The Most Beautiful Witch Chapter 36 (Patreon)

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

All characters are over the age of eighteen (18)

PAGE BREAK

No one seemed to know what to do. Sirius, Anastasia, and Cyrus simply couldn’t believe that Albus Dumbledore of all people had been knocked out by Harry’s Stunning Spell. The man was fast asleep on the sofa, and Harry was still trembling from all that he’d seen around Little Whinging.

There’d been so many people there that hadn’t been real. Well, he’d felt like they were real, but no one else had seen them. Everyone had been ready to take him back to Grimmauld Place up until the moment that Daphne had spotted out the secret hiding place of Voldemort’s horcrux, and then everything had happened so suddenly.

Harry still had the box with the ring hiding within a pocket inside his inner robes. Only Astoria and Daphne knew of its presence, but both of them seemed more concerned with handling their parents at the moment.

“What happened?” Anastasia asked, looking utterly stunned at the unconscious man before her.

“He tried to put on the horcrux,” Daphne told her, but that didn’t seem to make things any better.

Anastasia wrapped her arms tightly around herself, which gave Cyrus the clue that he should try to comfort his wife. He quickly hurried over and wrapped her up in his arms, though he still kept his wand trained upon Dumbledore’s unconscious form.

“Surely he didn’t,” Sirius said weakly, turning towards Harry and Astoria. “He’s Albus Dumbledore. He’s not a foolish man.”

“Even the most noble man can make a mistake,” Daphne interjected.

“But he didn’t, did he?” Sirius asked, his eyes full of pleading and hope.

Harry cringed and turned away, which was enough of an answer that Sirius needed.

Sucking in a deep breath, Sirius drew his wand. “I’ll take care of him. The three of you need to rest.”

“No,” Daphne shook her head. “I have questions for him that need answers. I’m not going to leave him alone.”

“And we’ll stay with you too,” Cyrus said for both himself and Anastasia. “Dumbledore is one of the greatest wizards to ever exist. If even he was tempted by this horcrux… I wouldn’t trust him near anyone else. We’ll help you keep him under control until we get some answers as to why he acted the way he did.”

Harry tapped the sealed box within his inner-breast pocket. “I should take this somewhere else. The Sword of Gryffindor is still up in my room, isn’t it?”

“We’ve left it there,” Sirius replied. “Unless Kreacher moved it.”

Suddenly, the house-elf appeared in the room. He frowned sharply at Sirius before turning towards Harry with a much more positive look. “Kreacher has only cleaned your room. Kreacher has not removed the blade that destroyed part of the Dark Lord.”

“Thank you, Kreacher,” Harry told the house-elf.

Nodding, Kreacher disappeared again.

“There it is,” Harry said. “We’ll deal with the horcrux and then come meet you down here again.”

Everyone seemed content with that. Daphne pulled up a chair next to Dumbledore and kept the tip of her wand pressed against his chin while Anastasia and Cyrus conferred in the corner. Sirius stood awkwardly to the side with his wand drawn but not quite pointed directly at Dumbledore. He gave Harry and Astoria a nod to head out before he refocused his gaze on the unconscious man.

Taking Astoria’s hand, Harry led her up the spiral staircase until he reached his bedroom. The door had been left open, and it was as perfectly clean as Harry could ever expect.

Reaching within his robes, Harry plucked out the box that contained the horcrux ring. As he held it out in front of him, nefarious whispers began to enter his mind.

He would’ve rather lived his life in Azkaban than with you.

She only went to the Yule Ball with you for your fame.

She’s jealous of her sister and wants what she has. Then, she’ll steal you away and dispose of you.

The cruel words reached Harry’s ears, but he ignored all of them. He was assured of his relationships with everyone, and none of these suppositions were worth anything.

Harry tossed the box upon his bed, and the words instantly left his ears. The Sword of Gryffindor gleamed upon the shelf above the desk next to his bed, begging to be used. Harry had half a mind to go out and grasp the hilt of the blade, but his body and mind both felt utterly exhausted.

As he let out a deep sigh, Astoria tugged at his hand. “Come on,” she said. “Let’s take a rest.”

Harry couldn’t be bothered to argue against that idea. He closed the door to his room and placed a locking charm on it before he followed Astoria over towards her bedroom. It was small, like his was, but cosy enough with her robes sticking out of the open cupboard and her many books stacked atop her desk. She threw herself onto her bed and pulled Harry with her, clearly desperate for some physical touch.

