23

Chapter 23 - The Only Certainty

Voldemort landed on in his study floor shaking, his breathing ragged. He slammed his fist into the ground and roared.

The lightning had almost hit him.

This man, this wizard.

Henry Peverell.

He had nearly snuffed Lord Voldemort out with the effort of a fire drake toasting a pidgeon.

Voldemort rolled onto his back staring up at the ceiling trying to regain his pulse.

He had been playing chess with Dumbledore for decades.

Had been playing jeopardy with Naomi Lupin.

But now Voldemort found himself in a game that he knew nothing about.

Who was he? How does a wizard of his age reach that level of power?

Dumbledore had been gifted for decades, but the elemental strength, that was something he had built up to.

Elemental magic was perilously close to the Dark Arts Voldemort himself used. But it took a great deal of stamina, energy, and will to wield.

The Dark Arts took strength, knowledge, and emotion.

Peverell's face when he called the Earth and the winds... had been at peace.

The moment he dropped his wand, it was he had ceased to be human.

And he had been toying with them, a monster stretching from a long slumber. A cat batting at mice.

He could have killed them, he could have killed them all.

Voldemort had found his match. And unlike Noami, Henry Peverell seemed the sort to not only rip the lid off of Pandora's Box, but the type to clear a path for the demons.

Peverell had to go, and Voldemort didn't have the slightest idea how to accomplish that end.

Narcissa came to her senses and approached Harry and Teddy before the others could start forward.

"How did you do that?"

Harry shrugged, "Not sure, I've never done that before, it felt…" He shrugged again. Then he grinned, "I suppose you might say the Force was with me."

"What?" she asked, deeply confused.

Teddy giggled.

And Harry shook his head, "Never mind." He held up his and his wand came back to him and slipped it back into his wrist sheath.

Narcissa felt the compulsion to touch him, and thought screw it, they were legally married and had been sharing a bed for weeks.

She touched his arm lightly, and he immediately opened his arm pulled her into a hug.

Teddy laughed again, and Narcissa was amazed at how at ease the boy was, had her father done that she would have been terrified.

But Harry was… looking up into his face, she saw a man who's only certainty had been the love he had for others.

The love for his son.

For his departed wife.

For her.

Looking into his eyes, she felt as if she and Teddy were the only ones in the world that mattered to him.

And just like Teddy, she felt no fear, because all that strength, all that power, and potential would only be used to protect them.

To avenge them if need be.

And the part of her that was Black, delighted in the wildness of him, of the road they were on, and the certainty that nothing and no one could survive coming against that which she loved.

Andromeda came up to them, touching her hip, "So, brother, are you hoping to take over our world?"

Harry shifted, so they were no longer in a tight hug, but his arm remained around her waist, Teddy in his free arm. "Nah, I have enough responsibilities."

"Some Slytherin you are," Andromeda teased, Nymphadora running into her skirts, "where's your ambition?"

Harry's arm tightened around Narcissa's arm slightly, and he said, his voice slightly deeper, "I have other ambitions."

She leaned into him and when she caught his emerald gaze, her breath caught.

Merlin, was he real? Could he really be everything she wanted, want everything she wanted?

"Uncle Harry," Nymphadora began, "How do you make trees dance?"

Harry leaned smiled, "You have to learn to hear them first."

"What?"

"Trees, they sing to each other, and you have to learn to hear them first."

Teddy and Nymphadora went very quiet.

As did Andromeda and Narcissa.

She heard the wind rustle the branches, and for a moment, just moment, she thought she understood what Harry had meant.

But then her father and uncle came up to them.

"Interesting bit of magic, son," Uncle Orion said, which for him was akin of roaring endorsement.

Her father just looked at Harry and her like he had won a leprechaun's stash.

"Hey!" Nymphadora chastized the heir to the Black family, "We were listening."

Orion frowned at the little girl but they were joined but Bella and her new husband then.

"Quite the show," Kingsley drawled.

Bella threw her arms around Harry, catching him by surprise, Harry released Narcissa to hug her back.

"Thank you," she said pulling back, her gaze focused, her smile wild, "My wedding will be the talk of the century."

Teddy wiggled out of Harry's arms, Teddy and Nymphadora raced to the dance floor as the band started up again, as extra Aurors apparated in.

Bella pulled on Harry's hand, "Come, you must dance with me."

Kingsley held his hand out to Narcissa as Bella dragged the most dangerous wizard of living memory into a twirling waltz.

"Aren't you going to help your fellow Aurors?" Narcissa asked her brother-in-law as he framed his arms, and spun them into the rhythm of the song.

His smile was amused, "No, it's my wedding and not even fiendfyre is going to distract me from enjoying the start of my new beautiful life."

