Author Note: And that's all folks

On Serpentverse, at least for now. That's all I managed to get written during that NaNoWriMo period. :)

Harry Potter and the Serpent Items: Part 22

“Be gone. There’s no one for you here.” Hermione watched in shock as Harry toppled forward only to catch himself halfway down and stand up straight, except she didn’t think it was Harry. Not with the amber eyes. The boy in place of her friend drew Harry’s wand out of his back pocket and pointed it at the creature, “Expecto Patronum!”

A silvery light erupted from Harry’s wand, taking the shape of a silver serpent which launched itself at the robed figure in front of them. The creature ran away, the glowing silver serpent in fast pursuit.

“And stay out!” Powel bellowed after the Dementor, knowing full damn well what it was that had invaded his host’s carriage and brought to the fore memories so bad that it had caused Harry to pass out. Powel didn’t doubt that, had he been in control he wouldn’t have been in a much better state. The spirit of the Bracer went to re-enter his carriage only for a hand to grasp his shoulder.

“You might want to dismiss your patronus, Harry.” Lupin said softly, a look of confusion and concern on his face.

Powel shook his head, glowering at Lupin as he did so, “Not until I know the Dementor is off of the train.”

Lupin paused for a moment, impressed by the bravery shown in wanting to protect his friends and shocked by both the sheer power radiating off the boy in front of him and the skill shown in being able to cast the patronus at such a young age. Then he nodded his understanding. “The Dementors are here on Ministry orders. They’re looking for Sirius Black.” Lupin explained, “They’ll think you’re hiding him if you won’t let them search your carriage.”

Powel scowled before whispering, “And Padfoot?”

Lupin scowled slightly, remembering the twitching mess that the black furred canine had been reduced to before the Dementor had left the room, “He’ll be fine.”

Powel scowled at the implications that his host’s Godfather wasn’t ‘fine’ now but took the hint. If he wanted Harry to remain whole and sound, he would dismiss his patronus before the Dementors came back. He waved his host’s wand and the snake he had summoned slowly faded away.

“Chocolate?” Lupin asked, tossing Powel a chocolate frog from the pile of chocolates that had been piled up on the table in Harry’s compartment while Harry had been snoozing.

Powel opened the packaging, and watched, fascinated as the chocolate frog inside tried to escape, managing to catch it before it fell on the floor and biting it’s head off.

“Feeling vindictive?” Lupin looked amused.

Powel just snorted at him, ill amused by the entire situation. When he met the idiot who had decided that letting Dementors live around children without teaching the children how to defend themselves from them was a good idea, he was going to rip the man limb from limb. Slowly. Starting with the guy’s toes.

“Stay in here with your friends.” Lupin recommended, “I’ll see what’s going on.”

Powel nodded and re-entered the compartment to find that Harry’s friends were staring at him. “Yes?” He asked grouchily, poking at Harry’s mind, trying to wake the boy up so he could go back to sleep and not getting very far.

“You lack any of the subtlety you used to have.” Luna said, causing Powel to pause midway through eating a second piece of chocolate and look at the girl properly, trying to work out whether it was Luna or Helga talking and slightly envious of Helga’s control over her subconscious illusions.

Powel opened his mouth to speak, but Hermione beat him to the punch.

“You’re not Harry, are you?” She demanded, worried about her friend.

“Are you sure she doesn’t hold Ravenclaw’s Pendant?” Luna asked, confirming in Powel’s mind that it was Helga talking.

“I don’t have a Serpent Item.” Hermione snapped, angry at being deflected. “Now answer my question!”

“No, I’m not. My name is Powel Redgrave, not Harry Potter.” Powel growled, still feeling like crap from exposure to the Dementor, both from his host’s experience and his own and not needing to go through this discussion right now. To his relief, his host finally responded to his nudging and stirred slightly.

Without a second thought Powel dropped Harry in control and retreated to the Bracer.

“Damn.” Hermione complained, “I wanted to know what that spell was he used to scare it away. Dementors don’t scare easily.”

“It’s called the Patronus Charm.” Helga explained, “It’s the only thing that can repel a Dementor. There are spells that can kill them, but unfortunately I’ve forgotten them and it looks like Powel has too.”

That appealed to Hermione’s insane research drive and she instantly started thinking through the books in the school library and the books Harry had picked up over the summer, trying to think if there was anything in the ones she had read about how to destroy a Dementor.