“What’s going on with you?” Astoria asked, her big brown eyes searching his. He could see the genuine worry in them, which only made him feel worse for what he’d been through. He’d never asked for this, and if he told her what he’d seen, she’d surely think he was mental. And then what would he have? She’d leave him and then—

No, he couldn’t think that way.

Harry opened his mouth and spilt out his guts before he could stop himself.

“I keep seeing things that aren’t really there,” he blurted out. “I remembered a dream I had about Voldemort, but it felt so real. It was like I was back there during that moment, reliving it perfectly. And I… I don’t know. But when we got to the Gaunt Shack, I didn’t see anything from a dream. I’d never seen that place before, but I saw a man walking into it. He had dark hair and…”

The memory had partially faded from his mind. He was fighting to recover it.

“What did he look like?” Astoria asked, her face full of concern. She had to either think he was mad or some sort of odd seer, but that wouldn’t dissuade Harry from expressing what he’d seen.

“I never saw his face,” Harry protested quickly. “He had a full head of dark hair. He was thin and had a pale-white wand. He—”

In an instant, Harry was transported back to the Gaunt Shack. He saw the back of the dark-haired man as he tortured the filthy man, but this time, his scar wasn’t burning. He could practically see the man’s wand in his hand, and Harry immediately realised whose wand it was.

“Voldemort,” he breathed out. “It was Voldemort’s wand. He’s the dark-haired man. He was there. It was him. I don’t. Him. He—”

Astoria wrapped her arms around Harry and pulled him close as he kept spluttering out useless words. He’d said what needed to be said, but it was still so unbelievable to him. The dark-haired man had Voldemort’s wand. The dark-haired man was Voldemort. How had he seen such a thing? Why did he see it at all?

“Breathe,” Astoria pleaded with him.

It was only then that he realised that he was hyperventilating.

“You’ve been through a lot,” Astoria murmured into his ear once he began to calm down. “Voldemort has done so much to you, and now you’re seeing him.”

Harry snuck quick glances around the room, expecting to see the man at any turn. Thankfully, he never appeared. Harry rationalised that Voldemort must’ve never been to Grimmauld Place. He couldn’t have left his stain here. A stain that only Harry could see.

That was a relief. He took a deep breath in and then another before he felt his breathing begin to regulate.

“I’m going to kill him,” Harry murmured.

“I know you will,” Astoria replied, though she didn’t sound happy about it. “Forget about him for today though. We’ve already been through so much.”

That they had. Exploring the Riddle House and the Gaunt Shack had taken a lot out of him, and he was sure that Daphne and Astoria were both feeling the same way. This was their chance to rest and recover after everything that they’d been through.

Harry wrapped his arms tightly around Astoria, holding her so close that he could feel her heartbeat. She clung to him just as tightly, throwing one of her legs over his as she nestled her face into his neck.

They rested together like that for the better part of an hour, just cuddling and letting everything else fade from their minds. It was times like this that Harry was well reminded that no matter how much influence Voldemort had on his life, he couldn’t control him completely. Harry could forget about his worries and fears and just live in the moment with those that loved and treasured him.

Harry would’ve been content to rest with her the rest of the day had Astoria not begun to kiss him. Her lips began to subtly touch his skin as she rolled completely on top of him, but just as Harry helped her settle by grabbing onto her hips, he felt her full-on kissing his neck and suckling at his flesh as though she were trying to leave her mark on him. She slipped one of her hands underneath his robes so that she could feel his torso. The simple touch of her fingertips running along his abs did so much to soothe him that Harry felt like he could easily fall asleep like this, but he didn’t dare do so while Astoria was still doing these subtle motions.

“It’s been a while since we’ve had a moment just between the two of us,” Astoria whispered into his ear. Her tongue barely flicked out of her mouth and caught his earlobe. “I’ve missed this.”

“So have I,” Harry admitted. “Maybe we’ve spent too much time worrying about—”

“Don’t even say his name. Not here. Not now.”

“Okay,” Harry smiled lightly. “I haven’t given you the attention that you deserve.”

“I think that we can make up for that,” Astoria said as she kissed his neck again.

Astoria’s hands pushed further up his chest, and it took Harry far too long to recognise that she was trying to remove his robes from his body. He sat up, pulling her up with him to sit on his lap, and lifted up his arms so that she could get his robes off. By the time he found himself topless, Astoria was busy squirming off of his lap.

“Take the rest off,” she said breathlessly as she drank in his body.

