Harry Potter and the Fortress of Woe

a/n: It’s Christmas Eve and I just finished writing this little chapter after having dinner with my family. I already had my presents (in Germany we usually open them already on Christmas Eve around six o’clock after going to church) and thought that you poor souls, who still have to wait for them, could use a little early present.
Merry Christmas!


It was a chilly and otherwise ordinary evening in mid March, which found Harry sitting at Ginny’s side in the hospital wing, a habit he still had not given up and was not planning to give up anytime soon. He had finished all of his homework and had run out of topics to discuss with his girlfriend’s prone form. Trying to fight down the rage and sorrow which still threatened to overwhelm him whenever he looked at her, Harry started to scan the hospital wing for any possible distraction. To his relief, he spotted today’s issue of the Evening Prophet lying on a table a few feet away. Maybe Hermione had left it here when she had visited Ginny an hour before. Harry picked it up and started idly flipping through the pages. After a few minutes of browsing through a sea of bad news, one small article caught his eye.

Startling Archaeological Found – Legendary Staff of Ravenclaw Recovered

The British scholar Gerad Summersberg has found Rowena Ravenclaws legendary staff during an archaeological expedition in Albania, originally looking for remains of the ancient necromantic wizarding culture which dwelled the country almost two thousand years ago. Summersberg stumbled over the precious item while digging in a secluded valley, which had apparently been used in the past as a ritual holding place of the old Albanian wizard population. However the circumstances of the recovery are most astounding. Apparently the staff had been placed in a golden box and buried in the middle of the summoning circle, which marked the middle of the ritual place, shrouded in protective enchantments. However, after almost a week of hard effort, Summersberg and his team managed to retrieve the artefact, but unfortunately two members of the expedition lost their life in the process. Summersberg decided to turn the staff over to British Ministry of Magic wanting to grant all of the members of his glorious country access to a antiquity that rare. After a thorough checking for any remaining dangerous curses the wand will be displayed in the Museum of Great Witches and Wizards in London, England

Harry put down the paper, his mind working furiously. Albania, a precious artefact which had belonged to Rowena Ravenclaw, one of the Hogwarts’ founders, shrouded in a ton of protective enchantments. It sounded an awful lot like the other Horcruxes Harry had found. Could that be the last missing Horcrux? But why on earth had it been hidden in Albania? Unless… Did not Dumbledore say that Voldemort hid in Albania during his incorporeal time? But why? Surely there were about a dozen more secluded places than Albania. Some mountain in the Himalayan, for example, or a deserted island in an archipelago in the Caribbean. What was so special about Albania that Voldemort had chosen it as his sanctuary? Maybe some of followers had been from Albania and he had hoped to contact them in their homeland. Had he been there before and had chosen this hiding place for his familiarity with the surroundings? If that had been the case, then why had he been in Albanian in the first place and when? Did not Dumbledore say that Riddle vanished after having quit his job at Burke’s so many years ago? Could he have slipped off to Albania after stealing Hufflepuff’s cup and Slytherin’s locket from Mrs. Smith? But that still did not explain why he would go there in the first place, unless...

A sudden brainwave caused Harry to immediately jump into action. Picking up the discarded paper once again, he rapidly skimmed through the article until he had found the sentence he had been looking for: ancient, necromantic wizarding culture. That was the missing part of the puzzle. Voldemort had always been obsessed with the thought of getting immortal and without doubt he would have found any information about necromancy highly interesting and the possibility of laying his hands on ancient necromantic spell would have drawn Voldemort to Albania like a moth would be drawn to a flame. Harry did not know what kind of knowledge had been stored in the ancient valley in Albania, but apparently it had fascinated Riddle so much that he had decided to leave a part of his black soul behind. A shudder travelled down his spine as he remembered the black fire consuming Ginny and for the moment he was glad not to know whatever hideous spells his nemesis still had up the sleeve.

Harry sat down again, scratching a few stubbles on his chin, while thinking hard. So he suspected that the wand was a Horcrux, but what was he supposed to do about it? The odds were high that Voldemort had already learned about the resurfacing of the wand. If it really was a Horcrux, then he would without doubt send Death Eaters to retrieve it or he would go to the museum himself. Harry doubted that breaking into the museum would be easy, regarding the abundance of precious artefacts stored in it. It was just bound to be shrouded in protective enchantments, which rendered a break-in close to impossible, not counting the guards which were possibly placed inside. It would be hard to obtain the possible Horcrux, unless… A grin formed on Harry’s face as a new idea formed in his brain. It was the perfect way, he would not have to risk breaking into the museum only to find out that the staff was not a Horcrux and he would not have to worry about any of the protections.

