The Most Beautiful Witch Chapter 35 (Patreon)

AN: As always, this is a commissioned work for an anonymous user.

All characters are over the age of eighteen (18)

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The dazed and confused man stumbled down the country roadside, completely ignorant to the three people standing around a ways behind him. Harry waited until the man disappeared around a hedgerow before he finally let out a sigh.

They had their target: the old Gaunt Shack. However, they’d promised to check back in at Grimmauld Place before the hour was up.

“We could go check the shack out now,” Astoria suggested. “It’s not far from here, and just scouting it out could be useful.”

“Or we could trigger an unexpected trap,” Daphne pointed out.

“If there was anything to trigger, I bet these muggles would’ve done it long before now,” Astoria countered. “But I suppose you’re right; better safe than sorry. Besides, we could grab broomsticks and fly over. It’ll be a lot faster than walking and trying to find this place on foot.”

Harry would’ve offered to apparate them back, but he was still so shaken up by the visions he’d seen inside of the manor that he didn’t. Instead, Daphne took his arm and apparated the two of them back while Astoria apparated on her own.

They landed right back inside of the entry hall of Grimmauld Place. The gas lamps lit the hall up wonderfully, providing a directed path down towards the dining room, where the sounds of people talking was steadily echoing out of.

But before they could move, the door to the dining room opened and Sirius appeared.

“Kreacher said that you returned,” he said as he rushed over to the three of them. “Are you all okay? Did everything go alright?”

Harry could feel both Astoria and Daphne’s gazes upon him, but instead of explaining things, he simply nodded. “There wasn’t anything at the old Riddle house, but we do have a clue about where one of Voldemort’s horcruxes might be.”

Sirius glanced back over his shoulder. “You should probably come with me then. Dumbledore showed up while you were gone, and he was quite eager to see you all once you came back.”

“Did he say what he wanted us for?” Astoria asked.

“Presumably for the horcrux hunt,” Sirius shrugged. “We got a bit side tracked. I’m sure that he can explain more.”

The three of them followed Sirius down the hall into the dining room. A long wooden table dominated the centre of the room with enough chairs to seat two dozen. Cabinets lined the walls, displaying fine sets of silverware and ornate dishes, while a large fireplace dominated the one bare wall. More gas lamps hung from the ceiling, breathing some life into this otherwise stuffy room.

Dumbledore rose from his seat as the four of them entered the room. He was sitting on the far side of the table next to Anastasia and Cyrus, and given all that they’d heard this morning about Lucius becoming the newest Minister for Magic, he seemed rather relaxed.

“I’m glad to see you all return healthy and intact,” Dumbledore smiled gently at the three of them. “Though I’d hoped you three would wait for me before exploring off on your own, I can certainly understand the sense of urgency that the state of the wizarding world has caused in all of you. Anastasia was telling me about what you read in the Daily Prophet this morning, and I fear that Lucius shares your sense of urgency.”

“What has he done now?” Daphne asked as she took a seat. Harry and Astoria joined next to her.

“Put out orders for your arrests, as a start,” Dumbledore said grimly. Reaching within his robes, he pulled out a scroll of parchment. Once unfurled, it revealed a bold title: WANTED — HARRY POTTER. There was a large, animated image of Harry below the title that was a copy of a photo taken of him back during the Triwizard Tournament. Despite being slightly out of date, Harry still looked similar enough that anyone would be able to pick him out from a crowd. At the bottom of the parchment was a note to approach him with extreme caution and that any information leading to his arrest would be rewarded. A few details below indicated how to floo call into the Auror Office at the Ministry of Magic as well as the address of an Auror Office in Diagon Alley that could be visited. “There are ones for Astoria and Daphne as well. And for myself.”

“Really?” Harry raised his eyebrows in surprise. “I knew that they were trying to shut down Hogwarts…”

“Apparently, Lucius is arguing that I provoked you into murdering his son. Or I trained you how to kill. Or that I was fomenting a revolt against the Ministry of Magic,” Dumbledore shrugged. “It’s quite difficult to keep up with the constant change in rhetoric. Regardless, he has set aside quite the prize for any information leading to any of our arrests, so I would caution you all on going out in public. Even you two,” he said, nodding at Cyrus and Anastasia. “I imagine that the two of you would be brought in for questioning about your childrens’ whereabouts and then left in a cell regardless of whether or not you were helpful to them.”

