FicWad

Chapter Thirty Six: Timing

There were many countries who had their share of dark magic activities. However, Albania might have been far and beyond every other country in the world. Albania swarmed with a great deal of dark magical activity. It was a central meeting place for many dark witches and wizards in Europe, to trade questionable goods and services. The magical government is inefficient, they could not prosecute shoplifters properly, much less anyone who could do real damage. That was not to say that the country was not heavily monitored. People entering and exiting the country were heavily monitored by mysterious robed figures that were heavily rumored to be agents of the Dark Lord. No one questioned the authority of these robed figures, on the off chance those rumors were true, as the citizens could ill afford the wrath of Lord Voldemort, causing the deadly wizard to harm their families.

Little did they know that a figure cloaked in black was right outside the country, ready for a daring mission to retrieve something that would prove to be essential to maintaining Voldemort’s current immortality and his power. The figure carefully looked from side to side, taking a deep breath, ensuring that there was no one watching the border of the country closely. Once he had seen that only a pair of Albania Aurors were clumsily patrolling, the figure quickly slipped into the shadows. Moving forward, he passed the Aurors, without them getting the slightest hint that their borders were being breached. Getting in was of course the easy part, it was getting out with the intended object was going to be the tricky part.

Ginny sat, legs crossed, as she calmly had a mirror by her side, waiting, watching. Everyone had gone over this plan of Harry’s several times in the past three days. The fact that Harry had time to come up with it was remarkable, but if they could pull it off, it could get Voldemort in position for Harry to deal a serious blow to him. Harry’s plan was sound and worked in theory, but in action was a different matter entirely. He had to rely on a few things working correctly in succession. Harry said he was going this over in his mind for quite some time, even before the Outbreak started. Right now, Ginny could only wait, watch. Harry promised that he would contact her the second he managed to implement the first stage of the plan.

A large thick man sat behind the counter of a bar, watching as a few patrons were inside the main bar, but most that had entered had used the back room for shady dealings. Most avoided this area of Albania all together, because of the strong concentration of dark magic in the air, that polluted the entire landscape around them. The owner of the bar much preferred few people nosed around this area. The owner’s name was K’rose and he was one of the Dark Lord’s main eyes and ears inside of Albania. He had been in the service of the Dark Lord since before his sabbatical at the hands of Harry Potter. The Dark Lord valued K’rose well, because of his many connections within the country and once a month, the Dark Lord stopped by to his bar, to gain the latest news.

The Dark Lord entrusted K’rose to keep constant watch over a well that was outside of his bar. While K’rose had no place to ask about the contents of the well, the Dark Lord did hint that the contents were extremely important to him. The Albania Death Eater would not allow anyone break into the well, having put a few inventive charms around them to prevent tampering, along with the essential monitoring charms that would notify him immediately of any attempts to break into the well.

K’rose stood, watching as a man stumbled out of the bar. For lack of anything better to do, K’rose watched him go up the dirt path before he turned the corner, staggering back home, too inebriated to Disapparate properly. K’rose turned his attention back to the well, he would be lying if he denied that the well did not give him an uneasy feeling. Most went out of their way to avoid it and several Muggles who had strayed too far had collapsed, before they died of swift and sudden dehydration.

The doors of his bar burst open as a pair of weary looking figures walked into the bar, before they ran up to K’rose. They rushed up to the Albania Death Eater, before they turned to him.

“Mr. K’rose, someone’s inside the country, we just barely detected him, he slipped by fast,” said one of the men without preamble as K’rose just stood in front of him, immobile, a stoic glance on his face, as he looked at his two associates. “Our monitoring charms are still intact, but it seems like he’s found a flaw in them, only triggering them slightly, as opposed to the full blown warning we got. If we hadn’t been watching them, he would have slipped by without us noticing.”

“That is impossible, those detection wards were created by the Dark Lord himself, they should have been heard throughout the entire country, the sirens should have echoed in every direction,” said K’rose roughly. “Are you certain you were not imagining things?”

“No of course not, Mr. K’rose, a small blip echoed, before nothing, maybe something is wrong with the monitoring spells around the country?” suggested one of the men, which caused K’rose to angrily blast him right into the wall, a couple of the patrons looking up with mild interest, but most preferring to keep to their drinks.