He was going to position himself outside of the building and would simply wait until the Death Eaters showed up and forced they way inside. Following them he would overwhelm them as soon as they had found the Horcrux and disappear, leaving their stunned bodies behind for the Ministry to find. All he was going to need was his Invisibility Cloak and a bit of patience. However, he should hurry, because he did not know when Voldemort was going to launch the assault to recover one of his precious soul pieces. Harry wondered what he was going to do if Voldemort or his goons did not show up at all. Was that proof that the wand was just a mundane item or had Voldemort just decided to wait some time until the excitement about the archaeological found had died down? In each case he had to get going or he may miss the only chance to find the last missing Horcrux. Harry cast a long last look at Ginny’s prone form before hurrying out of the room.

- - - - -

The chilly March air surrounded Harry like clammy blanket, chilling him to the bone. He was standing next to the museum’s main entrance, hidden under his father’s Invisibility Cloak, waiting for disaster to strike. It had been easier than he had thought to sneak out of Hogwarts and avoiding Ron and Hermione in the process. He had returned to the common room after a spectacular sprint from the hospital wing and had entered it, trying to appear as nonchalant as possible. He had met Hermione halfway towards his dorm, where his cloak had been resting in his trunk and had told her some rubbish about having to get his potion book, so he could finish his homework in the hospital wing. For a moment he had thought she was not going to believe him, but fortunately Ron had chosen this moment to stumble into the room and his presence had blown Harry’s behaviour straight from her mind.

Harry allowed himself a brief grin under his cloak, who would have thought that the whole sexual tension between his two best friends would be so useful? Of course he felt kind of bad for keeping them in the dark, knowing how upset they were going to be when they found him missing, but one look at Ginny’s prone form had made his decision clear. He was not going to see another friend injured in this war between Voldemort and himself. He was going to end it on his own and he was going to end it soon. Harry had decided that he was going to attack the Fortress of Woe as soon as he had destroyed the next Horcrux. Voldemort was bound to be waiting there and so was Naigini the last of Riddle’s soul pieces. Riddle was no fool, he was not going to let his snake wandering around unprotected, knowing that someone was looking for his Horcruxes. Harry wondered if Voldemort knew who was destroying his precious immortality one by one and he could not help the grin forming on his face at the thought of Riddle cursing whomever was annihilating the thing most important to him.

Rubbing his hands together to at least slightly banish the biting cold, Harry wondered if anything would happen here tonight at all. Knowing his luck the Death Eaters would choose another way than the main entrance to enter the building, which would cause his entire carefully developed plan to come crashing down in flames. However, Harry was fairly confident that they would choose this way, both because the side entrance was farther away from the part of the museum where the staff was displayed and because he knew that Voldemort liked nothing more than showing all of the wizarding world how powerful he was.

He had probably told his goons that it was only a symbolic act to demonstrate how ruthless and unstoppable they were. Was there a better way to demonstrate that the rulers of the country were about to change than snatching away an artefact which had only recently placed in Britain’s most famous wizard museum under the special protection of the Ministry? Riddle had always been proficient at keeping his followers out in the dark, masking his own weakness, fearing to be overthrown by his allies and enemies alike. Harry knew that more than one Death Eaters was highly ambitious and all were ready to kill to achieve their goals. Voldemort was almost impossible to beat in a duel, but if ten or more Death Eaters teamed up, he would be hard pressed to be victorious in a fight indeed. Therefore Harry considered it unlikely that Voldemort would be in the museum tonight, a simple theft was much too mundane to require his presence and it would have looked more than a bit suspicious if he had taken part in the operation. Of course most Death Eaters would have been too foolish to correctly interpret their master’s behaviour, but if one or two of the more intelligent ones would be able to add two and two together, Voldemort’s position could be severely endangered.