She laughed, feeling as if their future was no longer dictated by their ancestors, by the houses they had been sorted into by the choices they would make.

James and Lily stared at Sirius, and weakly Lily asked, "What?"

Sirius grinned and explained again, Regulus sitting beside him grinning, "It was epic."

Lily and James looked at each other.

"What is wrong with you both?" Sirius asked, "He's amazing. Dumbledore step aside, we have a new Greatest Wizard of the age."

Lily made a squeak sound, James looked pale.

"Seriously," Regulus said, "why are you making those faces? Everyone wants a first-hand account and you two look like you just received terrible noise.

What Lily was thinking was that her son was crazy insanely powerful and what would it mean to have more kids.

James was thinking that kind of power was dangerous, and more dangerous to be associated with.

Severus closed his book, "So, is he taking over the world?"

"Nah," Regulus said, "He's super chill. He just went back to dancing, he wouldn't answer any of the Aurors questions. When he got pressed for where he learned that kind of magic, he just smiled at them."

"No wonder he isn't afraid of Hogwarts cursed DADA position, he could probably tear down the entire castle on a whim," Sirius noted.

"How is that good thing?" James asked.

"He's on our side, Jamie, there's nothing to fear."

"Nothing to fear?" Lily asked, "And what side? The Blacks aren't known for the humanitarian outlook."

Sirius sighed, but it was Regulus answered, "I haven't known Harry long, but he's not the sort to hurt people without reason."

Remus nodded his consent on this, "He's a teacher and he likes kids. I feel like it is anyone who tries to hurt people under his protection, are the people who are going to have worry."

"No one should have the type of power you're describing," James said firmly, unable to come to terms with his own flesh and blood having the power to wake mountains.

Albus was conflicted.

He did not what to think of Henry Peverell any longer.

He had presented himself as gifted, yet humble family man.

And he was still those things, but he was also the second coming of Merlin.

From the description of the battle, and the testimonies of those who had undergone trials, Voldemort had been among the attackers.

Peverell had been able to take them all, and had he been a hair quicker, a touch more violent…

Voldemort would be dead now.

That Peverell hadn't killed anyone, was both a greater indication of his power and restraint, as well as the man's morality.

No one had died, but Peverell could have snuffed them with a wave of his hand.

Albus couldn't have done what he had, not if they staged it.

He had only tasted elemental magic a few times, and it had been addictive.

It had also nearly killed him a few times.

But Peverell, by all accounts, had ridden the magic, been a conduit.

Which both took control and surrender. Maybe one person in a millennium could have channelled that amount of force, maybe one in three millennia could have learned to direct it without being destroyed by it.

Henry Peverell would either change the world for the better, or destroy it completely.

Narcissa was extremely happy with her life. It had been more than a month since Bella's wedding, and one would have thought the Black's were royalty with the way everyone in the wizarding world treated anyone related to the Great Henry Peverell.

Harry and she had discussed moving into their own place, in having more children, and he had agreed to both, but he wasn't quite ready.

Because despite how much love he showered her and Teddy in, Harry had a secret obsession that kept him at night, that drew him away whenever she thought they were moving closer.

And this particular night she had had enough of it.

She was going to press him as they were getting ready for bed, only for Teddy to wake with a nightmare.

"Sorry," he said, kissing her cheek, "talk in the morning?"

Teddy was in tears, and usually, she would have gone with Harry to help, but tonight…

If Harry wasn't going to be questioned, then she could do some snooping.

She nodded and kissed him before he departed, shutting their bedroom door behind him.

Leaving her vanity seat, she went to his desk and began shuffling through, books, papers, scrolls.

From one of the books fell a metal elongated star.

Holding it up to the light, she saw the heat damaged metal, but the star…

Dimly she recognized it.

With a goal now, she scanned the contents of the pages before her.

She froze at the image she saw before her. A castle inked in series of scratch marks. Spiral towers crossing a flat horizon. A castle in the sea, in the ocean, an island long forgotten.

And on the heart of the central building was that elongated star shape.

Narcissa dropped the star to the floor, and she fell back into Harry's seat.

Realizing what a wizard of his power might be dabbling in, might be pursuing. She felt sort of ashamed of herself for believing what he wanted most in life was a family.

Love, she could have laughed. Some dreams were big, some mysteries more enticing.

Harry wasn't researching what had happened to his deceased wife.

He was looking for the Lost City of Atlantis. A city older than Merlin, older than the Founders, so old their legends no longer believed in them.

An ancient city said to hold the heart of all magic.

Narcissa ran her hand through hair curls, tangling them. She would have called it foolish pursuit, but Harry had shown her too many impossible things.

The only thing she knew for certain was that the Dark Arts were safer than this, safer than chasing fairytales of origins of magic itself.