Chapter 23 - The End of an Era Part 4

DISCLAIMER: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Yay I got a beta!!! All my dear readers, I have finally officially got a beta reader for the story. I am not perfect and I was unwilling to change the writing style at the beginning. It will most likely happen now and I will make sure that the story is way more enjoyable now.

Let me present my beta reader - dey1234

Harry walked out of the dungeon with no particular destination in mind. He was beyond angry. He was boiling with pure hatred. The depth of Dumbledore's betrayal went beyond anything he ever imagined. Without realizing it, Harry apparated to the gazebo on the west side of Potter Castle facing the sea. The wind was bitter cold with heavy snowfall. Harry didn't notice any of it. He was completely absorbed with Snape's memories and the new information it contained. He began to realize how much Dumbledore had manipulated the prophecy. He had betrayed his parents in the worst way before he was even born.

Was the Wizarding world that corrupt, he wondered? Just about everyone he had ever met who had a position of power over him had been corrupt and manipulative. Did he even want to save the Wizarding world anymore? It sure seemed to have its fair share of corrupted individuals and cowards. He then remembered reading Napoleon's chronicles and Hitler's rise to power and concluded that there was very little difference between the muggle and Wizarding world. Corruption, dissimulation, hate and greed seemed to be a constant in either world.

Harry looked out towards the sea and noticed in the distance the huge storm whipping and stirring its surface. He could see large waves and angry white caps frothing on the surface. He could feel the bitter cold wind and the ice pellets whipping against his face. Harry didn't seem to care though. He let the elements beat him down. He slowly drifted deeper within himself unaware of his surroundings. Harry went into a deep trance and started sifting and cataloguing all the information he had amassed over the last week.

Harry began focusing on all the knowledge he had accumulated over the last five months. He reviewed every one of his mental folders and made sure he resealed every folder with his magical imprint. He then reviewed his mental defences and spent some time reinforcing his shields with his magic. He reviewed his mental defence mechanisms and made sure, they were at peak condition. Unknown to Harry, the stress of his training, battles and leading his troops had tired his body and magic and triggered his second magical maturity.

Wizards and witches went through three magical maturing processes. The largest power increase occurred during the first maturity, which was between the ages of twelve to eighteen. The second maturing occurred between the ages of thirty to forty. The second maturing not only increased a wizards or witches power, but more importantly it refined their magic. During their second maturity, a person's magical energy became purer and more refined. The comparison was similar to a flash light versus laser light. This allowed wizards and witches to gain precise control of their magic. A person's spells came easier, and became more focused.

The third and final stage of magical maturity occurred much later in life somewhere around eighty to ninety years of age. The final stage allowed the body to more readily accepts core magical energy in order to help regenerate and sustain its functions. This explained why witches and wizards lived much longer lives then muggles. Harry however, was unaware of any of these facts. He was lost in his thoughts, much of which kept coming back to Albus Dumbledore.

Early Morning November 11 Hogwarts Infirmary

Poppy Pomfrey had always been an early riser. This was a blessing in disguise since her duties, as Hogwarts healer often required her to make early rounds to check on her patients. Just this morning she needed to check on the surly potions master. His injuries had been quite severe. She tried to interrogate the headmaster about the duel, but he was less than forthcoming. She herself didn't particularly care for the old coot, but she loved Hogwarts and the kids. This had become her home and she felt safe here. She got along very well with most of the teaching staff.

Poppy walked towards her potions cabinet and picked up some more nutritive potions and went to see how Severus was doing. She was pretty sure that the Skele-Grow potions would have been quite painful. She had to remove all of the small bone debris in his leg and re-grow both major bones. She slowly made her way to his bed but noticed that he was missing. Blast that man, she thought, who does he think he is, leaving her infirmary like that? As she approached his bed, her eyes suddenly grew wide and accidentally dropped her potions. She did the only thing that came to her mind. She screamed like a banshee.

Minerva had been passing the infirmary on her way to the great hall when she heard a scream, which sounded like Poppy. She immediately drew her wand and bolted towards the doors. She came crashing through the doors and found Poppy pulling her wand on her. Minerva stopped and lowered her wand to indicate that she meant no threat. Poppy noticed that it was her old friend Minerva and she in turn lowered her wand.

Minerva was the first to find her voice and said, "Poppy, why in the world were you screaming like that? I thought you were getting raped for crying out loud."

Poppy replied, "I'm sorry if I frightened you, but seeing a bunch of scorpions in Severus's bed kind of freaked me out. Maybe you can tell me if you've met Severus this morning and he confessed to some sort of sick prank on his part."

Minerva looked at the scorpions and instantly paled. Oh God, if this is what she thought it was, than Severus was in deep trouble. She had to inform Albus immediately. She looked at Poppy and said

"Please stay here Poppy and make sure no one disturbs the bed, I'll go get Albus right away. I have a bad feeling that the Scorpion Sorcerer left us his calling card."