Approximately half an hour later, a series of sharp cracks disturbed the silent night air. Harry allowed himself a brief smile, as he spotted the forms of five Death Eaters next to the museum’s entrance, obviously just having Apparated there. As he had predicted, Voldemort was absent from the group, but Harry could spot Bellatrix Lestrange standing among the other Death Eaters, barking orders in a way only the leader of an operation could. A wave of burning anger washed over Harry as he watched Sirius’ murderer walking around unpunished. For a moment all he wanted was to throw his cloak away and to fight his way through the Death Eater ranks until he reached Bellatrix and could pay her back for all the pain she had put him through. The notion only lasted a few heartbeats, but Harry had already his wand in his hand at the time he regained control of himself. Breathing as deeply as he dared, considering the not really friendly company, he tried to remember his goal: getting the Horcrux. After all Voldemort was the one you are after, not some mindless minion like Lestrange! It worked, though slowly, and Harry’s mind cleared just in time to watch the Death Eaters breaking through whatever protective enchantments placed on the door. As silently as possible, Harry followed them inside into the museum’s dark interior.

The moment he stepped over the threshold, Harry knew that something was terribly wrong. He saw two flashes of green a few feet in front of him, followed by the dull sound of at least one human body hitting the ground. Damn! The slightly sick feeling in his stomach, told Harry without doubt that the museum’s guards had just been overpowered and slain by the intruders and the feeling turned to assurance only a few moments later. As he followed his enemies further into the building, listening to their excited whispers about how easy the break-in was, he briefly spotted two uniformed bodies lying on the ground. It was too dark to clearly see their faces, but Harry knew that they would wear expression of utmost terror, like all victims of the Avada Kedavra did. Barely two minutes had passed and already two innocents had died, the night was not starting good.

Harry followed his involuntary tour guides for about another five minutes, until they reached the big hall in which Ravenclaw’s staff had been placed. It had been placed in a showcase in the middle of the room, obviously the centrepiece of the exhibition. The room’s walls were covered with glass cabinets, containing other artefacts and pieces of information about the life of the famous Hogwarts’ founder. Harry stopped at the door, opting not to go further into the room until the Death Eaters had trigger or dispelled all magical wards and traps placed in the room. He watched intrigued as his nemesis’ minions started to tinker with the display, apparently casting a highly advanced dispelling charm with their combined power.

For a few agonizingly long minutes nothing happened. Then a brief flashed of white light erupted from the Death Eater’s wand points, hitting the display case containing the wand. His enemies seemed to have waited for that to happen, because they whooped in joy and immediately smashed in the glass, wanting to get the precious item into their clutches. After a brief squabble about who was going to have the honour of presenting it to their master, Bellatrix lifted the staff out of the now ruined showcase carefully. Then the unexpected happened.

Out of nowhere five stunners slammed into the surprised Death Eaters before they had any chance to react, each spell hitting his target dead on. Almost immediately, Nymphadora Tonks, Mad-Eye Moody and three other Order members appeared in the room, each of them clutching an Invisibility Cloak. An ambush!

“Well, that was easier than I thought.” said Tonks, strolling over to check if really all Death Eaters were helpless. Her face darkened as her gaze fell on Bellatrix, obviously she had not forgotten who had killed Sirius either. “Why do you think You-Know-Who sent her to steal something as mundane as the staff? She is a high-ranked Death Eater; shouldn’t she be hunting Muggles out there or being his personal maid?”
“There seems to be more to the staff than meets the eye.” growled Moony, his magical eye spinning to search the room for other intruders. Harry pressed himself against the wall, knowing that an Invisibility Cloak was not very useful against the grizzled ex-Auror, holding his breath and hoping that it would be enough to mask his presence to the Order members, not fancying having to fight his way through his impromptu allies. For a heartbeat, Harry thought that Moody had spotted him, but the old man’s scarred face gave no indication that he had indeed become aware of him.

“Let’s get the bastards outside and transfer them to headquarters.” continued Moody. “Minerva will decide what we are going to do with them.”
“Alright.” said Tonks, waving her wand so that the Death Eater’s body started to float like a parody of a balloon. “It’s a shame that we could not warn the guards though, they looked like decent blokes.”
“Causalities of war.” replied Moody simply. “You four go ahead, I’ll take the staff and will scout the area once again.”
Tonks rolled her eyes at Mad-Eye’s paranoia, but apparently chose not to comment on the subject. She and the other three Order member’s left the room, levitating the Death Eaters behind them, having to get outside to escape the area of effect of the Anti-Apparation wards which shrouded the building. Harry was forced to press himself even deeper against the wall to let them pass and even this way, the hem of his cloak got caught for a moment at one of the floating bodies, briefly exposing his feet to everyone looking. Fortunately, Tonks and the other departing Order members were too occupied with getting their prisoners outside to notice him.