Ron, however, was watching Harry who was looking pale and hadn’t said a word since he’d been shoved back into control by the spirit of his Serpent Item. “You alright Harry? Lupin said chocolate helps.”

Harry nodded listlessly and picked up a chocolate bar, quickly eating it and regaining some of his colour. “Sorry if I scared anyone.”

“Did you pass out?” Helga asked him, making Harry embarrassed. Somehow it was worse a Founder knowing than it was his friends. On the plus side Powel had made sure he wasn’t a drooling idiot by taking over the moment he had passed out but it was still embarrassing.

“You’re not the first.” Helga informed him, taking his silence for the confirmation it was. “We all had issues with Dementors. Even Godric struggled when brought face to face with them. It’s why Powel was so keen on learning the Patronus charm.”

That made sense and it kind of made Harry feel better, to know that he wasn’t being judged for his inability to stand up against the creature. Then a thought hit him. “Who screamed?”

“Huh?” Ron asked.

“No one screamed, Harry.” Hermione shook her head.

“It was probably a memory.” Luna said, taking control back from the spirit of her Comb, “The Dementors can do that you know, make you relieve your worst memories.”

“But...” Harry was confused, but he didn’t say anything more, just let the chatter of his friends keep him occupied on the rest of the journey, stepping out only to change into his school robes and taking care to hide the Bracer underneath his robes, though he wasn’t sure it would be enough once he was back in the hustle and bustle of the school.

Harry Potter and the Serpent Items: Part 21

With that last parting comment Shadi left. The moment he vanished Powel double checked that he had gone, while grumbling about stupid ghosts that were stuck in the past and didn’t know when to leave well enough alone, before switching out with Harry who glanced around the room, saw the look Ron was giving him and held up his hands in a classic ‘don’t shoot’ pose. “Not my fault.”

When Ron just continued to stare Harry lowered his hands and moved over to his friend, knocking on his head like you would a door. “Hello? Anyone home?”

“Gerroff Harry.” Ron protested, backing up with a slightly irritated look. “Why was that guy in our room? And why did his face change?”

Harry shrugged. “You have more idea than I do. I wasn’t really awake for most of it. Try asking my tenant when he wakes up next.” He didn’t really fancy telling Ron that Powel wasn’t the only one who had been inside his head and that the spirit who lived inside his Bracer had just played a Shadow Game against Voldemort. Harry was just lucky in that Ron had never met Voldemort face to face so his friend hadn’t recognised the man’s voice.

Ron didn’t look happy with Harry’s answer, “Ginny remembered what You-Know-Who did while he was... you know, possessing her.”

“Ginny was in the body at the same time as him.” Harry reminded his friend, “I was in the Bracer while Powel was in my body.”

“You make that sound far too normal.” Ron grouched at him before shrugging, “I have the potions. And the suntan lotion for tomorrow.”

Harry more than happily swigged the potion, relaxing slightly as it started to take effect, easing the pain and the stiffness of his sunburnt neck and face. He carefully put the stopped back in and tucked it away in one of the drawers that he’d filled with his new clothes, just in case he needed it the next day.

The next day he learnt what Bill Weasley considered possibly the most important charm he’d learnt since coming to Egypt, a spell that could dampen the effects of the sun on a person’s skin. It hadn’t prevented Bill from tanning heavily while he’d been here, but it had prevented him from obtaining the same level of burning that his siblings had gained.

With the charm cast, Harry spent a rather enjoyable few weeks with Hermione and the Weasleys learning about the Ancient Egyptians and their ways and cultures. That the focus was mainly on the tombs was a little morbid, but considering Bill’s line of work it wasn’t completely unexpected.

Their Hogwarts letters came for them on Harry’s birthday, the day before they were due to fly back to England, and all of the students gave them at least a cursory look over before packing them away to take back with them. Hermione spent most of the day wondering what a ‘Monster Book of Monsters’ was until they came back the hotel much later in the day to find that Harry’s birthday presents had been stopped at the desk, and that the hotel staff would be grateful if they could subdue the one that kept trying to snap at people’s fingers.

Figuring that one had to have come from Hagrid, Harry collected his small number of presents and took them to the atrium where the Weasleys and Hermione were waiting with gifts of their own for him, along with a rather odd looking cake, which turned out to be a honey cake that Molly had managed to find in a local Muggle store.

Harry was right in his assumption that the biting present had come from Hagrid.