At the mention of the Scorpion Sorcerer, Poppy blanched and conjured herself a chair to sit on. She didn't trust her legs to keep her standing. The very thought that this person could come into Hogwarts and abduct one of her patients under her nose was simply frightening. She recalled her earlier comments of feeling safe and Hogwarts and felt that maybe she needed to reassess her situation.

Meanwhile, back in the headmaster's office, Albus Dumbledore was pacing back and forth looking very contrite. Albus had also wakened early due to a severe bout of insomnia. He was busy going over yesterday's battle, and was now convinced that Potter was somehow working for this Scorpion Sorcerer. The boy is definitely into very advanced combat magic. Albus now knew he had severely underestimated the brat.

The part that was frustrating him was the time element. Even with lots of talent, one still needed time to properly study and practice the spells. One summer was simply not enough time to learn the level of magic that Potter had demonstrated. For one thing, his wand was monitored for magic outside of Hogwarts. Second, the boy had to deal with his relatives who hated magic. He had made sure of that. Even, if he had managed to circumvent the other two obstacles, he still needed the time to learn. Finally, the level of duelling expertise he had shown simply couldn't be learned from books alone that much he was certain of. The brat was quickly becoming a much bigger menace then he ever imagined. Potter had managed to completely humiliate Severus and by proxy himself during the duel.

The other thing that was bothering him was the level of power, speed and sheer violence that Longbottom had shown yesterday. Here was another brat he had severely underestimated. Albus simply couldn't understand it. The blocks he had placed on him should have prevented him from displaying that level of magic. Unable to contain his frustration and anger he picked one of his dark art detectors and hurled it at the door. Albus instantly regretted his loss of control and he could already hear the portraits berating him. He walked to his chair and crashed in it. He could already feel the start of another migraine. He was really starting to hate Potter. Albus suddenly felt a slight buzz in his right hand telling that one of his teachers was on his way. The headmaster's perimeter wards gave him different signals depending on who was outside the gargoyles. He recalled the feeling he would get on his butt every time a ministry official showed up. Magic was such a wonderful thing, he mused.

Albus saw his transfiguration teacher barging in his office with a worried look on her face. Even with her age, she was still a very beautiful woman. He would never forgive himself for never even attempting to tame her shrew. Alas here was another one of his many mistakes. Who wants to tame a shrew when you need a wand to get your other wand to stay up? Albus shook his head to release his naughty thoughts and said, "Minerva what seems to be the problem?"

Minerva clutched her chest trying to get her breathing to slow down. She finally looked up at Albus and his stupid twinkling eyes and replied, "Albus, I just came back from the infirmary. Severus is gone, and his bed was full of small scorpions. I talked to Poppy, and she assured me that she heard nothing last night. She woke up to do her rounds and found his bed empty. I just happened to pass by the infirmary when I heard her scream. Once I found the scorpions in his bed, I came here right away. I think the Scorpion Sorcerer may have kidnapped Severus."

Minerva saw all the color drain from his face and his twinkle die immediately. Minerva could feel the rage and power emanating from him. Albus looked up at her and said, "Let's go talk to Poppy. There must be some other clues left behind besides the Scorpions. I can't believe that Severus could be abducted under our very noses. We need to implement level three security immediately."

With that, Albus quickly left his office followed by Minerva. They made their way back to the infirmary and met up with Poppy in order to get more information. That proved to be an empty gesture since she had no clue as to how the crime could have been committed. Albus for his part began casting a slew of obscure spells until he found what he was looking for just below the painting of Alcazar the magnificent.

Albus looked at them and said, "Whoever they were, they used a dark type of disillusion ward. They must have been lying in wait the whole time waiting for the right time to strike. This had to be a coordinated effort with help from the inside. This clearly shows that this Scorpion Sorcerer has recruits inside of Hogwarts."

Minerva looked into his eyes, "What are we going to do Albus? The whole school may be compromised if he has our students helping him. God knows what information he has on us. He may know our schedules, habits and who knows what else. This is very bad Albus."

Albus narrowed his eyes and a plan began to formulate in his brain. What he needed to do was illegal but he absolutely had to find and expunge his nemesis' power base from Hogwarts. Albus finally whispered, "I think I may have a plan. It may go against ministry decree but I'm sure you realize that we can no longer afford to play by the rules. It's bad enough we have Voldemort to contend with, now on top of that we have this Scorpion Sorcerer breathing down our necks. I'm positive that Potter is involved somehow. I'll be convening a secret department meeting early this afternoon. It will be outside of Hogwarts. Repeat this to no one since we don't know whom we can trust."

With that, they all left the infirmary to go and get some breakfast. Albus for his part had a gut feeling that things were about to get worse by the time breakfast was over. He wasn't disappointed. Halfway to breakfast, his potions master suddenly appeared in the middle of the great hall with his head lopped off and looking quite gruesome.

Hermione Granger for her part was almost hyperventilating and kept pointing at the dead potion master. Her sidekick Ron Weasley kept opening and closing his mouth like a goby fish. There were quite a few students who didn't seem bothered at all by the gruesome site. Ginny and her fiancé glanced towards each other smiling. Neville and Luna were doing the same thing.

