Harry yelled at him, "Let her go now."

The rat Animagus looked oddly regretful and with a wave of his wand, the necklace fell to the floor and Daphne's eyes stopped looking glassy, "Harry? What's going on?"

"Nothing. You just had a bad time in the maze. You're going to be fine, now."

"I don't understand."

Harry smiled at her gently, "I don't either. But I just wanted you to know… I wanted you to know that your friendship was the best thing that happened to me. I would have probably been some quiet guy in the background, doing his best to ignore everything around him. You have saved me in ways you couldn't have possibly imagined. You made me learn how to live and for that, I will always be grateful."

"You're not making any sense, Harry."

"That's because I don't know what's going to happen. There's a lot that I want to say, but I just can't find the words. Imagine me, of all people, not knowing what to say… I guess, at the end of the day, I just wanted to thank you, and tell you that you are brilliant, Daphne Greengrass., absolutely brilliant."

Before she could say anything, Harry nodded towards Pettigrew who, with a wave of his wand, made the ground swallow the blonde. Harry felt his friend's melody appear outside the maze and relaxed slightly.

He turned towards Pettigrew, his eyes turned to blazing orbs, "I still should kill you, right now."

"You're not a murderer, Harry. And I am sorry, Harry, truly. I didn't want to…"

"Don't pretend like you wouldn't have killed your own parents in cold blood just to stay safe. You're a coward. You've always been a coward. Whatever regret you feel is meaningless to both me and you."

The rat Animagus looked down in shame, "I had no choice."

"We always have a choice, Wormtail. You just never considered one where you could endanger yourself."

"I'm sorry, Harry, I truly am."

The last Potter ignored his pathetic mutterings and said, "You know, the only reason you're still alive is for one simple reason. It's not something as silly as compassion, or as worthless as some kind of loyalty for being my parents' friend once. It's not even because I'm afraid of becoming a killer. No, it's because, at the end of the day, you still lost, and I can take consolation in that."

"How did I lose? I am free for the first time in over a decade."

"Are you? Do you know why making a Celtic Geas is illegal in Europe? I never pegged you as the studying part. You probably realized that it was the quickest way to make a binding vow, but you never considered why that was a bad thing. You never noticed how much a few words could change everything. You probably had an oath memorized, now think back on what you said."

"No!" the rat Animagus with a look of horrified realization on his face.

"But yes. You swore to see to Daphne's wellbeing, not to see her safely returned outside the maze. It's funny how a simple invisible and seemingly harmless compulsion charm could mess with so many plans. You bound yourself to Daphne Greengrass. Any time she would be unhappy, your Geas will hurt you, every time she is so much as unhappy, you will be bound to do your best to save her. And that's the best part, you didn't even put a limit to any kind of well-being or a time limit, so you will never be able to do anything to her or her family as long as you remain alive. And that's more productive than just killing you, isn't it? Her sister has a blood curse that no one has been able to cure for centuries, and if she died, Daphne would be in so much pain. I can only imagine what your Geas will put you through, then. You didn't think I would let you get away with torturing my best friend, did you?"

"No!"

Harry shrugged and banished the rat Animagus away, pinning him to the stone walls. The form of Ron Weasley started to morph away, revealing the cowardly man that hid beneath, "You see, you didn't think beyond the artefact. This thing," Harry held the golden disk up, "is too complicated of an artefact to just kill me. I have no idea what it does. I can't even tell what it is, but the old man was always fond of saying that there were things far worse than Death. I will beat this thing and escape it, that I promise you. And when I do, I strongly advise you to keep out of my way. You'll find that this world is a very small place when I'm angry with you."

With another flick of his wand, the wall parted away as if it was a liquid and Pettigrew was thrown to the other side. The wall closed a second later, leaving Harry alone in the chamber. He could feel the magic of the golden disk grow exponentially, as if ready to cast a spell, and he knew that whatever it was supposed to do would happen soon.

He took a deep breath and tried to find a way to reverse the process, but no magic seemed to affect it at all. He tried to resist as best he could, delay the inevitable, but that was it, a small delay. Damn it!

Seeing no way out, the last Potter took a deep breath and murmured to himself, "It was bound to happen sometime, losing… I was getting a little reckless, to be fair. I wonder if this is it… the end of my story. Now, that would be anticlimactic. All of my adventures, preparations, being useless because of a meddling old man and a cowardly rat."

"It's not fair! IT'S NOT FAIR!" he yelled before kneeling down, "I could have done so much more, been so much more. But this is what I get. My reward. The Last Potter… What a joke!"

"I know you can listen to this, Dumbledore. It's how you knew how to activate the artefact when Pettigrew gave it to me. So, let me tell you, I will counter this artefact. I will fight for every moment. You know what I'm capable of, Albus Dumbledore."

The disk started glowing heavily, but Harry did his best to resist it, "I will personally shine a light on everything you've ever done. Your relationship with Grindelwald, the plans you made together, everything. I will rain hell on you until you take your last breath. I will end you and everything you love, everything you've ever cared about will be gone one by one until you remain, a pathetic old man who thought he was above the rest of the world. I will come after you, and I will never ever stop!"

It was getting harder to resist, but Harry still held on, "That is my promise to you, Albus Dumbledore."

And just like that, the artefact finally overpowered him, and everything turned white.

AN: Now, some of you might be concerned with what I have done and I admit that I do have my doubts. Just to reassure you, this thing will be resolved in this arc, which is nearing its end. I won't say anything else to avoid spoilers, but I thought that you should know that. I did this because I have something very cool planned for the next couple of chapters, so bear with me. And let's be honest, Harry was getting a little reckless and something had to happen to curb that. As usual, please let me know what you think or if you have any suggestions regarding it.

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