“We need to find a way of getting the truth out of what happened,” Astoria said frantically. “Maybe if the people knew what was really going on, they’d start to question the Ministry more. We can all provide memories of what happened that night to the Daily Prophet or some other company and—”

“The Ministry will claim them to be fabricated or altered,” Dumbledore interrupted gently. “And even if the Daily Prophet had the spine to stand up for these memories, it wouldn’t be long before the Ministry raided their offices and took them over too. You must understand that with Lucius in charge of the Ministry, it is practically the same as Voldemort being in charge. Lucius will maintain public civility until it is no longer useful to him or his master, and then they will unleash their authoritarian control over everything.”

“So it all comes back to defeating Voldemort, doesn’t it?” Harry said rhetorically. “And if we manage to beat him, then how are our lives supposed to return back to normal? Will anyone even believe us to be innocent of all that the Ministry is accusing us one.”

Dumbledore’s eyes twinkled confidently. “One of the surest traits of evil is that it must reveal itself. It is prideful and will not allow itself to remain in the shadows for long once it has gained some form of power. The public will come to see Lucius for what he is in time, if Voldemort does not make an appearance himself first. In time, everyone will come to understand the truth of the matter, but for now we must operate with a degree of subtlety.”

“Then we should get back out there,” Astoria told Dumbledore. “We searched through Riddle Manor and found nothing, but we did have a clue leading us to the old Gaunt shack to the north of Little Hangleton. Apparently, it was owned by a name called Marvolo, and Harry says that’s the same name as Voldemort’s middle name.”

“Tom Marvolo Riddle,” Dumbledore nodded. “That does seem a prudent place to investigate. The Gaunts were an old family said to descend from Salazar Slytherin himself, though they had fallen onto hard times in the past hundred years or so. It certainly would make sense that he would leave behind a horcrux in a place connected to the magical side of his family. If you three do not mind, I would like to join you on this excursion.”

“Really?” Harry lit up in genuine surprise. After all of these months of Dumbledore not really doing anything to stop Draco from harassing him and his girlfriends, it was hard to imagine the old wizard actually joining them on a mission like this. “I thought that you were busy with Hogwarts. You weren’t even supposed to be back here for a couple more weeks.”

“Circumstances change,” Dumbledore replied. “Minerva is keeping a watchful eye over the castle and its inhabitants while I am away, and knowing how keen you all are to see this mission through, I fear that I have little choice in the matter but to join you. Voldemort has delved into obscure dark magic, the types of which few know of, let alone how to counteract. I hope I am not too bold in suggesting that I may be one of the few wizards alive with the knowledge to subvert or dismantle most of Voldemort’s traps.”

“We’d be happy to have you join us, Professor,” Daphne told him.

“Please, call me Albus, or Dumbledore if you prefer,” he smiled. “I am not exactly your professor anymore, and if we are working on this task together, then we should do so as colleagues.”

“Alright, Albus,” Daphne replied. “Then are you fit to leave with us right now? We only came back to check in with everyone.”

“Of course,” Dumbledore said, standing up from his seat. “There is, ah, one matter to attend to before we leave though. I have gathered up all of the old members of the Order of the Phoenix who are still alive today as well as some new faces who are keen to put a stop to what is going on with Lucius, Voldemort, and the Death Eaters who lurk everywhere. If it is not too much hassle, we would like to host a meeting here later this week.”

“We’d be happy to host them,” Sirius agreed readily. “And I’d be happy to retake my place in the Order, if you’re offering.”

“To me, you had never left,” Dumbledore said.

“And you are still fine with my husband and I being inducted into the group?” Anastasia asked.

“Indeed I am,” Dumbledore answered. “And should any or all of the three of you wish to officially join as members, you are welcome to do so. If not, then I would still welcome you three to sit in on any meetings that you may wish to.”