“I guess Hagrid likes the Care of Magical Creatures Professor.” Hermione commented when Harry examined his copy of the Monster Book of Monsters, carefully avoiding losing his fingers to the book monster and ending up having to have the twins sit on it to prevent it from escaping.

“Yeah, and the new teacher must be mental to issue books like this.” Ron complained as Harry tied it shut with a piece of rope that Molly conjured, looking ill amused as she did so.

“What did Luna send, Harry?” Fred or George asked, already thinking of ways that they could use the sheer destructive potential of the book and wondering if they were going to get on surprisingly well with the obviously new Professor considering that he apparently had a sense of humour, where as Kettleburn really really hadn’t.

Harry opened the present slowly, wondering what Luna had sent him considering that he hadn’t expected anything from his friend. By the time he was finished opening it he had a few booster packs and a structure deck.

Harry grinned as he read the back of the box, which was full of Winged Beasts and he put it to one side to look through properly later. Luna’s present wasn’t the only surprise. Ron had brought him a pocket-sneakoscope, which was supposed to go off if there was someone untrustworthy nearby. Considering how often people wanted to kill him, Harry considered the gift a rather useful one. Hermione’s was no less practical, but would probably get a considerable amount more use as she had given him a top of the line broomstick servicing kit that would help him keep his Nimbus 2000 in top shape.

Between the cake, the meal that they had in one of the top restaurants in the wizard owned shopping plaza, and the fact that the Weasley parents seemed determined that Harry pay for and do nothing all evening, it was the most fun that Harry had had in a long time.

The next day, however, at the airport the stress was back a hundredfold as once again Harry and Hermioe had to herd the Weasleys through the airport. It didn’t help matters that Harry was loaded down with as many trinkets as he was books, a fact that both amused and frustrated his friends, and that Hermione or Ron were not much better. If it hadn’t been for the magically expanded bags that both Harry and Hermione were carrying the family would have had to either confound the woman who weighed their bags or paid the extra fees that would have come with the excess weight they would have been carrying.

With just one day left before term started Harry realised too late that there had been something else in the envelope with the shopping list. That thing being the permission form for Hogsmead that would allow him to join the third years and above at the magical village near to Hogwarts. It was supposed to be signed by your guardian, but Vernon couldn’t sign it, Petunia wouldn’t and somehow he doubted that getting the spirit of the Bracer to sign it would count.

There was a mad rush to buy everything they needed before school started the following day and the majority of shops were closed long before they got back to the Leaky Cauldron, where Lupin was waiting for Harry in order to return ‘Padfoot’ to him.

“Lupin?” Arthur asked, shocked as he realised who Harry had gone to talk to, “It’s been a long time. What’re you doing here?”

“Returning Harry’s dog.” Lupin explained himself, smiling at the Weasley patriarch, having known the man years ago, back before the Order had dissolved after Voldemort’s death, “When I ran into my friend’s son I couldn’t help but do him a favour. How have you been?”

Harry glowered at Padfoot, who had obviously returned before they had, and became amused when the dog cowered slightly before licking his hand and whimpering. Lupin grinned slightly at the sight as the younger Weasleys spent time petting the dog, who just rolled over and took it. He had given Sirius an earful when the man had returned from Egypt the day before Harry, telling him off for taking such a big risk when it was obvious that Wormtail wouldn’t have been foolish enough to return to the Weasley household.

During the conversation between the two men, Harry overheard something interesting. He hoped he was right, since Lupin had been a friend of his father’s but it looked like it might be the first year that he might actually like his Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher.

“I worked out an answer to Harry’s little problem too.” Lupin looked at Harry and Harry looked back, confused as to what Lupin meant by that, “He’ll be able to have both Padfoot and Hedwig with him.”

Harry blinked at him for a moment and then remembered the rule he’d been so worried about, the one that allowed students to take one pet to school only.

Hermione spoke before he could. “But I thought the students were allowed one pet and it had to be an owl, a cat or a toad. There’s nothing in the rules about dogs.”

Lupin chuckled, amused the way Hermione almost quoted the school rules words for word. “I know. But there’s also nothing in the rules about a student looking after a teacher’s pet for them. If I take Padfoot with me, he can go to stay with Harry in the Gryffindor tower every so often.”

Harry grinned, liking the plan as Ron chuckled and Hermione let out a sound that was a combination of amusement and annoyance at yet someone else who was willing to bend the rules into funny shapes. In fact Lupin was worse, since he was a teacher. He was supposed to be setting a good example.