Ginny smiling at Blaise didn't go unnoticed by her brother when he bellowed, "Why are you gushing at that bloody Slytherin for when one of our teachers shows up dead in the great hall? Can't you at least control your stupid smile and hormones so that I can eat without barfing?"

Ginny turned around and with a sickly smile replied, "Well dear Ronald, I'll let you in on a little secret. You gushing all over the bushy nightmare over there makes me ill also. I'm just repaying you for all the times you made me barf. By the way didn't I tell you to stop talking to me? I want nothing to do with you." With that she picked up her books and headed out she had almost reached the great doors when she heard his parting shot.

"You're nothing but a bloody traitor!"

Ginny stopped and slowly turned around and with a sneer on her face gave her brother the middle finger. Blaise had been watching the exchange between Ginny and her brother and was getting mighty fed up with Ron Weasley. If he ever hurt Ginny, he was going to find out real quick that you didn't piss off a Zabini.

Ron threw his fork at his plate and swatted his pumpkin juice, where it flew to the floor and spilled everywhere. Everything started going wrong with bloody Potter he thought. Things seemed to be getting worse as time wore on. He wanted to bring down Potter so bad it had almost become his sole mission. The awful truth he had come to realize was that he would never be as powerful as Potty. That thought alone gave him a bad case of the shits.

Meanwhile, pandemonium broke out in the great hall with students screaming their heads off. The headmaster bellowed, "QUIET! Prefects will escort their houses back to the dorms. Stay there until the all clear has been given. GO!" All the students began assembling and following their prefects back to their dorms.

Albus quickly ran to Severus to get a better view of him. When he got there he looked at his face and could almost see relief etched over it. Looking at the body, Albus almost lost his breakfast. Poor boy must have gone through some terrible torture to look like that. Albus promised himself that if he ever found out who this Scorpion Sorcerer was he was going to put him in a world of pain. In his opinion the bastard had just cost him a major chess piece. Now he had to find someone else who could spy on Voldemort.

The game had just gotten a lot harder. He needed to get on with his earlier plan. Hopefully level three security would help keep track of the students. Now he needed to go and raid Severus' potion store and find out how much Veritaserum he had on hand. He might have to take a little trip to Knocturn Alley to secure more if he came up short. With his thoughts in place, he took out his wand and cast a levitation charm on his ex potion master and went back to his office. He needed to get word to the ministry that the Scorpion Sorcerer had executed Severus Snape. He didn't think they would shed a tear over an ex- Death Eater but it would hopefully cement the idea that the Scorpion Sorcerer was just as dangerous as Voldemort and needed to be treated as such.

November 12 Potter Castle

Xiana was pacing back and forth in the living room. Harry hadn't been seen since early yesterday morning. He hadn't showed up at the lair, or any of the trunk manors. Bill had showed up later yesterday afternoon looking for Harry. She had met Bill in the command center and with one look at his face she immediately knew that something had happened with Snape. Remus also showed up and Bill had debriefed both of them concerning the events that took place in the dungeon and Snape's demise.

The debrief had shed a whole new light on the mighty Albus Dumbledore. Remus for his part had gone into a towering rage. It had taken five people to subdue him. Tonks had been called in to calm him.

Remus for his part was scared that Harry might have finally reached his breaking point and would confront Dumbledore directly. That thought alone had spurred people to action. Everyone had been alerted and search parties had been sent out to find him. It was now late in the afternoon and still no sign of Harry. Xiana heard someone coming from the entrance and ran to meet them. She looked up to see a grim looking Remus walk towards her. From the look on his face she could tell that he had no news for her.

"Hello Xiana, I just came back from the Lair and no one has found any trace of him yet. Damn it! It's not like him to just up and go without telling anyone. I don't know where else to look. He could be anywhere."

"I'm at my wits end here," she cried. "I phoned dad earlier this morning and he had a discreet search party looking for him in Diagon Alley but so far nothing. I tried calling him, but he doesn't answer."

Remus suddenly had a sort of queer look to him as if he was trying to remember something really important. He suddenly yelled, "Gods, how bloody stupid can I be? Has anybody tried to locate his coordinates using the cell phone range finder?"

Xiana looked dumfounded for a few seconds and closed her eyes. She simply couldn't believe that she hadn't thought of it. How god damn stupid could she be? She finally bellowed, "Bloody Merlin to hell, when am I going to start making full use of those bloody muggle contraptions." She pulled out her cell phone and tapped in the locater code. She waited a few minutes and then her cell phone beeped and she looked at the screen and read a set of coordinates.

Remus quickly conjured some parchment and wrote down the coordinates. He looked at the coordinates and went into the library to look up at the map. On his way to the wall map he passed by Harry's snake den and noticed that his familiar was slightly agitated. Remus didn't have time pondering the peculiarities of snakes and reached the map. He cross-referenced the coordinates to the map and to his amazement he noticed that they were pointing to Tyree Island. Remus suddenly felt very stupid and realized that none of them thought of looking on Potter castle grounds. He could be in the Crypt, the caves or in a tree for all he knew.