“Thank you. We’ll think on the matter and let you know our answer the day of the meeting,” Daphne answered for the three of them.

Dumbledore clapped his hands together. “Excellent. Then, should we be off?”

“We’ll need broomsticks to fly over there,” Astoria said. “It’ll be faster than walking.”

“A wise suggestion,” Dumbledore smiled at her. “Sirius? Do you happen to have a spare broomstick I may borrow?”

It only took a few moments for the four of them to each have a broomstick in hand. Harry had his firebolt clutched tightly to his chest as they paired off. Daphne and Astoria apparated away to the old Riddle House first while Harry took Dumbledore’s offered arm and apparated them away just a moment later.

Arriving right back at where they left, Harry was pleased to see that the farmer was nowhere to be seen. The area was completely deserted as they mounted their broomsticks.

“Just a moment, if you would please,” Dumbledore interrupted them before they could fly off. He drew his wand. “A little precaution to avoid detection from any muggles in the area.”

One by one, he tapped the top of their heads with the tip of his wand. An icy cold sensation dripped down Harry’s form as he suddenly turned invisible. He watched as Daphne, Astoria, and then Dumbledore all disappeared from sight, but their broomsticks were still visible.

“And then one last thing,” Dumbledore announced.

Suddenly, their broomsticks were all rendered nearly invisible too. Only a tiny portion of the shaft near the top where your hands would rest remained visible.

“I’ve been told that it can be quite uncomfortable flying an invisible broomstick, but the advice I received was to trust in your broom to keep you aloft,” Dumbledore told them. “Trust in it and your faith will be rewarded.”

“Right,” Astoria muttered sarcastically next to Harry.

Harry was the first to kick off. Even with a moment of slight discomfort when he saw nothing below him, the feeling of his broomstick beneath his body reassured him instantly. He made a couple of wide loops to test his movement as the others took to the skies as well.

“The shack is supposed to be to the north of the village,” Harry reminded them all. “It’s bound to be away from any muggles, so we might have to do some searching. Until we get closer, just try to stick in a straight line so that we don’t lose track of each other. Focus on the visible point of the broom in front of you. I’ll take the lead.”

Once they were all lined up, Harry took off at a gentle pace. His firebolt could out pace all of their broomsticks with ease, so he was mindful to keep himself under control, especially as the others adjusted to flying while invisible. Surprisingly, Dumbledore didn’t seem to have much issue at all. He was the one right behind Harry, and he kept pace with ease even as Daphne and Astoria occasionally weaved or struggled to maintain a consistent speed. Things grew easier the longer they flew though, and it wasn’t long until they were flying over Little Hangleton.

To the north of the village were many roads and farms dotted about. None seemed particularly like areas in which a magical shack would be found. But there was a small forest a little bit north west that seemed like a fine area for a magical family to sequester themselves in.

Harry led everyone off to that forest. The canopy of leaves and branches was painfully thick, making it quite difficult to see within except for a very few sparse glances.

“Hold up everyone!” Harry shouted back.

They all came to a stop in a rough circle.

“I can’t see down through the trees,” Harry said. “Can any of you?”

“No,” Daphne agreed. “There’s too many of them down there.”

“It’ll be hard to navigate through those trees on a broomstick, but I think I can do it,” Harry told them. “If you all wait here for me, I’ll check things out down below.”

“We could go looking elsewhere too while you search the forest,” Daphne suggested.

“Just don’t go too far,” Harry said. “Remember, he said that the shack was somewhere north of the village. We can regroup down at the edge of the forest closest to the village. There’s a road that goes right past it.”

“Be careful,” Dumbledore warned everyone. “If you find the shack or suspect that you’ve found it, do not try to get close to it.”

“Understood,” Harry agreed.

The four of them split up and began their search. Harry waited for a moment, watching Astoria and Daphne’s broomsticks fly off in different directions, before he flew back to the edge of the forest and swooped down closer to the ground. The trees were utterly unkempt and a mess of gnarled branches, but Harry had flown through worse. He knew that he could make it through without much hassle.