“Only if you’ll join me,” Harry replied, already moving to take off the rest of his clothes.

“Of course,” Astoria snorted playfully.

As he raised his hips to take off his trousers, Astoria turned her back to him and started taking off her robes. She moved slowly, steadily revealing her bare back to him before she too worked on her lower half. She bent over at the waist and slowly pulled down everything, letting him first take in the sight of her glorious ass before he caught a glimpse of her pink pussy nestled between her thighs. That was all the incentive that Harry needed to tear off the rest of his clothes and to lunge for her.

“You can be such a brute,” Astoria giggled as Harry lifted her naked body into the air.

“Only when you tease me like that,” he replied, kissing her.

He dropped her onto the bed and made sure that she had a comfortable pillow behind her head before he landed in between her legs. She’d done so much to bring him comfort today, so he felt like he owed her a bit of recompense. She spread her legs wide for him and grinned in excitement as his breath misted across her crotch.

“You’re so wet,” Harry groaned as he spread her folds wide to see her dripping-wet core. It gleamed in the candlelight, enticing him to give her a single lick.

Astoria gasped sharply as his tongue darted out to taste her. Her back arched off of the bed and she grabbed her breasts with her hands, holding that pose breathlessly as Harry gave her another gentle lick. She tasted so sweet and familiar on his tongue, like a candy that he couldn’t get enough of.

As he kept teasing her with his tongue, his fingers danced along her inner thighs, tickling her and making her squirm. He moved back up to her pussy and let his thumbs press in on either side of her clit, not quite applying enough pressure to give her the satisfaction that she so desperately needed.

“Harry, please,” Astoria whined. “Stop teasing me.”

How could he ever deny her when she sounded as sweet as that?

Harry practically glued his lips to Astoria’s pussy as he licked her wildly. His thumbs finally pushed in and touched her clit, causing a wild moan to escape her lips. Her pussy twitched around his tongue as he probed deeper into her, but once he’d hit his limit of how far in he could go, Harry steadily retreated backwards and swapped the position of his fingers and tongue.

That small little nub was all-too eager to be touched by his tongue. He swirled around it before suckling at it just the way he knew would drive Astoria utterly mad with lust. Her body thrashed on the bed as she moaned so loud that it was all Harry could hear.

“Just like that,” Astoria said breathlessly, grabbing onto the back of his head.

Harry’s tongue flickered against Astoria’s clit, and she let out these cute little squeals that sent shocks of pleasure straight to his cock. He wanted to be inside of her so badly, but he also didn’t want to stop making her come undone like this.

But just as that thought came into his mind, Astoria gently scratched the back of his head and ushered him to look up at her.

“I need you.”

They were the only words that she needed to say.

Suddenly, Harry’s lips and fingers left her core, and he climbed up in bed next to Astoria. She pulled him in for a kiss and molded her body against his.

Face-to-face with their chests pressed against each other, Astoria angled his cock perfectly to find her pussy. Harry rocked his hips back and forth, teasing her dripping lips, even going so far as to rub up against her clit, but never pushing inside of her quite yet. Astoria made her frustration clear as she groaned in annoyance into his mouth and tried to rock her hips to find the right angle so that he’d slip inside of her, but Harry waited until the very moment when she seemed to be utterly over his teasing to finally push the tip of his cock inside of her.

Her warm walls cradled his cock as he pushed deeper inside of her pussy. He grabbed a handful of her ass and pulled her in even closer to him as she readjusted her leg to end up over his hips. Harry kissed her soundly and pushed his cock deep inside of her, rocking their bodies together in one smooth motion as he went.

It was incredible to feel her warm body pressed up against his like this, and her pussy was squeezing him so delightfully now that he was fully inside of her. He reached between their bodies to tease her clit as he started to move his hips again.

“I love you so much,” Harry murmured to Astoria.

“Fuck,” Astoria moaned, her eyes fluttering closed. “You’re—you’re too good to me. I can’t wait to marry you.”

“Marry me?” Harry’s heart throbbed with hope.

She batted her eyelashes at him as she opened her eyes again. “Yes… one day. After you’ve proposed, of course.”

“I could conjure a ring right now.”

Astoria laughed at him. “You’d better come up with something better than proposing to me while we’re having sex.”

Harry chuckled and thrust deep inside of her pussy again. “I’ll come up with something special. I promise.”

“Good,” Astoria smiled. “Because if it’s anything less than that, I’ll turn you down.”