Xiana came in and said, "Any luck?"

"Well the coordinates seem to point to Tyree Island."

Xiana's brows furrowed and said, "That's our Island?"

"Exactly! I wanted to ask you if you had searched the castle grounds yet?"

Xiana closed her eyes for the second time today and sighed, "Now that you mention it, no I haven't."

"All right lets check the grounds."

They both dressed warmly because it was bitterly cold outside. There were still remnants from yesterday's storm whipping the castle grounds. They started on the south grounds and slowly worked their way west. With his keen eyesight Remus was the first one to spot a snowy figure out on the gazebo.

"He's on the gazebo!" Remus bellowed. He took off in a run forgetting Xiana for a moment. The figure didn't seem to be moving at all. He was within twenty feet of Harry when he stopped running. Remus didn't want to startle him in anyway. The last thing he needed was a trigger happy Harry.

Remus called, "Harry! Are you all right?" He noticed that Harry's battle robe was covered in snow and ice. His hair also seemed to be covered in ice pellets. What have you been up to, wondered Remus? Getting a little fearful he approached Harry and gently shook him. Getting no response Remus said, "Harry it's me Moony. Tell me what's wrong? You gave us quite a scare you know. We've had no idea where you were."

Remus looked into his eyes and they seemed to have that far away look to them. By this time Xiana had caught up to Remus and with a tremor in her voice said, "Is he ok?"

"I don't know, he hasn't said anything yet," replied Remus.

Xiana looked into her husband's eyes and saw that they were glazed over. It seems like he is in a deep trance of some sort. "Harry please say something. Please talk to me. Tell me what's wrong."

Harry was still not moving and Xiana was now crying and cried out, "God, baby I can't help you if you don't tell me what's wrong. Say something, are you hurt?"

Harry seemed to recognize familiar voices and one in particular, which sounded very sad and frantic. With a monumental effort Harry came back from his subconscious and blinked his eyes. He couldn't repress how cold he was feeling and noticed that his teeth were clattering. His eyes finally focused and he found himself looking at his frantic wife and Remus. Harry managed to croak, "Where am I?"

"You're home sweetheart. Don't you remember you left the dungeon two days ago?" Xiana was now in full panic mode. He didn't seem to recognize his surroundings. Why was he so confused?

Harry turned towards Remus and croaked, "Why did he do it, Remus? Why did Dumbledore kill them?" With that Harry made to take a step but fell face first in the snow.

Xiana screamed, "Harry!" both she and Remus dropped by his side and turned him over. Xiana took her hand and put it on his forehead. She looked with tears in her eyes and said, "He's burning up Remus." Remus went to pick up Harry but Xiana bellowed, "Dobby and Winky!"

Suddenly both house elves popped beside them and Dobby saw Harry lying on his back and ran immediately to him yelling, "Who is hurting my master?" Remus noticed an almost feral look on the elf face. Elves were incredibly protective of their master. Dobby was triple that, he loved Harry so much. Remus remembered the story of Harry's second year and how he had freed Dobby from the torture of the Malfoy's. Remus looked up when he heard Dobby say, "Master is very sick mistress. Dobby and Winky will transport master to bedroom." Both Dobby and Winky each took one of Harry's hands and popped him to the master bedroom.

Xiana looked at Remus and said, "We need to get him a healer right away. We can't trust the healers at Hogwarts, and I sure as hell don't trust St-Mungo's. Preferably I would like a healer from outside of Britain. Do you have any ideas?"

Remus wracked his brains and said, "Since Fleur is studying to be a healer we could ask her if she knows someone trustworthy."

Xiana suddenly remembered the Death Eater encounter in France and remembered the Delacour family doctor. What was her name again? After a few minutes searching her memories she said, "I'll call Fleur maybe she can contact Madame LaSalle and get her over here." Xiana called Fleur and told her what had happened and asked her if she could contact her family doctor and to call her when she had her. She told Fleur she was going to meet her at the Lair.

She needed to hold the doctors hand to get her past the castle wards. Xiana got some control over her emotions and took Remus' hand for comfort and walked back towards the castle. The moment they reached the castle Xiana bolted for the master bedroom. Remus for his part phoned everyone, to tell them to call off the search because they had found Harry. He then asked their potions master if he could come over and be on standby to brew potions for Harry. Remus explained that Harry was very sick.

Hinrich immediately portkeyed to Potter castle and brought a small box full of healing potions. Remus went to meet Hinrich at the portkey staging area. They made their way to the bar and poured themselves a stiff cognac and Remus gave him a detailed account of the situation.

It was nearly 7:00 pm when Xiana finally showed up with Madame LaSalle and Fleur. They immediately made their way to the master bedroom to look over Harry. Healer LaSalle made it very clear that she didn't need any distractions while performing her test. Out of difference to Xiana and Remus she told them that she would leave the door open but they were to stay in the hallway. Madame LaSalle and Fleur began casting a series of obscure diagnostic spells. This went on for nearly ten minutes before they took a break to confer with each other. Finally the healer waved them to come in.

