End of the summer

Disclaimer:

Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K Rowling.

I own nothing but the original characters I make.

"Dialogue"

'Thoughts'

$Parseltongue$

Chapter 81: End of the summer

After the events of the Quidditch finals, Susan and Hannah were forbidden from leaving the house for the remainder of the summer.

There were only two weeks before the start of the next year, so they weren't that upset about it. Luna would still visit Harry's house, once every few days.

Harry made two more trips to Grimmauld Place and went over the entire library. He found two particularly interesting books on the matter of souls.

One was a transcript put together, following notes left by an ancient Egyptian sorcerer. It goes into great detail about soul containers and their risks.

Harry wished He had read that book before creating his first Horcrux. The book talks at great length about the side effects of the creation of such containers and the deterioration of the mind and soul by its overuse.

Maybe He could have found another way…but, there was no point in dwelling on such matters now. What was done, was done.

The other book was more interesting. It was written by an unnamed wizard from the ancient Greek era. It details some methods to improve and strengthen the soul of the wizard.

Harry already was aware of a ritual used to assimilate a part of someone's memories and power. That was actually the ritual that He has been preparing for years now.

But with the information contained in this book, He may be able to create something even better.

Harry smiled at the prospect.

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A week before the start of the new school year, Harry was reading the newspaper when Sirius came into the kitchen carrying a package in his arms.

He placed it in front of Harry.

"Harry, remember when I told you about making more of those two-way diaries to give your friends?"

Harry nodded before looking with curiosity at the box.

"Did you make more?"

"No, actually, I made something much better!. Come on, open the box."

Harry opened it and noticed two small mirrors inside. He took them out and inspected them. The runic work had some similarities with the diaries. The two mirrors were obviously connected, but the runework on this was a lot more complex.

"Impressive work. I assume you can send messages by using these mirrors?"

Sirius gave a toothy smile. "Not just messages, look."

He took one of the mirrors and told Harry to hold the other one.

"Harry," Sirius said out loud while holding the mirror.

Harry, who was holding the other one, noticed that the mirror sent a pulsing signal, like a vibration over his body.

"Touch the mirror," Sirius said.

Harry did so and immediately the image on the mirror changed. Instead of reflecting his own face, it was now showing Sirius's face.

Then Sirius started talking while looking at his mirror and Harry could see the results on his side.

"Amazing. What is the maximum range?" Harry asked.

"I haven't tested that yet. But it should be very far." Sirius smiled proudly.

"I made four prototypes, so you and your three girlfriends can talk all you want."

Harry rolled his eyes at his godfather's obsession with Him getting a girlfriend.

He passed the newspaper that He was reading to Sirius.

"You may want to read that."

Sirius took the newspaper and read it.

"Well, it was about time." He said.

The frontline read.

'Rufus Scrimgeour declared new Minister of Magic after a very long Wizardgamot session.'

"Do you know that man?" Harry asked.

"More or less, He was one of the higher-ups in the Auror department, back when your father and I were working there. But Rufus always seemed to me more a politician than an Auror. He may be an improvement over Fudge, but not by much." Sirius said.

"That's not a bad thing. Politicians are easier to reason with, compared to soldiers." Harry started to ponder on how to use this to his benefit.

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Hogwarts dungeons

Severus Snape was currently busy working on a delicate potion when He heard a loud noise behind him and felt a wave of heat.

He turned around and was surprised when He found Fawkes, standing on top of a table, looking and him.

The phoenix made a desperate cry infused with sadness.

Snape could not communicate with Fawkes as well as the Headmaster, but He understood that the phoenix was asking for his help, and there is only one thing that came to his mind at that moment.

"Is the Headmaster in trouble?" He asked the phoenix.

Fawkes made another cry and moved his head around.

"Take me to him." Snape grabbed hold of one of the phoenix legs, and in a ball of flame, they were both gone.

When Snape opened his eyes again, He found himself in a dark cave. He looked around, inspecting his new surrounding. There was a lot of water around him and He seem to be standing on a small island the size of his classroom.

He spotted a small structure made of crystals and next to it was Albus Dumbledore. He was sitting down, with his back resting against the structure and He seem to be clutching his right hand in pain.

"Headmaster!" Snape rushed to his side.

"S-Severus…h-help.c-curs-se." Dumbledore said with difficulty.

"Let me see." Snape said while taking his wand out.

Dumbledore revealed his right palm, there was a familiar mark on it. The symbol of the Slytherin house seems to have been carved into the Headmaster's hand and there was some black goo coming out of the wound.

Snape started to chant spells to reveal what curse was used on the Headmaster, but could not find anything that He was familiar with.

But whatever the case, it was a very dark and dangerous one, of that, He was sure.

Snape took out a potion from his tunic.

"Drink this, is for the pain. We need to move you to Saints Mungo."

Dumbledore drank the potion and then said.

"No…Hogwarts."

"But…" Snape wanted to refute Dumbledore, but then, He understood His reasoning. At this moment, The Headmaster could not show any signs of weakness to the public, If He does, then the Dark Lord will surely take advantage of that chance. So He wanted to keep this a secret for as long as possible.

"I understand… I'll do what I can in Hogwarts," Snape said with resignation.

Dumbledore made an attempt to smile. "T-thanks, m-my friend."