“As I told you, the Dark Lord created the wards, he does not make mistakes,” said K’rose roughly, causing the two men to quiver against the wall. “I am confident that the Dark Lord has ironed all out imperfections and I will not call him on a matter that will be a waste of his time. Now, return to your station, monitor the wards on the chance that someone tries to slip into this country undetected.”

The two men nodded, before they quickly scrambled away from K’rose. The Albania Death Eater watched the two terrified men scramble away from his sight, before he stepped back behind the bar. The fact that anyone could slip around the wards that he and the Dark Lord worked so hard to perfect was quite ludicrous. Only an extremely powerful wizard would have a chance but the chance was rather miniscule. K’rose just stood, continuing to monitor the activity in the bar, along with awaiting real news of any individuals who would enter Albania.

Ginny sat, still with the mirror in her hand but then it slowly came to life. She put the mirror up and it flashed in multi colored lights in the code that she and Harry had worked out together recently. While it would have been simpler to speak what was going on, Harry could not afford to have anyone overhear. Once Ginny received Harry’s message, she moved towards the other room, where Lily was right by the fireplace. They were the only two left at the Potter Residence as the others had departed to the American Wizarding Government Headquarters.

“Harry says he’s inside the country, stand by for when he’s retrieved the Horcrux,” relayed Ginny and Lily nodded, before she kneeled down right into the fire, to relay the message to Alexandra, to tell her to have the Aurors and the others be ready. Ginny returned, to keep a close eye on the mirror, for the moment that Harry would relay any updates to her.

Harry arrived in the village, consulting the map of Albania. It was quite fortunate that the imperfection in the wards were close to where the well containing the Horcrux was. Harry dodged behind a tree, as he looked forward, as a couple of shady looking characters walked down the street, muttering underneath his breath. Right across the street, off to the side of an old and dismal looking pub was the well. Harry could feel a slight burning sensation on his scar, which indicated to him now more than ever that his studies in pinpointing the location was right. A part of Voldemort was in the well and Harry moved closely, before he moved towards the well. He could see the dark magic radiating off of the area inside the well and that was not the only magic that was swirling around the well. Quickly, Harry checked and sure enough, a dehydration curse had been put around the area of the well, modified to affect Muggles. Another cruel trick from Voldemort to wipe out any Muggles as possible, but that would not happen for much longer as Harry removed the curse but as he did, a loud sound that was as shrill as a siren echoed in Harry’s ears, which backed him off. He mentally cursed himself, it appeared that Voldemort had the well rigged to go off if someone had tried to tamper with it.

From inside the pub, K’rose looked up, to the flashing lights outside and then the siren filled his ears. Quickly, he moved towards the door, someone was trying to remove the protections around the well, which meant someone was trying to go inside the well and get the artifact that Voldemort kept inside. The door swung open and K’rose saw a cloaked individual, face obscured. The figure quickly spun around and sent a stunning spell right at K’rose, who put up a shield, block the attack swiftly. K’rose moved around and attempted to use a bone breaking hex on his attacker’s arm, but the attacker deflected it back at K’rose, who just barely avoided the counterattack. Had that connected, it would have shattered every bone in his hand.

“INCENDIO!” shouted K’rose and a small burst of fire shot right at him, but was put out with an even larger splash of water. “Step away from the well, do it now…”

A large gust of wind kicked up, sending several rocks right at K’rose. K’rose shielded himself, but still was cut by the rocks as they impacted him. The figure moved around and shot metal cords right at K’rose. K’rose just barely tore them apart with a slicing spell just before to wrap around him, but the attacker had blasted him in both legs. The snap of bones echoed throughout the ears of K’rose as he dropped down to the ground, severely injured from the attack.

A trio of Albanian Death Eaters ran down the street, their wands aimed right at the mysterious intruder, who did not seem all that concerned about them. Quickly several metal spikes erupted out of the ground, ripping through the legs and the chest of one of the dangerous dark wizards, taking him out of action.

“AVADA KEDAVRA!” yelled one of the Death Eaters, but that spell was handily avoided by their mysterious intruder. A large cyclone of wind hoisted the Death Eater into the air. He spun around, becoming dizzy, before he was flung forward right through a glass window. Glass shattered as the Death Eater rolled over, blood dripping down his face.