Madame LaSalle had a befuddled look on her face and facing Xiana and Remus said, "Well I cannot quite believe it, but ze tests do no lie. It would seem zat your husband is undergoing his second magical maturing."

Remus was stunned and finally managed to say, "How is this possible? The second maturing normally occurs between the ages of thirty to forty."

"Well I admit that it is a highly unusual condition for someone his age, but zis has happened in ze past. Severe trauma, shock, or time magic can all be triggers for ze maturing. Zat being the case, we usually prescribe nutrient, pepper up and a sleeping draft for the patient. Ze idea is to make ze patient as comfortable as possible while ze maturing process takes its course."

Xiana now knew for sure what had happened to Harry. The severe use of Odin's Eye and the stresses had triggered his second maturing. She managed to sigh in relief now that she knew Harry had no life threatening illness. Ever the Slytherin, her mind automatically analyzed the potential benefits to Harry. The only question on her mind was how long his illness was going to last. Xiana looked up at the healers and said, "How long can we expect this to last. He needs to be at a court case on the fifteen of this month?"

Fleur replied, "Ze time very much depends on ze magical strength of the wizard. In Harry's case being in the top percentile for magical power, it should take no more zen six days. Our test indicates zat his maturing actually started five days ago. The more severe symptoms don't usually show up until nearly two thirds through the maturing process. This is why we are seeing ze high fever and ze bouts of delirium. He should come out of it by late tonight or at the latest by tomorrow evening."

While Remus went downstairs to tell Heinrich which potions they needed, Madame LaSalle turned towards Xiana and said, "Fleur tells me zat you are pregnant. I zink that a full maternal examination is warranted, yes? I zink that you are well enough in your gestation to determine the sex yes?"

Xiana instinctively put her hand on her belly and smiling looked into the healer eyes and said, "I would love to, but I'd like Harry to be awake. If you don't mind staying with us for a few days until Harry wakes up I would greatly appreciate it."

Madame LaSalle thought about it for a minute and replied, "Well seeing zat it has been slow at my clinic zese past weeks, I guess it wouldn't hurt if I stay for a few days. Very well, if you don't mind, I would like to document your Husband's early magical maturity. Not much is known about ze triggers for early maturation. If Fleur would like to assist me, we could corroborate on a paper to ze world wide magical healers association."

Fleur beamed at being asked and replied, "I would be honored, healer LaSalle. Zat is if it is ok with Xiana?"

Xiana shrugged and said, "As long as it doesn't hurt Harry and that all blood samples are destroyed afterwards then I don't have any objections."

Xiana then called Dobby and told him to assist the healers with anything they needed. She also emphasized the importance for Dobby to make sure that all of Harry's blood samples were destroyed. She knew that the most of the protective wards set up on their home were blood base. It took more than just blood to deactivate the wards, but why take any chance. Her protective nature demanded no less.

At that moment, Remus came back up and handed the potions to Fleur. He then asked Xiana to follow him downstairs for a strategy session. Before leaving, she went to their bed and looked down at Harry with total love in her eyes. She brushed some of his locks from his head and gently bent down and kissed him on the forehead. She whispered to him how much she loved him and left him in the care of the healers.

Xiana followed Remus to the living room and plopped herself in her reclining chair to take a load off her feet. Remus poured himself another drink and went to sit by the fireplace. He took out his wand and placed some silencing charms around them.

He looked at Xiana and said, "As you well know, tonight was the night that Harry was going to cast the imperius curse on Voldemort's and Dumbledore's supporters in the Wizengamot. We have the names thanks to your father of the six-Wizengamot Lords in the Upper House. Since Harry is in no condition to proceed, we need to step in. Now, I have heard rumors from Alastor that the Wizengamot was going to hold a session shortly after Harry's court proceedings to debate Fudges little proposal of augmenting Azkaban's criminal population. If we play our cards right, we may be able to put our people in place without dirtying our hands, and in the process extend the time before Fudge can execute his pet project. We need time to prepare for that confrontation as you well know."

Xiana closed her eyes and sighed. No rest for the weary she thought. She wanted to stay home this evening to take care of Harry but it seemed that some jobs needed to be taken care of. She realized that she still had a paper due this Friday for the Discovery. She finally looked at Remus and said, "Like you said, I don't think we have a choice. I think we should get Bill to meet us at the twins' shop. Most of the Lords are working late tonight preparing for their next session. In addition, this is usually the night where they meet their mistress anyway. We should be able to get all of them before they go home. One thing that bothers me however is that I don't understand why you think we'll get an advantage?"

Remus gave her a wolfish grin and whispered, "Well as you can imagine, on one hand we are going to make some of Dumbledore's most prominent supporters vote him out of office. As for Riddle, his most staunch supporters in the Wizengamot are going to vote against his best interest in supplanting Fudge's desire in early acceptance of his plan on expanding Azkaban. Voldemort wants nothing more than use Azkaban to fill up his dwindling ranks. Most of the wizards and witches coming from mainland Europe are going to be the sort of hardcore fanatics that Voldemort would love at his side. In delaying their arrival, Voldemort will notice the treachery of the Wizengamot and take action on those refusing to do his bidding. When he kills his supporters, we'll move in before he has any chance of putting in replacements."