“Thanks, Professor Lupin.” Harry grinned at the teacher to be.

Lupin just shrugged it off, though Harry thought he caught a brief glimpse of a smile on his face, and turned back to his conversation with Mr Weasley, promising to keep in touch before mentioning that he’d probably see them on the train and flooed away.

Harry found himself sharing a heavily edited tale of how he’d run into the teacher in Diagon Alley with the Weasleys as they had dinner, and found himself retelling the tale when Ron and Hermione piled into his room and demanded the truth from him. And they didn’t just mean about his meeting with Lupin.

In the end they were up till almost six in the morning, so it was an exhausted trio that piled onto the train and found an carriage that was empty except for Luna, who grinned at them but helped them put their trunks out of the way and found somewhere for Hedwig’s cage to rest and then pounced on them for information about their trip to Egypt.

Harry fell asleep midway through the conversation and didn’t wake until the train stopped with a jolt. Worried by the sudden cold and the slightly frightened look on his friends’ faces, he looked around and tried to work out where they were.

“Hogwarts already?” He asked as he got to his feet, stretching as he did so.

“No.” Hermione shook her head, looking around and trying to work out what was going as it continued to get colder and colder as a black robed figure floated outside the door to their compartment, drawing in the light from the area around it. Harry could hear a woman screaming as the door slid open and the creature entered, his world vanishing in a bright flash of green.

Harry Potter and the Serpent Items: Part 20

Powel growled as he called the Shadows forward, trapping the pair of them in a world that only they could see, borrowing an idea he’d seen in his host’s memories to create a giant chess board which formed with the two players in place of the Kings.

“Unoriginal.” The part of Voldemort currently resting inside the Guardian of the Millennium Items snorted, unimpressed by the game before him. At least until the pieces not only came to life, but the knight’s horses leapt off of their pedestals, which faded from the scene before the horses’ hooves hit the ground, and the other pieces started talking amongst themselves as they stepped off of their platforms and onto the board.

“Slightly more impressive.” Voldemort corrected himself as he took in the pieces around him which seemed to be acting fearful towards him, while Powel’s pieces were guarding the young man stood amongst the black pieces.

“You have first move, Voldemort. Just remember that this is a Shadow Game, if you attack me you’ll pay the price.” Powel said with a slight growl in his tone, feeling weird putting the dark lord in charge of the white pieces considering the modern day attitude towards darkness being evil, while light was good. There had been no such nonsense in his day, but his host’s thoughts and feelings had begun tainting his own from the moment that he had started using Harry’s body as his own and looking through Harry’s memories and that was how the boy had been taught.

Once Powel had managed to finally have a proper conversation with the boy for more than a few moments he planned on making sure that Harry started to understand shades of grey much better but until that time he had to work with what he had.

Voldemort, amused that the spirit of the Bracer, who had less right to be in Harry’s mind then he did, had the audacity to challenge him, ordered a pawn forward two spaces and, trembling as it did so, the pawn walked forward.

“Your turn, ghost.” Voldemort sneered. Powel didn’t rise to it. Much better people had come up with much better insults over the years and ‘ghost’ wasn’t even an insult coming from a warped creature like the one in control of the intruder’s form. He would much rather be a ghost than a twisted wreck of a soul.

Not that Powel was certain that what he was facing was a full soul. Not from what he had sensed every time he had stumbled past the creature’s door on his way back to bed and especially considering the fact that Powel had already run into a fragment of the soul he was supposedly fighting, the quarter soul that had been bound to the diary had been a threat and it had only, supposedly, recently learnt of the powers of the Serpent Items, unlike this fragment in front of him.

As he directed the pawn opposite the one Voldemort had moved, he wondered just how many ways Voldemort had split his soul, for it was possible that the person in front of him was just an eighth of Voldemort’s soul or less. If it was then obviously Shadi was pathetic or had incredibly low mental defences, for it should never have been able to take control of a strong, healthy mind.

“I have a name.” Powel informed the spirit who was considering his next move, “See if you can work it out.”

Voldemort ordered one of his knights forward, the blue armoured knight on the back of his huge purple horse leapt over the heads of the pieces in front of it and landed on the right square.