The third Death Eater aimed his wand, an organ explosion curse aimed right at the heart. His opponent saw this coming, blocking the curse, before a large blast of fire blew forward. The Death Eater screamed, as his flesh was burned, before he dropped down to the ground. The intruder turned his attempt back towards the well but K’rose aimed his wand, after crudely repairing his broken legs. A wooden spike blasted right out of his wand, aimed right towards the heart of the intruder. The intruder countered with a spell, reducing the spike to sawdust before it reached its destination. A flick of the wrist had caused K’rose to be knocked right on his back and seconds later, ropes wrapped around him, his wand skidding away from him, as their intruder had turned his attention back to the well.

Harry took a deep breath, before he turned his attention back to the well. He looked at the well, the dark magic was tense, he could feel it, but somehow, he managed to press onward, before he carefully looked down the well. At the very bottom of the well, Harry saw a small golden cup with a badger etched on it. The Hufflepuff Cup laid at the bottom of the well. Harry prepared to levitate it up, but was discouraged immediately as the cup did not budge. Then again, Harry should have suspected that Voldemort would not have allowed one seventh of his precious soul be retrieved out of a well, with a simply levitation spell. Harry aimed towards the well, before he magically began to take it a part one piece at a time. He kept a heavy eye on K’rose, from what he heard, he knew the Albanian Death Eater was a slippery one, but still, dismantling the well so he could properly retrieve the Horcrux from the bottom of well.

K’rose attempted to yank himself loose, but his wandless magic was only slightly average, nothing that he could use to slice through these ropes. He attempted to squirm, but he could not quite reach his wand. He watched in desperation as that intruder continued to dig his way through the well, to go for the artifact inside.

“The Dark Lord will make you pay for your meddling!” yelled K’rose in an attempt to unnerve the intruder slightly, but this did not work as well, as he continued to take apart the well.

Harry levitated some more stone up, before the well had been completely taken apart. Slowly, Harry climbed down into the well, landing in the shallow water. The cup was lying among a pile of rocks and Harry stepped forward, but he felt a stabbing pain right in the area of his scar. Harry braced himself, no doubt when he was close, the Horcrux would attempt to tempt him to do something, much like the ring did at the Gaunt Shack.

“Drink from me,” hissed a voice and Harry just gave a slight shake of his head, he hated from being right. “Come and drink from me, can’t you feel your mouth drying?”

Harry did in fact feel his mouth drying, but he suspected it was a curse on the Hufflepuff Cup that Voldemort placed as a safeguard for his Horcrux. He moved over, putting a stasis charm around the Cup. He removed a duffel bag from underneath his robes and carefully ensured the cup was secured. The cup gave a slight hissing sound as Harry picked it up by the handle. Harry walked over, sliding the cup into the bag, before he zipped it shut and he pulled himself up, to face a group of surly looking wizards in ragged uniforms.

“Albanian Ministry of Magic!” boomed one of the wizards. “Hands and wand where we can see them and there will be no need for any violence.”

Harry gave a slight smirk underneath his disguise, everything was gong to plan.

“He was trespassing, attacked me, destroyed my well, arrest him!” yelled K’rose angrily, as he attempted to get loose and the Aurors advanced on Harry, but Harry just quickly spun his wrist around. A large cloud of green smoke burst into the hair, causing the Aurors to cough, as they tried to siphon it away. It was obvious they were not trained that well, the Albanian Ministry notoriously lacked resources, the main reason why the country was such a safe haven for notorious dark wizards of all sorts.

Several spells were easily deflected by Harry, but Harry caused the ground right below the Aurors to rumble. They were blasted up into the air, before they flew backwards, landing on the ground. Several injuries were caused, but nothing fatal, as Harry allowed the smoke around them to clear. The closest Albanian Auror sent a spell hurling towards Harry. Harry blocked it but at the same time, mimed being partially hit. He allowed the covering of his face to slip off, exposing his face. Harry positioned his body where he was able to deflect several more attacks, but also allowing the Albanian Aurors and K’rose to get a good look at his face, along with the very prominent lighting bolt scar. Then without another word, Harry disapparated from sight, causing the detection wards from around the country to go off but it did not really matter right now, the Boy-Who-Lived had found what he came for.

