There
was a little on the razing of a village of Muggles, which had burned to the
ground and left no survivors, killing around a hundred people in one of the
texts on history around the time of the Founders, but there wasn’t much else on
that subject and Harry dismissed it as frankly unimportant in favour of pouring
over a mention of the golden Dagger Salazar Slytherin had been wielding in his
battle with Godric Gryffindor.
There
were no actual images of course. As there hadn’t been any cameras during the
age of the Founders. There was, however, a copy of a painted picture, which
depicted Slytherin with sword in one hand, Dagger in the other, locked in
combat against Gryffindor, who had the more traditional shield and sword
combination, and was wearing a golden helmet.
Harry
took in the sight of the two items, knowing them to be two of the Serpent Items
he had been researching and he quickly read the text, hoping to find something
out about the pair. What he actually found was a rather bland section on how
Gryffindor had lost all trust in Slytherin, discovered the incredibly dark
magic he had been using behind the back of all the others and challenged him to
a Shadow Duel.
Harry
had no idea what a Shadow Duel was but it sounded important. However there
wasn’t another mention of it in the entire rest of the book. Instead the book
simply mentioned the fact that neither man had survived the Duel and gone on to
mention how the last surviving Founder, Hufflepuff, worked to finish setting
Hogwarts up, ready for her retirement and been found one morning in an
everlasting sleep, just as her friend Ravenclaw had nearly five years previously.
The last of the Founders died, while still sleeping three months later.
Harry
frowned slightly, wondering what had happened to the Dagger and the Helm after
the battle. He knew what had happened to the Comb. It had been passed on from
generation to generation until eventually it had reached the hands of Luna. But
he had no idea how the Dagger had fallen into the hands of Voldemort, nor did
he have a single clue where the Helm had vanished to.
If
the other items could survive this long, the Pendant and the Helm had to be
around somewhere. Not that he wanted another Serpent Item. One ghost on a
timeshare in his body was more than enough for him, but it would have been
interesting to find out if they’d been destroyed somehow or if they were simply
in someone’s vault for safe keeping or... there were hundreds of options,
including that the pair were buried in some field somewhere, just waiting for
archaeologists to dig them up.
Harry
gave up on that book when it started on a completely different tangent and went
back to his book on Voldemort, wondering if he’d find the term ‘Shadow Duel’ in
there. It wasn’t but Harry hadn’t gotten too far before he’d realised he’d had
a stupid moment and compared the things going on in the painted image of the
‘Shadow Duel’ and some of the things described in Voldemort’s Shadow Games.
They
were exactly the same thing. The book on the last war had also, he realised,
called them ‘Dark Games’ and ‘Dark Duels’. It was a lot of terms for exactly
the same thing and it had thrown him but the evidence was right there, he just
hadn’t seen it.
Looking
at the possible effects of a Shadow Game made Harry realise something else too.
He now knew exactly what had had happened to Vernon and Dudley and he didn’t
think it was something that would be fixable no matter how much magic was
poured into the problem. If he was right, Powel, while in control of his body,
had challenged his relations to a Shadow Game and they had to have lost.
Part
of Harry wanted to be sorry about it, wanted to feel guilty that his lack of
ability to control the spirit of his item had resulted in the injury of his
Uncle and his cousin, but he couldn’t. There had been one too many incidents
over the years, one too many bruises for Harry to feel sympathetic towards
them. Between that and the fact that Powel wasn’t prone to taking over and
challenging people randomly, Harry couldn’t help but feel that perhaps whatever
‘Judgement’ or ‘Penalty’ Powel had inflicted had been justified.
Feeling
a bit like he’d tried to cram too much for an exam, he took the night off,
piling up his books on a table before spreading out on the floor with his
cards, trying to ignore the fact niggling at the back of his mind that these
same creatures had been the ones that Voldemort had been summoning during the
last war to oppress the wizarding public. The game was Muggle. It was possible
that it had been based on the creatures, especially if they had been on the
news during the last war.
Working
through the hundreds of cards in the box of boosters and with a rough knowledge
of what he was doing, using the starter deck as a base, Harry slowly went
through every last card, picking out the ones which appealed to him, which
appeared to mostly be the Winged Beasts, and combining them with a few spell
and trap cards, things like the Rising Air Current Luna had traded with him
working well with the birds he’d picked out.
When
he was finally happy with the forty cards in his deck he sorted the rest of his
cards into piles dependant on type. Those piles he then sorted into name and
attribute. He was almost finished with his pile of Fairy monsters when he
realised he was procrastinating on deciding what he was going to do next.
He’d
already sent a letter off to Luna, asking her for more information and
explaining that he knew about Voldemort’s Shadow Games so that part of the
decision was made for him. Luna had asked him to inform her when he’d known
that much and he was curious about what more she could tell him.
Perhaps
that was the best option. There wasn’t much he could do about what had happened
before. Nor could he interact with the spirit of the Bracer. His best bet now
was to go to the only other person he knew who held another Serpent Item,
either that or Professor Dumbledore and he didn’t know how to reach the
Headmaster during the holidays.
If
he wanted it to be safe to go and visit the family who were more than willing
to take him in, he needed her help. He just hoped she’d be willing to do
something about the problem.
Another
meal, another walk and another night’s sleep later Harry was just contemplating
if he should carry his deck around like Luna did when the dirty blonde haired
girl slipped into his room without a single warning, causing Padfoot to snarl
at her.
A
hiss and burst of golden light later, Padfoot was frozen in place.
“Harry,
you have a not-a-dog in your room. Did you know?” She asked curiously as the
dog let out a startled yelp.
“Huh?”
Harry asked, confused, “Yes, I’m aware that Padfoot’s in the room. He’s mine. Padfoot
Luna, Luna Padfoot. Please get on.”
“Huh.”
Luna considered Padfoot for a moment longer, then suddenly Padfoot could move
again. The dog barked at her sharply for a moment before hiding under the bed
causing Harry to peer at the dog, worried. “I wouldn’t suggest transfiguration
as a Penalty Game.” Luna commented as Harry straightened up, “It’s not really a
fair way to punish someone since they can lose their mind in the form they’re
trapped in.”
“Oh
no. No no no.” Harry shook his head rapidly, “Padfoot’s not from one of my
Penalty Games. I’ve never even...” Harry trailed off. “Wait, he’s human?”
“You
didn’t know?” Luna asked, worried.
“I
just thought he was a smart dog.” Harry shook his head, suddenly warier of the
dog under his bed and moving away from him quickly.
“Maybe
we should deal with him before we talk about important matters.” When Harry
nodded in response Luna helped him to drag the dog out from under the bed.
“Take
human form.” Something about Luna changed and suddenly she seemed a lot more
regal than before, more like the way she’d acted when she’d spoken to him in
his room before. For the first time he noticed that instead of the silvery grey
eyes she’d had before, her eyes were now brown. “Now. Before I make you.”
Padfoot
growled at her.
“Don’t
test me, Padfoot.” Luna growled, “Unless you think you’re a match for my Item.”
The
dog growled again.
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