“I don’t need to work it out.” Voldemort said, beginning to feel woozy and cursing his lack of a Shadow Item that would willingly work for him, “You come from the Bracer and you have to be the rightful owner of a Shadow Item for it to work for you. Other than Potter only one person has ever held it.” He gestured for Powel to continue his move as he spoke, “That same person was found soulless after a battle involving the Blood Mages that the Founders had so much trouble with.”

Powel blinked at him, confused, then informed the Bishop on his right hand side that he wanted him to move. “How do you know that?” Powel demanded, confused considering that there was no way anyone living would have remembered that long ago.

“This isn’t the first time I’ve run into a Shadow Spirit.” Voldemort’s reply shocked both host and spirit, and the pair stared at the spirit of the Dark Lord with identical expressions of surprise.  “I’ve met two of the Founders.”

Suddenly Powel felt concern from his young host. It took him a moment to realise why but then it hit him. Luna carried a Serpent Item, inside of which was the spirit of Helga Hufflepuff, and Luna was Harry’s friend.

“Which two?” Powel asked carefully, surprised by his own concern for Harry’s friend.

“Hufflepuff,” Voldemort answered, “Who was possessing Lovegood’s wife...” And that made more sense than him having a run in with Luna considering that the Dark Lord had been dead over a decade, long before Luna had inherited the Serpent Comb, “And the Greatest of the Hogwarts Four, Salazar Slytherin.”

If Powel had ever needed proof that the boy in the Chamber was the same person as the spirit now possessing Shadi, that was it. ‘The Greatest of the Hogwarts Four’ had been said in exactly the same way, in exactly the same tone. That wasn’t what Powel wanted to know.

“How?” He asked as the two players took turns moving their pieces, with Powel castling himself at the first available opportunity.

“Hufflepuff and her precious host challenged me during the war. I won but Hufflepuff left her host an out that allowed her to escape with the Comb. Once I’m done with you that will be my next stop.” Voldemort snapped, finding it harder and harder to resist the pull of the Shadows, with every breath feeling like he was walking on nails and every thought slow, like his mind was trying to drag them out of a lake.

With Voldemort struggling to concentrate on the game, Powel was in a position to win in just three more turns. This was a relief to the spirit of the Bracer, who was tired from his earlier game and was finding it difficult to keep his guard up the entire time even though he was expecting Voldemort to try and cheat any second. 

“And Slytherin?” Powel asked as he moved one of his pieces into position, “Check by the way.”

Voldemort glowered at the black queen, who was glaring back at him and moved one square backwards, putting himself out of check.

Powel chuckled, having expected it, and moved another piece into position. “Check again.”

Voldemort glowered as he looked around, his head pounding and his body about ready to give up on him, realising that he was caught. He couldn’t move without putting himself in check except to one square and if he moved there the next turn it would be checkmate.

There was one answer though. The host he had taken had picked up the wand of the man that Powel had gamed earlier and that same wand was sat in his back pocket.

He drew it and pointed it at the spirit of the Bracer, casting before the other player could react.

“Avada Kedava!”

Powel started moving far too late, but luckily for both him and Harry, the Pawn whose square was in front of him threw himself in the way, protecting the ‘King’ from attack just as it was supposed.

Powel drew Harry’s wand, the Game’s magic already shifting and turning against the one who had broken the rules as the white pieces retreated and the black ones turned on Voldemort, drawing weapons and give Voldemort looks that would have killed him if it had been possible for looks to kill.

“You cheated.” Powel growled, the Bracer glowing and the golden serpent resting on his brow once more as the Shadow practically begged to be allowed to feast on the soul of the cheat. Powel saw no reason not to allow them to do so either as it would free both his host and the intruder from the evil man’s influence, “And for that there’s a Penalty.”

“You dare judge me?” Voldemort demanded, though he looked much less imposing when he was shaking with the effort to stay upright, the only reason he had survived this long being the fact that while the Millennium Items wouldn’t protect him, they had been willing to shield his host and he had been drawing what little magic he could from that protection. “Me? Lord Voldemort?”

“You’re nothing, a pathetic little ant who aspires to a rather hypocritical form of rule.” Powel snarled back, “And you’re done. Penalty Game!”

With those words the black pieces attacked Voldemort who bellowed in agony and anger as the pieces started to destroy him completely. It was at point Powel took himself and his host, who had steadily grown quieter and sleepier as the game had gone on until he’d eventually just toppled over in the corridor, out of the Shadow Realm.

Both Ron and the intruder were staring at him as he blinked and slowly came to himself in the real world.