K’rose struggled, as he watched the useless Aurors struggle, before one just barely managed to get an attack in through the defenses of their mysterious intruder. This attack did not take down the thief but rather exposed his face. The Albanian Death Eater’s eyes widened and to any outside observer, they would have thought he would have saw a ghost, but that was because he did see a ghost. There was no way he could have been alive, but yet K’rose saw it before his very eyes, the face of Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived, the one who had forced the Dark Lord’s temporary exile. There was no mistaken the scar on his forehead, but the question was how did Harry Potter live? The Dark Lord insisted that Potter’s corpse was rotting at the bottom of the Hogwarts lake and surely a great wizard like the Dark Lord would tell no lies.

“He’s escaped!” shouted one of the Aurors desperately and sure enough there was no hint, as they climbed over the dismantled well, before turning to their attention to the secured K’rose, before they began to untie him. “Mr. K’rose are you alright, do you need medical attention?”

“I’m fine!” snapped K’rose in a dangerous tone of voice, taking the Aurors aback. “Now do your jobs and find that thief. He’s stolen something that belongs to an associate of mine and he will not be happy once he finds out that is missing.”

The Aurors nodded, many of them had correctly interpreted the associate to be Lord Voldemort, but none of them were in the position to do anything. Voldemort was powerful, he would destroy them, so they swarmed off, to do their jobs, as K’rose pulled himself to his feet, staggering towards his pub, very ill tempered as he moved forward. Potter was back from the dead and had stolen the cup at the bottom of the well. He had to inform the Dark Lord right way, or it would be his head on a platter. Quickly, K’rose burst into the door, holding his wand dangerously, as he looked towards the patrons.

“Everyone clear out!” yelled K’rose in a dangerous voice, as the group looked up. “I’m serious, everyone out, now, to the door, I need this place empty, for a very important meeting, up, you lazy drunk bums!”

Several people stumbled to the door, more able to reach the door more than others. K’rose shot sparks into the air, forcing them to move quicker. K’rose moved to the back room, ensuring that no one had remained back there. Once he had completely cleared his bar of all the people inside, K’rose rolled up the sleeve on his robe. A black serpent on his forearm served as the means to contact the Dark Lord, as he pressed two of his fingers urgently against it. A small amount of pain coursed through his body, but K’rose reasoned that it would be nothing compared to the pain once the Dark Lord had found out that his property had been stolen from a supposed dead wizard.

Ginny sat once again, the mirror blinking right beside her. Intently, she read the message, before she sprung up to her feet, before moving right over towards Lily, who looked up at her with a curious expression.

“Harry says he has the Horcrux and has made sure he was seen by Voldemort’s agents in Albania,” relayed Ginny. “He says that everything’s going according to plan, tell everyone to remain patient, as soon Voldemort will know. Also, keep an ear on the British frequency on the Wizarding Wireless.”

Lily nodded, before she kneeled down in the fireplace.

“Alexandra, did you hear all that?” asked Lily and Alexandra nodded her head from the other end. “I’ll relay any information when Harry gives it to us.”

“I know, do you really think he’ll play right into our hands?” questioned Alexandra.

“Harry thinks that Voldemort will and that’s really good enough for me,” replied Lily firmly. “It’s just a waiting game right now, when Voldemort has undisputed proof that Harry is still alive, you know what he’ll do.”

“Yes and we’re ready,” responded Alexandra, as she watched her friend’s head disappear to the fireplace, before she moved forward, to relay the information that Lily had relayed to her to the head of the Auror office.

Lord Voldemort sat inside a darkened room at Hogwarts, rather pleased at his success since taking over. He began molding the students into the perfect army. Granted, some showed more of an aptitude than others and there were stints of rebellion. However, slowly, Voldemort wore down their resistance and the cases of rebellion had become slightly. Once, they had seen what happened to those who had defied the Dark Lord, they were all too willing to comply. A few more months of training and several of the older students would be ready to receive the marks, to be fully included into his Death Eaters.