Xiana simply smirked at Remus and replied, "I'm starting to wonder about the validity of the Hogwarts sorting hat? You would make a formidable Slytherin Remus."

Remus shrugged his shoulder and replied, "Originally, the hat wanted to put me in Slytherin but I convinced it to put me in Gryffindor instead."

Xiana looked at Remus and started to laugh hysterically. Remus simply raised an eyebrow and Xiana finally managed to utter, "That's the same thing that happened to Harry. The hat wanted to put him in Slytherin but he convinced it to put him in Gryffindor." With those last thought, Remus took his cell phone and called the twins and gave them a rendezvous time.

Later that night they made their way to the twins' shop and met with Bill. After much debating, it was agreed that every attack team would have a backup in the shadows. In the end, they would be following Harry's plan."

The groups split into four teams. Xiana and the twins, Bill with Fleur, Remus with Tonks, and Brianna with Theo as backups. The teams were given thorough debriefs and expectations. They all left the twins shop and made their way to contact point alpha. Much later that night they all met back at WWW with mission status successful. Only Xiana needed help with her subject. The twins had been more than capable of handling the backlash. They now had complete control over six members of the Wizengamot.

Meanwhile, Harry felt as if he was completely disconnected from his body. The sensation of floating in the abyss was overwhelming. He suddenly felt as if he was falling off a precipice and found himself drifting through a swirling black fog mixed in with fiery red burst of light. The sky above seemed filled with intermittent lightning strikes. Harry found himself being pulled through a pathway leading to a large set of doors. Harry recalled his memories and knew what was going to happen.

Harry passed thought the doors and followed the path, which he already knew. He again noticed a variety of statues lining the path. The statues, which looked like scorpions, hydras, nephelims, extinct dragons, and jackal warriors, bowed their heads as he was walking past them. Harry found it strange but kept going. He finally came to a large dome, which gave off an eerie blue glow. Harry went through the archway, and found himself walking towards the center of the dome. He neared the center, and could make out the familiar throne with scorpions etched all over its surface. Floating above the throne Harry saw the familiar swirling mass of blue and green fog with a pair of black eyes with deep purple flames for iris looking back at him. Harry knew whom he was meeting and on instinct kneeled and bowed his head in respect and waited.

He heard the soft lisping voice telling him to rise. Harry obeyed, and stood tall in front of the swirling mass. The voice spoke to him directly and said, "Champion, welcome back. I have been watching your progress and I'm pleased with what I see. You are very close to forging alliances with many powerful magical beings. That is good young one. You will need to yoke their strengths to accomplish your goals. I dare say they will also greatly benefit with their alliance to you."

Harry nodded and replied, "Great one, I truly believe that real change in the Wizarding world can only occur with their support."

"Quite true young one. I have called you because I feel you are ready to ascend to the next plane of knowledge. You may not know this yet, but your greatest enemy has cheated fate once more and gained more power through forbidden rituals. Don't worry your powers are still more than a match for his. He however had found the ancient Aztec book of Toltec. Toltec was a very powerful necromancer and conjurer. The knowledge contained in his manuscripts will give the cheater of fate control over all dark magical beasts in your dimension. He will even be able to control dragons. With your current knowledge you would be on the defensive when fighting his dark army. The best you can hope to achieve is a draw."

Harry's sighed and felt his shoulders sag under the added stress. He looked at the ethereal eyes and replied, "I hope great spirit that you have found some way of helping me? I can't do this alone."

The ethereal spirit known as Tiamat looked like it was smirking and said, "Don't look so worried, champion. The knowledge you are about to learn will make your enemies beg for mercy. Now the spells and incantations you will be learning will require the use of a staff. You will need to locate a box, which contains some very special stones. Back in my time, we called them light benders. We came upon these stones following a meteor shower. The reason we called them light bender is that they appeared almost invisible to the naked eye. The stones themselves are pitch black and very heavy. Long ago when we were experimenting with the dark stones, we eventually figured out that they had the power to alter raw magical energy into concentrated gravitational waves. These concentrated gravitational fields allowed us to discover, and breach alternate dimensional gates."

Noticing the bewildered look on her champion's face, the ethereal being simplified her explanation by saying, "The stone simply changes the structure of the apparition energy into a tightly packed gravitational beam. This beam in turn disrupts the current dimensional continuum and allows for a portal to be opened with a parallel earth. You must understand that mankind does not rule all of these earths. Some of these worlds are actually ruled by magical creatures. The red dragons of Kagan happen to rule one of these worlds. It took me a very long time to figure out how to communicate and summon these creatures. I found out that the magical energy from our world is like ambrosia to them. They are fierce and intelligent combatants. One of their favorite preys is our world's dragon. They are bigger and fiercer looking than any of our earth dragons."