As he flew into the forest, darkness flooded over him. Stray bolts of sunlight broke through the canopy and illuminated the overgrown land below, but Harry had to focus most of his attention on weaving in between the twisted tree trunks. They felt twisted and wrong in a way that wasn’t quite natural, like they’d been affected by dark magic. However, he didn’t sense anything actually dark yet.

There were no signs of animals as Harry did his best to maintain a straight path forward. There were no bird songs or signs of any animal trails. It was unnerving to have the loudest sound be the wind racing past him as he flew deeper and deeper into the forest.

Eventually, he came upon the first path he’d seen in here. It was a winding dirt track that weaved its way in between the trees with wild hedgerows growing on either side of it. One direction led to what Harry knew as the nearest edge of the forest, so he turned and ventured the other way, following the road. Within a few short seconds, Harry ended up inside of a small clearing where the canopy still blocked out virtually all of the light. The only thing of note was a small shack hidden amongst the thick tree trunks.

That had to be the Gaunt Shack!

Harry grinned in triumph and turned to go tell the others only for his entire body to spasm. He gasped and clutched at his broomstick as his vision blurred. His scar started burning painfully like before at the Riddle House.

Through his fingers that were clutching his head, Harry saw a dark-haired man walking up to the front door of the shack. He pushed open the entrance and stepped inside.

Damn it! Someone was already here! Was it one of Voldemort’s Death Eaters come to check up on his prize?

Gritting his teeth from the pain, Harry pulled his broomstick up sharply and flew straight through the canopy overhead. Leaves and branches scratched at his face, but he couldn’t stay there a moment longer. He needed to warn everyone.

Pushing his broomstick to the limit, Harry zoomed over the forest to the point where they’d agreed to meet up. He saw the faint dots of their broomsticks nearby as he landed.

“I found it,” Harry exclaimed breathlessly as he stumbled down the road towards them. “I found it.”

Suddenly, they all became visible once more. Dumbledore was looking concerned at Harry’s frantic behaviour, but he ignored the old man.

“There’s someone there too,” Harry continued. “A man. I think he’s one of Voldemort’s.”

“Was he wearing a mask?” Dumbledore asked.

“I… I’m not sure,” Harry admitted. “I only saw the back of his head. He had dark hair and was wearing black robes.”

“Other than Voldemort, all of the other known members of the Gaunt family are dead,” Dumbledore told them all. “And I’d be quite surprised if Voldemort told any of his followers about this place. He likes to keep his secrets.”

“I’m not lying,” Harry bit out sharply.

Dumbledore held up his hands in surrender. “I haven’t suggested that you are. I’ve merely pointed out how curious it is that someone could be there at all. I believe that we should head to the shack and uncover this stranger's identity for ourselves.”

As they remounted their broomsticks, Daphne gently touched his arm. “You’re getting snappy again,” she murmured to him. “Is everything okay? Is it your scar again?”

“No, it’s—” Harry bit his tongue to stop himself. He was lying out of frustration. He didn’t even know why he felt so frustrated. Every time his scar flared up today… he just seemed to be so on edge. “Yes, it’s my scar again. It was burning again.”

“Could it be another vision of a dream you had?” Daphne asked.

Harry shook his head confidently. “I’ve never seen this place before in my life. Or in my dreams.”

Daphne bit her bottom lip in thought. “Maybe we should ask Dumbledore about this.”

“If we bring it up now then he’ll just end up trying to call off this mission,” Harry replied. “Just… forget about it for now. We can deal with my scar another day. We’re so close to finding another of Voldemort’s horcruxes; I’m sure of it.”

“Okay,” Daphne said reluctantly. “But if your scar starts to hurt again, then you have to let me know.”

“Fine,” Harry agreed just as reluctantly. He wasn’t sure if he’d even do that. He just wanted to get on with this horcrux hunt.

It was much easier this time for Harry to guide everyone through the forest. He skirted them along the edge of it just within tree cover to stop any muggles from seeing them until they reached the winding road that led to the shack. From there, they all had a clear path to follow.

Once they reached the clearing, Harry was the first to land on the uneven ground. The door to the shack was closed now. Whoever had gone in must still be in there. Harry said as much to the others.