At that moment, Voldemort felt one of his Death Eaters touching the dark mark. It came from Albania, where the only marked Death Eater there was K’rose. Voldemort sat patiently, it seemed urgent, but had fully intended to monitor the round of training that Bellatrix was undertaking with the advanced students. So he lifted his wand in the air, before he shot a large black serpent like construct out, that slithered through the crack of the doorway down the hall. A moment later, the door opened, revealing Lucius Malfoy, who stepped forward, kneeling down right in front of his master. Voldemort signaled for Lucius to rise and he obeyed, facing the Dark Lord.

“You wished to have an audience with me, my Lord,” said Lucius and Voldemort coolly looked at Lucius through the red slits that passed for eyes, before he nodded.

“I have Lucius, you are to report to Albania, it appears that our associate K’rose has a pressing matter that needs attention,” remarked Voldemort. “Interview him, before bringing back all the details, a full report Lucius, and I will attend to the problem at my earliest convenience.”

“At once, my Lord,” said Lucius as he walked off, leaving Voldemort alone with his thoughts, wondering what could have been so pressing that K’rose wanted an audience. Surely no one alive would dare tamper with the well to retrieve the cup, in fact, Voldemort had ensured the two people who had the power to do so were killed on the spot. He rose to his feet, Voldemort walked off to monitor the training session with Bellatrix and his future prospects.

Outside the hallway, Peter Pettigrew, patrolling the hallways on the orders of his master, saw Lucius leave in a hurried matter. Peter had wondered what had happened, but once again, the quiet voice in his head had spoke up.

“Wormtail, we may be able to take this turn of events and twist it to our advantage,” muttered the voice in Peter’s ear. “You help me, and I give you what you desire beyond all else. I can see it in your mind, you have the potential, but I will give you the means, soon Voldemort will be the one bowing down for you.”

Peter nodded, before he walked off, careful not to linger, as the Dark Lord would be suspicious of such behavior. Visions of glory danced in the head of Wormtail, he would just need to be a little more patience and soon, he would be the all powerful one, with the Dark Lord being the lackey.

Lucius Malfoy arrived at Albania, escorted up to K’rose’s meeting place by a pair of his uniformed guards. Malfoy stepped forward, as they saw him to the gate. Calmly, he walked forward, with the dignified air and sophistication benefiting someone of his stature. Lucius knocked on the door three times and K’rose opened it halfway, looking rather surprised at his presence.

“Mr. Malfoy, I had called for the Dark Lord,” stated K’rose calmly. “I was not expecting for you to show up…”

“The Dark Lord has sent me to gather information on what has transpired and I am to bring it back to him immediately,” commented Lucius crisply as the Albanian Death Eater stepped back, allowing Lucius to step inside. Lucius used a scouring charm on one of the chairs, so it was fit for him to sit down. Once it was Lucius sat down, as K’rose did in the other chair. “Relay all the information to me and the Dark Lord will be informed. If your inquiry is important, he will see to it in due time.”

“Listen, Mr. Malfoy, an alarm was tripped earlier, someone had snuck inside the country,” said K’rose and Malfoy looked disinterested, so K’rose decided to relay the next piece of news. “This person entered the country, took out several of my agents here, and dismantled the well outside this pub, before he retrieved the contents inside, a small golden cup that the Dark Lord wished for me to keep an eye on for him.”

“The Dark Lord will not be pleased,” said Lucius gravely, as he was one of the few that knew of the Dark Lord’s Horcruxes, and thus knew exactly what the cup was. “You must return to Britain with me, so you can explain to the Dark Lord that you allowed his property to be captured.”

“I know who took it,” said K’rose quickly, who did not look forward to face the Dark Lord’s wrath and Lucius’s interest suddenly rose, as it could present an opportunity to redirect the Dark Lord’s rage towards another.

“Very well, do tell me, K’rose,” prompted Lucius as he looked over K’rose calmly.

“Harry Potter,” responded K’rose calmly and at that moment, Lucius looked at K’rose, actually extremely amused by this preposterous notion. “It was Potter, I saw him with my own eyes, and I can prove it.”

“Potter has been dead for nearly two years,” responded Lucius crisply. “It’s no doubt some kind of trick, the Dark Lord put him down himself, I saw him, unless you wish to call the Dark Lord a liar.”