“The bloody hell was that?” Ron demanded, having entered the room as Powel had launched the game and not seen any of it.

“You,” Powel glowered at Shadi, ignoring Ron’s question, “Stay the hell away from me and from my host. We have done nothing wrong and your little trip through our mind nearly cost us everything.”

“If you stay away from the Millennium It...”

“No, no deals. No bargains.” Powel shook his head, furious, “You stay the hell away from us or I’ll do to you what I did to Voldemort. I don’t care what kind of game you’re running or what plans you have, but leave us out of it.”

Shadi considered him for a moment longer then nodded, “I owe you a debt, so I will retreat, for now. But I warn you, should your path cross with that of the Pharaoh, you and I will meet again.”

Harry Potter and the Serpent Items: Part 19

“Who are you?” Harry demanded, pointing his wand at the man, but unsure what to do considering he had never actually been taught an offensive spell that wasn’t for disarming his opponent.

The man didn’t answer, instead he just crossed the room, pointing an odd keylike item at his head.

“I’m warning you.” Harry backed up, trying to think of a single useful spell he had learnt in his years at Hogwarts and wondering why Defence Against the Dark Arts had never actually covered defensive magic.

The key touched Harry’s forehead and with a twist of the man’s wrist the key turned and Harry’s world went spinning away.

Powel had awakened the moment that the Shadows had activated against his host but there had been no time to do anything about it besides pull his host into his room and start towards the door to confront the intruder.

On the other side of Powel’s door, Shadi was stunned by what he was seeing. When entering a normal person’s mind, he would have landed straight in their soul room, which was the personification of what a person was. Everything that defined a person was in that room and it was easy to see what a person’s strengths and weaknesses were, just from what the room looked like and had in it.

The Millennium Key had, however, not led him to the Soul Room of the boy who he was testing, but to a corridor. A corridor that had not one, not two but three doors attached to it. One was an enlarged version of a door to a cupboard under the stairs, one was metal in origin but had a crest engraved on it that he had never seen before while the last door was bolted and padlocked so many times that it was a miracle that he could see the door beneath it.

That wasn’t anywhere near normal. Two doors would have suggested a split personality at best and possession at worst. Both he had dealt with in the past. Three, however, suggested that there was much more going on here than he knew and made him rather wary. After all the boy had held not one of the true Shadow Set, but an item of the secondary set, created by a wizard attempting to copy the power of the Millennium Items.

He moved towards the cupboard door and looked through the slats in the grate attached to it. The room on the other side was lit surprisingly well for the dark soul he had sensed earlier and he could make out the four poster bed on the other side of the room, it’s red and gold drapes offending his sense of propriety. He reached for the door handle, intending to enter and find out more about the boy before he decided what to do about him, only to turn around as the heavy metal door on the other side of the room swung open and a teenager stepped out, amber eyes glowing and very dark brown hair obvious.

This one, he realised, was the one he had watched challenge the thief to a Shadow Game and issue a Penalty.

“Are you here about the eviction?” The teen asked with a scowl, gesturing towards the bolted and padlocked door, “Because if you’re not I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”

“And who are you?” Shadi asked, “And what gives you the right to demand the eviction of another, when you have no right to be here yourself.”

Powel laughed, irritating the Guardian of the Millennium Items, “I obviously have more right to be here then whoever lives on the other side of that door. I’m allowed to come and go when I please, whereas that door was sealed like that long before I got here. I doubt, if my host’s subconscious truly wanted me to stay in the Bracer, I would be any freer than them...”

Shadi’s eyebrows raised as the spirit in front of him trailed off, glowering at the other door as he did so, though that was the only sign of his emotions he allowed to be seen, “You take refuge in the mind of a child. That is a mark against you. That you use the powers of the false Shadow Set is ano...”

“False!” Powel spluttered, turning his glower on Shadi, “The Serpent Items are not fake!” Then he paused and considered Shadi properly, his tone taking on a low growl, “I know of your people. You are from that cult that attacked Salazar and attempted to wipe his mind clean of all thoughts.” Powel’s right hand went for the wand in his back pocket, “I would have thought that after a thousand years you lunatics would have died out.”

“Us? Die out?” Shadi asked, his tone revealing much more about his emotions than his, ever expressionless, face, “We have waited for over five thousand years for the Pharaoh’s return and while your mere copies jeopardised everything the Pharaoh gave his life for, we have stood the tests of time and fought against the likes of you.”