“Then we will proceed with caution,” Dumbledore said as he drew his wand. He weaved it through the air in a steady motion, his eyes closed in concentration. “I do not detect any wards or enchantments placed on the exterior of the building or anywhere in the surrounding area. However, the interior may still be dangerous.”

“We should form up around the door and be prepared to take down whoever is inside,” Harry said.

“Or we could choose to speak to whomever is within calmly,” Dumbledore suggested.

Harry looked to Astoria and Daphne for support, and he was pleased to see that they were looking at Dumbledore with some scrutiny.

“If it isn’t a muggle who’s poking around here then it’s bound to be someone that Voldemort trusts,” Astoria said slowly. “I think stunning them is the safe bet. Then, we can tie them up, wake them, and ask them any questions we have.”

“I agree,” Daphne said. “If it is a muggle, then we can obliviate them right after. If it is one of Voldemort’s followers, then they may be a wealth of information we could use.”

Dumbledore’s face slowly sank down. He was quiet when he spoke. “I hate to hear you all speak like this. Violence should not be what one opens with.”

“It’s just a stunner,” Harry replied.

“And yet it leads to either imprisoning someone and questioning them against their will or tampering with their mind,” Dumbledore said sternly.

“The longer we waste time debating this, the more likely it is that the person will walk out here and catch us off guard,” Astoria interjected. “Let’s just do this.”

Dumbledore stood back and watched on sadly as the three of them placed themselves on either side of the old door. Harry had hold of the handle to the door and checked with Astoria and Daphne before he threw it inward. Both of them lunged in front of the doorway with their wands drawn, scanning the tiny room.

“There’s no one inside,” Daphne said as she lowered her wand.

“He must’ve apparated out while I was away,” Harry sighed. He stepped alongside them and peered into the shack and froze. “Wait—”

There he was: the dark-haired man. He was stood with his wand drawn, pointed at a man covered in filth and with his hair so overgrown that there was barely any of his face to be seen. The filthy man was convulsing on the floor, screaming.

Harry’s scar burned fiercely, but his body still reacted. “Stupefy!” He screamed, firing the spell at the dark-haired man.

A moment before the spell was about to strike him, the two men disappeared. The spell smashed against the far wall, and Harry collapsed to the ground breathlessly.

“Harry!” Astoria shrieked, dropping to his side as Dumbledore rushed over. Daphne was torn between looking after Harry and staring down the empty room, trying to see whatever it was that Harry had seen.

“He was there,” Harry hissed. “I saw him. I saw him.”

And yet everyone was looking at him like he’d lost his bloody mind. He’d seen what he’d seen. The dark-haired man had been torturing that poor fellow. Why couldn’t they…

Maybe he was going mad. Was this the remnants of a dream he’d forgotten about? The sight had seemed as real as what he’d seen back at Riddle Manor, but evidently he was the only one who could see it.

“Just calm down, Harry,” Astoria said sweetly as she pressed a kiss to his lips. “It’s okay. We’re okay.”

Dumbledore was grim as he examined Harry. “We should return him to Grimmauld Place at once.”

“Wait…” Daphne interjected.

The three of them looked up as she took a careful step forward into the dilapidated shack. Mildew and rot covered every surface, but she had seen something that’d caught her interest. Instantly, Dumbledore was hurrying over to her side to help keep her safe while Harry tried to peer in between their legs to see what Daphne had seen. Evidently, she’d noticed that at one corner of the room, there was a single unusually-clean floorboard.

Dumbledore began weaving his wand again, casting spell after spell as his face darkened. Daphne was staring curiously onward, watching the man at work. Harry tried to get up, but Astoria gently pressed on his chest.

“Just stay down and catch your breath,” she told him.

“Can’t,” Harry replied and tried to stand up again. This time, she let him, but she clung to his side and refused to let go. They staggered forward into the shack just as a dark mist arose from the floorboard.

“There are terrible enchantments placed upon this,” Dumbledore said grimly as he continued moving his wand. “They are quite powerful, and should the wrong person have ever stumbled upon it, I fear that they would be trapped forever.”