Harry couldn't even fathom a creature that was fiercer looking than a Hungarian Horntail. The stone she is talking about doesn't sound like Naquadah or Naquadria he thought. He needed to know what these stones were. Perhaps muggle science could shed some light. Harry analyzed all of the information Tiamat had given him and one question that kept coming to mind was the need for a staff. He felt his new wand had more than enough power. He looked into those fathomless eyes and said, "Why do I need a staff, and where can I find those stones you speak of?"

"The staff is needed to channel and amplify magical energy to levels far greater than your wand is capable of handling. I know of your discoveries on wand making, but it will not be enough for the advance conjuring spell I will teach you. You will need to channel more energy in greater density over a greater area than what your wand can produce. A properly crafted staff with your mineral combined with the light bender stone will be more than sufficient to open a dimensional gate."

Looking into his eyes, Tiamat continued with her explanation, "Now listen carefully, the dark stones can be found in a golden box. You will know that you have the right box because it has an inlaid gold carving of a dragon, which you have never seen before. Do not touch the other boxes unless you wish to keep me company in this realm. You will be looking for the cave of Zorn near the ancient city of Sumer. There is a valley to the south of a city, which muggles call Basra in Iraq. Halfway into the valley you will find the cave of Zorn. A Scorpion man in stasis will hold the box itself. He will only answer in high snake. Retrieve the stones and build a staff. Remember, when we put the stone in guardianship, we installed no less than seven wards at the mouth of the cave. Before you leave, I'll tell you what they are. Now let me teach you the following spells…etc"

Harry felt as if he had been in the netherworld for eons. Time dilation effects tended to warp one's perception of time. He felt mentally exhausted, but knew it had been well worth it. He had learned magic, which had not seen the light of day since Tiamat's last battle. The magic itself was a combination of chants, rune language, and magical energy modifiers all combined into high level parseltongue spells. The incantation, power, and focus needed for these spells had to be perfect lest a catastrophe occur. Harry had taken his time to properly memorize all facets of the spells. He had no doubt that the arithmancy equations needed to break down these spells would take a lifetime to decipher. It would definitely require the use of muggle computers.

Harry was brought out of his musing when he heard Tiamat calling to him. Harry blushed and said, "I'm sorry, I was deep in thought for a moment."

Again, Harry heard her soft lisping chuckle. He looked up, and he could almost discern a smirk on her fathomless lips. She finally said, "I believe you have learned enough for now. There are still lots more magic to show you, but that will be for another time. Make more progress and we shall meet again."

As soon as the spirit finished her last word Harry felt himself spinning as if caught in a portkey. Harry realized he was rapidly floating upwards through a thick black fog. He could see a kaleidoscope of colors and found himself suddenly waking up in his bed.

Late Afternoon November 13 Potter Castle

Xiana was in her favorite reclining chair looking at the beautiful bluish flame deep in thought. She had taken the rest of the day off to recuperate from her previous night mission. Her part of the mission had almost failed due to her arrogance. She had been waiting by one of the small alleys off Grimmauld Avenue. The alley itself led directly to the Dirty Hag.

The brothel catered to all sexual tastes. From reading her father's very comprehensive file, it appeared that Vladimir liked little boys. Dumbledore sure had shady friends, she thought. She saw him coming and took her position to curse the man. She waited until she was sure of her shot and fired. Who would have thought that someone as fat as Lord Vladimir O'Malley could move so fast? The upper house Lord had somehow felt her presence just in time to avoid her first Imperio spell. He somehow managed a roundhouse punch to her wand hand, and in the process knocked her wand out. She quickly retaliated with a swift kick to the gonads and as he went down, the twins petrified him. She retrieved her wand successfully cast Imperio on the idiot. She made sure that her next victim was past her position before firing her spell. She was thinking about Remus' success when she noticed Harry coming down the stairs.

She ran to him and gave him a huge kiss. She looked into his eyes and knew right away that he was feeling loads better. The fever had broken by mid afternoon and it looked like he had woken up not too long ago. He had shaved and taken a bath. His jet-black hair was fanned out around his shoulder blades. The color had fully returned on his gorgeous face. His eyes were once again shining like emerald colored orbs.

"Potter, don't you ever scare me like that again. Next time you feel out of sort or sick, you get your butt back home ASAP. Do you hear me? Promise me you are going to take better care of yourself in the future." She then buried her head in his shoulder and hugged him as hard as she could. It felt so good to hold him and know that he was all right.

Harry heard her stern voice but noticed she was hugging the stuffing out of him. He must have worried her quite a bit for her to be acting like this. He now remembered Snape, apparating to the gazebo and then waking up in his bed. He lifted her chin and gently kissed her. He then said, "I promise to better take care of myself and to try to not make you worry. Now, could someone tell me what this sickness was? My whole body feels like it was trampled by a dragon herd."

That seemed to satisfy his wife. Xiana brushed her outfit, which she always did when she was regaining her composure and replied, "Well honey, it seems like you just went through your second magical maturity. The healers believe it was brought on by too much time magic and stress. We both know what triggers brought that on."