“Do you want to tell what you are doing here Potter?” asked Moody as soon as his colleagues were out of earshot. “You know that I can see you, don’t you?”
“Yeah, I do.” replied Harry, taking off the cloak and tossing it to the ground. “Why didn’t you tell Tonks and the others?”
“I wanted to find out why you are here first and I am more the confident that I can handle a seventeen years old schoolboy.” answered Moody with something like a smile on his ravaged face. “I assume that you came here because of the staff.”
“Yes, there is indeed more to the staff than meets the eye, but it is completely useless to anyone except Voldemort or me.”
“And you think that I am going to believe that?” asked Moody, frowning. Despite his calm façade, Harry knew that the old Auror was not quite sure how to handle the current situation. “You have not really been a good ally to the order in the recent past and I could simply take the staff to McGonagall to unlock its secret. We will know if you are indeed telling the truth soon.”
“I can’t wait so long.” replied Harry, already channelling a part of his power to ready himself for the fight he believed was soon to come. “If you give it to me, Voldemort is going to die tonight, if don’t then he will continue to wreck this country. In my opinion the choice is clear, but if you don’t want to make one, I can still take the staff by force. I am more than confident that I can handle an old man, who has been out of service for at least ten years.”

For a moment Moody looked too shocked to speak, obviously having somehow sensed Harry’s tapping into his hidden powers. Then he simply nodded, accepting defeat. “Alright lad, I know when I have lost. Here, catch and good luck.”
With these words, he tossed the staff at Harry, who caught it deftly, but kept one of his eyes on Mad-Eye all the time, expecting him to take advantage of his temporarily distracted state. However, he needn’t have bothered for the ex-Auror was just watching him calmly.
“Thanks, Mad-Eye.” replied Harry. “Oh and sorry, but I don’t want McGonagall to find out now”

Harry launched a powerful stunner which slammed straight through the shield the surprised Auror had barely managed to erect, knocking him out cold. Harry slipped back under his cloak and hurried out of the museum.

- - - - -

Half an hour later, Harry once again walked into the Hogwarts hospital wing. He was in a hurry, knowing that it was only a matter of time, until Tonks and the others would return to find Moody stunned on the floor. He had sprinted back to school as quickly as possible, gone straight to the Room of Requirements and had there destroyed the Horcrux, all the time still hidden from view by his cloak. Fortunately had stored everything he was going to need for tonight in the room, knowing that it would be his first stop when judgement day arrived. He was wearing his full dragon armour set, feeling in need of as good a protection he could get. Just one more stop before he would have to face his destiny. The thought was exhilarating and disturbing at the same time. On the one hand he was glad that his almost eternal struggle with Voldemort was finally coming to an end, but on the other hand the thought of once again facing his nemesis in a duel scared him out off his mind. Well, at least he could meet Riddle on his own terms, rather than waiting for him to come to him.

“Hey Ginny, I am back.” he whispered to his girlfriend’s silent form after checking the room for any signs of Madame Pomfrey. “It could be the last time and the fact and you can’t even kiss me goodbye. But don’t worry Ginny, Riddle will pay for everything he has done to you. And then I will come back so that we can live our lives together, you will see. Be a good girl and keep these for Ron and Hermione, I have of course included one for yourself.”

Harry produced three sealed envelops from one of his armour vest’s numerous pockets. It were the goodbye letters he had written during his countless hours in the hospital wing, one for Ron, one for Hermione and one for Ginny. He had considered it handy to have them finished before he actually went away; knowing that every second could be precious when he finally jumped into action. He placed them on Ginny’s stomach, so that she would find them as soon as she awoke.

“Good bye Ginny.” he whispered and kissed her gently on the lips. Most of her bandages had been removed already, leaving only a bit of irritated skin behind. Following a sudden impulse, Harry slipped the silver ring Ginny had given him for Christmas from his finger and placed it in her uninjured hand.

“Keep it safe.” he whispered before putting on his dragon leather gloves and Invisibility Cloak and walking out of the room, not knowing that he would never enter Hogwarts again.