“What are they, Albus?” Daphne asked him, genuinely curious. “I’d like to know in case we encounter another one of his horcruxes in the future.”

“Now is not the time to explain such things,” Dumbledore replied gently. “I will prepare a list for you once we’ve returned, but for now—ah.”

Suddenly, the floorboard peeled back unnaturally. It bent itself backwards like it was comprised of a dozen joints, each clicking back like a bone being snapped into place. The motion reminded Harry of peeling open the lid on a can.

There was black dirt beneath it and a small golden box. Dumbledore refused to let anyone go any closer to it until he’d spent nearly five minutes casting spell after spell to hunt for any hidden traps. Daphne watched him carefully, memorising some of his wand movements, while Harry and Astoria leaned against each other for support.

Dumbledore crouched down and cradled the golden box in his hands like a delicate newborn baby as he picked it up. His wrinkles fingers brushed away the dirt that coated the lid before he softly cracked it open.

A golden band sat atop a black satin pillow. It wasn’t until Dumbledore picked up the ring and lifted it up that Harry realised it had a large black stone set in the ring.

Gasping, Dumbledore moved the ring over to the light. “It can’t be…” he murmured.

“Is it the horcrux?” Harry asked.

“Yes, and so much more,” Dumbledore exclaimed.

Suddenly, he made to put the ring on his finger.

Danger flared within Harry’s being. Horcruxes were dangerous. They weren’t meant to be worn; they had to be destroyed.

And yet he was too slow to stop anything. The race to disentangle himself from Astoria and to draw his wand was too much for him. His body was exhausted from whatever visions it had been seeing, and his movements were sluggish. By the time his wand was fumbling between his fingers, the ring was almost upon Dumbledore’s finger.

But Daphne was fast. She’d been watching Dumbledore’s every wand movement closely, and the second he went to put on the ring, she’d seen the transfixed look upon his face and realised that something was wrong.

“Depulso!” She cried out, and Dumbledore went flying end over end, crashing against the far wall in a heap.

The ring and golden box went flying in the air, but Harry deftly lunged forward and snatched the box. He didn’t dare touch the ring with his bare fingers; he didn’t want to risk the chance of it somehow slipping onto his finger.

As carefully as he could, he scooped the ring up with the lid of the box and then sealed it within. It was only once he stood back up that he saw Astoria and Daphne both training their wands upon Dumbledore.

It was the most panicked that he’d ever seen the man look. His eyes flickered back and forth between their wands. It wasn’t a look of concern that crossed his face though; Dumbledore was analysing if he could take both of them down.

So, before anyone else could act, Harry did what he’d intended to only seconds ago.

“Stupefy!” He called out, and Dumbledore fell unconscious. The old wizard’s wand fell from his hand, and Harry snatched it up.

“Harry,” Astoria gasped.

Daphne shook her head. “He wasn’t in his right state of mind. He tried to wear the bloody horcrux. After all this talk about being so careful about traps, he was about to do something foolish like that. I can’t believe it.”

“Maybe he missed a compulsion charm that made him want to wear it,” Harry suggested weakly. In his heart, he couldn’t believe that the great Albus Dumbledore could miss something as obvious as that. “Regardless, he’s down right now, and we have the horcrux. We need to get back home before anyone finds us here.”

“Agreed,” Daphne said quickly. With a flick of her wand, she levitated Dumbledore into the air.

The three of them walked outside with Dumbledore floating close behind. Once again, Astoria and Daphne apparated away together, leaving Harry to apparate with Dumbledore.

But he hesitated.

“You really tried to put this on,” Harry murmured more to himself than anyone else as he stared down at the box. He could feel dark magic radiating from it. What in the world could’ve compelled Dumbledore to try to wear it?

Shaking his head of the thought, Harry sucked in a deep breath. He’d been stuck seeing things that weren’t really there, and it was warping his perceptions of reality. He had to do something about it and soon, but first they needed to handle this horcrux.

With it destroyed, Voldemort had one fewer piece of his soul left. They’d have destroyed three of them, a powerful magical number.

Harry hoped that this was all that Voldemort had made.