“I know what I saw, Malfoy,” argued K’rose and Lucius looked extremely bored, before he rose up to his feet. “You can choose not to believe me all you want, but it was Harry Potter, he attacked me, he took the cup, he escaped the Dark Lord, no one could be that good at imitating someone.”

“Well, it will be down to you to explain the theft at any rate, so perhaps you can convince the Dark Lord that wizard that he killed lives,” said Lucius skeptically as they walked outside, but K’rose pointed to the well or what used to be the well, causing Malfoy to step back, seeing the great amount of damage. He had known of the protections the Dark Lord had put on all of his Horcruxes and also the places they were kept. Only a really powerful wizard could rip it apart with magic. “It does look suspect, but we must not jump to conclusions. The Dark Lord will not be pleased no matter if Potter has by some miracle escaped his demise or not.”

Lord Voldemort watched as Bellatrix and Dolohov assisted in the training of the advanced Defense Against the Dark Arts students. They were slightly above average and with a couple more months training, they would be ready to be integrated among his Death Eaters. He watched as another Muggle suffered an untimely demise but at that moment, Lucius burst through the door, followed by K’rose. Voldemort’s eyes snapped towards the two Death Eaters, with irritation evident in them, before the Dark Lord took a deep breath and addressed them.

“I thought I had made it clear that I was not to be interrupted, Lucius,” said Voldemort dangerously. “And K’rose, I was certain that Lucius would be able to handle all of your inquiries without my help. Surely, this could wait for my input.”

“It’s been stolen, my Lord,” said K’rose quickly, in a shaky voice. “The cup…”

Voldemort’s eyes widened, before he turned to the trainees and shot black sparks into the air, getting their attention.

“You are to return to your quarters, this lesson has concluded for this day, Bellatrix and Dolohov, you are to stay behind,” said Voldemort calmly and the trainees moved off, careful not to gain the wrath of Voldemort. Voldemort swung the doors shut, before he turned to the four Death Eaters in this room. “K’rose how could anyone have stolen the cup?”

“They took out my men and me, ripped the well open and took it,” stated K’rose as he stepped back, cowering under the wrath of Voldemort, who rose up to his full height.

“Once I find out who did this, they will pay,” said Voldemort icily, as he wondered exactly who could have found out about his precious Horcruxes. Bellatrix and Dolohov even looked fearful. “I will have to settle for you right now, K’rose, all you had to do was make sure no one even got near that well and you failed.”

“My lord, I’m sorry, Potter was too much,” stated K’rose.

“So, Lily Potter decides to mettle in my plans, does she?” asked Voldemort and K’rose shook his head, which caused Voldemort to contort his snake like face into a frown. “The Potter girl then? I did not think she would be powerful enough, but perhaps my attention had been diverted in other areas that I overlooked her.”

“It was him, my Lord,” muttered Lucius and Voldemort turned slowly to Lucius. “Harry Potter, he’s the one who did this, I didn’t believe it at first, but…”

Voldemort responded with a high cold round of laughter, that unnerved the four Death Eaters in the room. He seemed rather amused at the fact.

“Harry Potter is dead, by my own hand, his corpse lays at the body of the lake,” said Voldemort, and he turned to the Death Eaters. “He did not escape, not this time, but perhaps his decomposing body will provide enough proof for you K’rose and you to Lucius. Come to the Lake, in fact, I will summon all the Death Eaters on the Grounds, as a demonstration for those who defy me.”

Five minutes later, Voldemort stood in front of the lake, several dozen Death Eaters watching intently, as Voldemort parted the lake with his wand. A stone tomb slowly rose out of the water, covered in moss and it levitated in the air, before it dropped down right on the grass by the lake. Voldemort turned to his Death Eaters, all that watched eagerly, for the unveiling of the decomposing corpse of the Boy-Who-Lived. They cast looks towards K’rose and Malfoy for dare doubting their master.

“Now, undisputed proof that Harry Potter lives no longer,” hissed Voldemort, as the top of the tomb swung off. Voldemort peered down with a triumphant look that quickly turned to rage when he saw that the tomb was completely empty.