She was joking, of course, but Harry intended to give her nothing but the best when the time came. But for now, what mattered most was giving her what she needed in this moment.

Astoria’s nails dug into his back as she really pressed her breasts against his chest. Her lips interlocked with his, and Harry worked his hips as quickly as they could in this position, which wasn’t particularly fast. His cock steadily pistoned back and forth inside of her, giving them both a fair bit of pleasure but not enough of the intensity that they clearly wanted.

So, Harry rolled Astoria over onto her back, and she immediately wrapped her legs around his waist, giving him the perfect angle to pound down into her pussy, practically fucking her into the bed.

He wasn’t so brutish as to begin like that though. Their lovemaking had been slow and steady from the start, and that was the rhythm that Harry maintained for a few moments until they both got used to the new position. Then, he started picking up the pace.

“Astoria,” Harry moaned as he drove into her harder than before. The power of his thrust rattled the bed and jiggled Astoria’s breasts so beautifully. His hips blurred slightly as he fucked her faster and faster, moving with an incredible precision that kept pounding Astoria downward.

“Fuck!” Astoria cried out, gripping him tighter with her limbs. She looked so unbelievably beautiful as her pleasure shone across her face. Everything about her was pure perfection, and Harry was so grateful to be able to experience it all.

Her walls kept pulsing around his cock faster and faster as his thrusts increased in power and speed. It felt like she was trying to milk him dry, and the longer he fucked her, the more willing he was to allow himself to come undone and do exactly what her body wanted.

He kept moaning her name as he filled her tight pussy up again and again, but it quickly became too much. His cock started throbbing inside of her, and then he unleashed a steady torrent of hot cum deep into Astoria’s pussy as she screamed his name. Her walls clamped down hard around his cock as she came too, sending them both into an overwhelming state of pure ecstasy.

The moment transcended time, and it was only once Harry’s breathing began to recover and he felt Astoria relax beneath him that everything suddenly fell into place.

In that post-orgasmic bliss, Harry’s mind finally felt truly clear of everything that’d plagued him. The thoughts that’d lingered in the back of his mind seemed so impossibly small now that they practically avoided his notice entirely.

Peace had finally found him, and he knew what he needed to do. This had been a perfect moment with the woman he loved, but he couldn’t forget the bigger picture. Once it was dealt with, he could spend every day with Astoria and Daphne like this.

“The Horcrux,” Harry murmured to Astoria. “I ought to deal with it now.”

“Do you have to?” Astoria whined as she tried to cling to him.

Harry chuckled, and Astoria’s resistance was only half-hearted. She just wanted him to stay close to her, even if they both knew that this had to happen sooner rather than later.

He slid out from the bed and threw on his robes to provide some protection from the inevitable magical aftereffects of the horcrux’s destruction. Astoria put on a dark-coloured chemise and followed him out of her room and over towards his room.

As he unlocked it, he found his room exactly as he’d left it. The small box with the horcrux ring inside of it was still sat atop his bed, and the Sword of Gryffindor was sat atop the shelf above his desk. He quickly walked over and grabbed the hilt of the blade as Astoria stepped into the room behind him.

“One quick cut, yeah?” She smiled at him. “Might be better to put it on your desk though. It’ll be easier to repair than a bed.”

Harry smiled back at her. “You’re right, as always.”

He grabbed the box as quickly as he could as placed it upon the centre of his desk.

Harry grasped the Sword of Gryffindor in both hands, leaving the blade mere inches above the box that held the horcrux. With this one down, they may have destroyed every last horcrux that Voldemort had. Or, they’d be on the hunt for however many more remained.

But still, one more horcrux down was another piece of Voldemort that vanished from this world. Another chance of his resurrection vanquished.

Harry raised the blade aloft, gripping in tightly with both hands so that he knew he wouldn’t miss the next strike.

“Stop!”

Harry hesitated halfway down his swing. Astoria leapt behind him with her wand drawn, instantly bringing up a shield to block any spells that Dumbledore would cast. His hands were empty, but that didn’t mean that he couldn’t cast spells wandlessly. Harry thankfully still had Dumbledore's wand in one of his robe's pockets.

Staring at the man from the corner of his eye, Harry reset his striking position. “Why? Are you going to try to wear it again?”

The question seemed to strike Dumbledore more deeply than Harry imagined. It was as though a physical blow had struck his belly and sent him reeling backwards, but he recovered soon enough.