"Well, that's certainly another quirk in the life of Harry Potter. I'm wondering if I'll ever do anything normal."

Xiana passed him while heading to the living room and smirking replied, "Afraid not Potter, fate really seems to have it in for you. Don't worry love, it only makes life that much more interesting."

"Gee, I feel so much better." Harry frowned and followed his wife into the living room.

Once they were both sitting, Xiana explained everything that had happened while he was out for the count. She told him how they found him, how Fleur managed to get her family healer to come over, the operations, which took place the previous evening, and the results. Xiana spared no details and told him everything. Harry felt he had to share his little meeting in the netherworld. He told her about his first and second meeting with ethereal being Tiamat. He explained what he had learned and that he still wasn't sure it was real or not. He then told her about the light bender rocks and where they were located. He explained in details that he had to build a staff. He told her he needed to go to Iraq to find the cave that Tiamat had spoken off.

"The best way to find out if these visions are real or not is to find those rocks. If I find the rocks, then I'll know the visions were real. I'm starting to wonder if Tiamat is the power the Dark Lord knows not." Harry settled back in his chair and took a sip of brandy.

Xiana didn't say a thing for a while. She finally looked at him and said, "I'm not questioning the value of your vision love, I'm just scared that Voldemort has somehow found a new way of tormenting you through that blasted scar."

Harry looked at the flames dancing in the fireplace and recalled all of the checks he had done over the past three hours. He had checked to make sure that he retained control of the link. He looked at Xiana and gave her a small smile and replied, "I'm positive Voldemort had nothing to do with this. When I woke up, I carried out a full diagnostics of my memories and checked to make sure that none of them were tampered with. I also checked my link with snake face, and found my magical signature intact. If he had tried to attack me through the link, there would have been a residual left over from his magical core. As it were, the link is intact and in my control."

"OK, if you're sure then I'm willing to be open-minded about this. Just be careful, love. Take your time when you get there. You have all of tomorrow to carry out your hunting expedition. Don't over exert yourself either. You are still recovering. We are to close to kicking Dumbledore's wrinkled butt to have you relapse because you over used your magic." Xiana gave him a stern look, and instinctively rubbed her belly.

Harry didn't miss the gesture and suddenly came to attention and gave her a military salute and said, "Yes ma'am, your wishes are my command." He smiled and made his way to her chair and dropped on his knees and gently kissed her belly. Xiana for her part ran her hands through his velvety mass of black hair and smiled. How is it he always knew how to make her feel better?

Earlier that afternoon, Xiana had called her father and asked him what he thought of inviting the whole family for a strategy session. She sweetened the pot by telling him that tonight he was going to find out if he was getting a granddaughter or a grandson. Her father ended up bringing everyone for supper for a big strategy session.

That night everyone was real glad that Harry was back to his old self. Remus noticed that the flames in his eyes were burning even brighter. The elves had once again outdone themselves. They had just finished putting the final touches on the approach they were going to use on Dumbledore. Michael spent a great deal of time with Harry to make sure he was familiar with all of the protocols. Xiana's mother on the other hand was fed up with all the strategizing and wanted to know the sex of her grandchild. She went and told Madame LaSalle and Fleur that it was time.

The healers entered the living room and everyone smiled. She told Xiana to lie down on her chair and recline it. The healer than opened up a section of her robes so that her belly was sticking out. She motioned Fleur to join her. Her apprentice needed to learn the wand movements anyway. Madame LaSalle began casting a slew of spells. Everyone could see Harry sweating bullets, and Remus had to stifle a smile. At that moment, Harry was the spitting image of James he thought. He even has the same mannerisms.

Madame LaSalle turned towards the anxious family and smiled. She then looked directly at Xiana and said, "If I'm not mistaken, twins seem to be the norm for Zabini females? Congratulations my dear you will be the proud mother of a little boy and girl."

Xiana's mother squealed and ran to her daughter to give her hugs and kisses. Brianna was a close second. Soon all of the females were hugging Xiana. Michael for the first time in a long time cut loose his emotional controls and gave his son in law strong hug and handshake. Remus followed Michael's lead and gave Harry a bone-crushing hug. He whispered in his ears, "James and Lily would be so proud of you."

Bill, Blaise and Theo simply high-fived Harry. Brianna and his mother in law hugged and kissed him on the cheek. To say that he was happy was the understatement of the year. The love he felt for Xiana was complete and absolute. It was the love that only bonded souls could feel for each other. He went over to Xiana and pulled her up and gave her a passionate kiss. They pulled apart and went to thank Madame LaSalle. Xiana was very happy with her services and asked her if she could be their family healer. She accepted and said she would come back in two months for another check up. She gave her a list of potion supplements that she could take. When she was done, Fleur escorted her back to France.

It was getting late and everyone needed their beauty sleep. That night, Harry and Xiana made love several times. Xiana was first to fall asleep and Harry gently spooned towards her so that he could feel her back against his chest. He wrapped his right arm around her belly, and fell into blissful sleep. Tomorrow would be a busy day.