“The likes of me?” Powel asked, incredibly ill amused, “And what, pray tell, do you mean by that?”

Shadi was about to retort when he realised that he was allowing himself to get distracted. “I do not have time to converse with you.” The ancient spirit informed the much younger ghost, “Your actions today have long reaching consequences and I must correct them before the fallout is too great, starting with freeing this young one’s mind...”

Powel’s Bracer glowed as Shadi turned away from him, towards the locked door, unwilling to let this threatening stranger mess with the balance within his host’s mind, only for the spirit to get a shock as Shadi’s Key lit up brightly and he was sent crashing into his door. It slammed open under his weight and he went tumbling through it and into the room inside, landing on the floor hard as the door was pulled shut by an invisible hand.

By the time Powel had picked himself up, the Millennium Key was already doing its job, unlocking the mental defences that Harry’s subconscious mind had thrown up against the less welcome intruder, undoing over a decade of resistance in less time than it took Powel to get up and find that the door was stuck fast, trapping both himself and his host inside the Bracer.

With the spirit of the Bracer out of his way, Shadi planned on removing the second door that wasn’t supposed to be here, with plans of removing the foreign influence within before erasing the Bracer and any information about the Shadows from the room of the boy’s soul.

The last bolt on the door slid open and Shadi opened the door, only to have to step back to avoid a blast of corrupted air that leapt forth through the crack. The wind widened the gap between door and doorframe, the rancid stench of decay leaking into the corridor and offending Shadi’s senses, causing him to choke, though he had ceased to need to breathe thousands of years ago.

Shadi was left with little time to recover before a figure stepped out of the door and into the corridor that led out to Harry’s body. The being that the ancient tombkeeper spirit beheld was unlike anything he’d ever seen, a horrifying, twisted, malformed, mutilated child like creature that stumbled out into the corridor, its features twisted into a delighted and amused grin and when it spoke, there was a hissing behind its voice that meant something but Shadi wouldn’t tell what.

“Free at last...” The creature said, looking up and down the corridor before considering Shadi properly, “You’ve even emptied the body and provided a trio of Shadow Items for me...”

“You’re not welcome in this boy’s mind...”

“And yet you unbound me.” The creature snorted, interrupting Shadi before he could bluster on, “So either you’re a fool, or you’re seeking to turn this vessel into a mindless slave. So which is it?”

Shadi stared at the childlike wraith. He had never seen such a creature before, nor had he any idea on how such a monster could live in the child’s mind, for it certainly would not have the power to overwhelm the boy’s mind directly, though a two pronged attack from both it and the spirit of the Bracer would have worked.

Not that the Bracer spirit seemed inclined to share his host’s head space if the plans for an eviction were anything to go by.

“I am the Guardian of the Shadows until the Pharaoh’s return.” Shadi informed it, his eyes locking with the creature’s, staring it down and threatening it with his Millennium Key, which glowed brightly. “You will... what?”

Shadi looked around quickly as the creature vanished only to let out a sharp gasp of pain and hold his head as he staggered backwards, leaning heavily against the wall, his head pounding as it felt like fingers were tearing through his memories and soul, trying to find out everything.

‘A tomb keeper.’ The creature sounded excited as its voice echoed at the back of Shadi’s mind, ‘Oh how I’ve waited to get my claws into one of you.’

“Get out of my head!” Shadi demanded, realising he’d allowed himself to forget the most important thing about entering someone else’s mind. In the real world he was little more than a semi-corporeal shade, making him invulnerable. Here, however, he was just as vulnerable, if not more so as the people he was testing.

And he had let it in.

‘I remember you.’ The voice continued, taunting the ghostly Tomb Keeper, who even as it spoke was trying to muster the powers of his items to repel the intruder, trying to prevent it from reaching any important information or worse accessing his semi-mortal form, ‘I remember how you tried to break my mind with your Shadow Games.’ The voice turned vindictive, ‘I thought I destroyed you then... guess I’ll have to try a little harder.’

The pain coursing through Shadi increased at those words and the spirit collapsed to his knees, trying to hold back the scream that tried to escape his throat.

‘Surrender,’ The voice whispered to him, ‘Surrender and it’ll all be over. I might even let you keep part of your mind intact. Keep fighting me and well...’

Shadi couldn’t prevent the panicked, agonised cry from erupting as it felt like something sharp pierced into the depths of his soul.