“No, I won’t,” he replied confidently as he straightened his back. “I made a mistake, and it won’t happen again. But I implore you to stop before you ruin our chances at unconcerning Voldemort’s plans.”

Now, that was enough to make Harry truly reconsider his actions. He pulled back the blade far enough that the ring wasn’t in immediate danger but not so far that he couldn’t slice through it before Dumbledore tried to stop him.

“What is it then? What plan have you concocted?”

Dumbledore straightened his back and cleared his throat. “I believe that I can create a ritual that can uncover any other horcruxes that are still hidden from us. All it will take is a simple preparation before I can perform the ritual and learn the location of Voldemort’s other horcruxes. Then, we can destroy this one.”

“Where are Daphne and the others?” Harry asked suddenly. It was odd for Dumbledore to arrive without the rest of them in tow given the fact that they’d all decided to stand guard upon them.

Dumbledore glanced back over his shoulder. “They’re downstairs right now, waiting for us. If you could just hand over the horcrux—”

“No,” Harry interjected sharply, lowering the blade down to the edge of the box.

Dumbledore hissed sharply and made to lunge forward, only to hold himself back at the last moment. “You don’t know what you’re doing.”

“Yes, I do,” Harry replied as he stared down Dumbledore. “I’ll destroy this horcrux in a heartbeat if you take a step forward.”

“I won’t,” Dumbledore replied, holding his hands up in surrender. Still, Harry didn’t trust the man not to have something hidden up his sleeves.

“Daphne!” Harry shouted. “Cyrus!”

“They’re downstairs,” Dumbledore repeated urgently. “They’ll be here any second, if they heard you.”

But as the seconds passed, no one came upstairs, and worry began to set across Harry’s face. What had Dumbledore done to them?

“I need you to trust me, Harry,” Dumbledore said, leaning forward with a hand open towards him. “Just lower the blade, and I’ll back away from the room. We can all go downstairs and speak about this.”

“Daphne?!” Astoria called out.

Again, no answer returned.

Harry gritted his teeth. “You already tried to snatch this horcrux once,” he said dangerously, his hand tightening its grip upon the hilt of the blade.

“And that was a mistake,” Dumbledore implored unto him. “If I had known what it truly was… I wouldn’t have acted in the way that I did. Knowing what it is now, I promise you that I will not wear it. Daphne, her parents, and Sirius are all downstairs waiting for us. If we could just take this downstairs and speak to them…”

“No,” Harry snapped, grabbing the ring box and taking several steps back away from the doorway.

“Go!” Astoria shouted at Dumbledore. “Go downstairs, and we’ll follow you.”

Dumbledore’s face turned grim. “I can’t do that without knowing that the horcrux will remain intact. It’s our best chance at uncovering the rest that Voldemort has hidden.”

“It’s quite convenient that the horcrux you seemed to so desperately want to put on is suddenly able to uncover the locations of the rest of them,” Harry pointed out.

Dumbledore cringed away painfully. “I hadn’t thought of the idea before now. I’ll admit that my idea is experimental, but I truly believe that it could work. Please, Harry, I’m only human. I do my best in the moment to act in the way I think is best, and I think I’ve now found a better path for our future. Please, don’t destroy this horcrux right now. I’ll go back downstairs and bring the others up. How does that sound?”

It’s a trap.

He’s lying to you.

He’ll kill you the second he disappears from sight.

“No!” Harry shouted, clutching at his head with his free hand.

“Harry!” Astoria exclaimed, rushing to his side. She grabbed onto him, and for a brief moment, Harry felt at peace. The voices that’d joined his mind suddenly fled.

“Go get everyone else!” Astoria shouted at Dumbledore.

He couldn’t leave! He was going to destroy everything that Harry loved!

The old man reacted instantly, running down the stairs as fast as he could to grab everyone else, while Astoria held Harry close to her. Feeling her body pressed against his felt like the warmth that came from eating a bar of chocolate after a Dementor had passed by. The anxieties plaguing his mind fled, and Harry finally sighed and sagged against her shoulder, feeling relaxed again.

Moments later, Dumbledore returned with Sirius, Anastasia, Cyrus, and Daphne all in tow. Daphne stepped inside the room first.

“It’s okay,” she told Harry sincerely as she stepped closer towards him, like she was carefully approaching a wounded animal who was ready to snap at anyone who came close enough to help it.

He smiled at her, then the world swam around him and he suddenly collapsed backwards.