Inside Powel’s room the spirit of the Bracer heard the scream and froze momentarily. He’d known whatever was behind the locked door was bad for his host, he had been able to sense that much from the door even before he’d known about the extreme measures the boy’s soul had taken to protect itself from the other intruder.

“Wh...Who?” The sound of another voice made Powel wheel around and glower at the speaker, only to realise with a shock that his host had woken up and was staring at him.

A second cry broke the staring contest that had begun between Powel and his Other and the spirit of the Bracer snarled and tugged on the door again, angry that the intruder had basically handed over his host’s body to a malevolent spirit without a second thought. That he was now paying for it was slightly better, but considering that the end result would likely be that Powel and his host would remain trapped inside the Bracer while the other spirit, the one Powel had tried and failed to evict, did as he pleased, Powel was in an incredibly foul mood with the Egyptian man.

To the Ex-Teacher’s shock, the door opened, the spell holding it shut failing when Shadi had left the corridor, unable to focus on the spells in Harry’s head while he needed to turn all of his focus inward to prevent the creature he’d freed from the second room from destroying everything in his own mind.

Powel and Harry darted out of the door, Powel turning to his host, who was looking incredibly sleepy and had only woken up because of the agonised cries within his mind, and putting his hands on the boy’s shoulders. “Stay here. I’ll deal with this.”

Harry would have complained but the combination of shock at actually getting to meet his lodger face to face and the little voice at the back of his mind that told him to listen to someone for once before diving into danger. Instead he gave Powel a small, determined smile and said, “Let me help.”

Powel groaned slightly in his mind, having forgotten that the boy whose vessel he shared was almost as stubborn as Gryffindor himself, but didn’t let it show in front of the child, who was, at least reacting much better than Powel had thought he would.

There wasn’t time to argue, so Powel nodded his acquiescence but held up a hand before Harry could take control of his body, “I’ll go out, you can back me up from in here.”

Harry looked put out but he agreed to Powel’s terms and the Ex-Teacher, who only looked like a teen in the soul rooms due to being linked to the mind of a teenager, took control of their body, finding it strange to have his host’s thoughts running around in his head along with his own, though they weren’t as clear here as they were while Powel was in the corridor.

Shadi had backed away from Harry and dropped the Millennium Key as his mind fought with the presence that had stolen into Shadi’s mind using the bond created by the Milllennium Key, trying to expel it before it could take root and finding it difficult.

Powel tensed up when empty brown eyes took on a red glow and Shadi’s features seemed to blur slightly, becoming more serpent like.

“Finally.” The voice that spoke most definitely wasn’t Shadi’s and Powel felt Harry freeze, a weird sensation that threw the Shadow spirit for a moment until Harry realised what had happened and tried to calm down. Powel got the weird sensation that Harry was trying to tell him something but he couldn’t understand what the boy was saying. “What a stubborn fool. No matter, this body is mine now.”

Powel let out a soft growl as he realised why Harry had frozen. He recognised that voice. It was older but it was practically the same as the voice of the boy whose basilisk he had fought in the Chamber of Secrets, the boy who had called himself Lord Voldemort.

Powel tried to move between Voldemort and the Millennium Key but unlike the Transfiguration Master who was still getting used to being a scrawny teen again, Voldemort’s host could just ghost through whatever objects he chose and proceeded to do just that, beating Powel to the Shadow Item easily.

Powel backed off quickly, Bracer glowing as he prepared for a battle between his Bracer and the items held by the spirit controlling Shadi, only to realise at the same time as the other spirit that the Millennium Items were refusing to work for Voldemort.

“Why?” Voldemort protested, glowering at the items in question as if giving them the most powerful death glare he could muster would make the ancient artefacts behave. “This is my body! That means these are my items!”

“But they’re not.” Powel had to choke back his amusement, “Because you’re trying to steal them.”

“What?” Voldemort turned that same death glare on Powel who felt his host recoil slightly but held the body in place, “Explain yourself.”

“You can’t just take control of someone and expect their Shadow Items to work for you.”  Powel practically crowed, “You have to defeat them to take control of their items and seizing control of someone doesn’t count! As long as you’re in that body you won’t be able to challenge him. Those items will never be yours! And...” He held up the arm with the Bracer on, the serpent on which was glowing, “I challenge you to a Shadow Game. You win you can take this.”

He felt Harry’s shock but stayed strong. He knew exactly what he was doing. He could still sense the creature’s link to his young self’s mind and wanted to sever it forever. While the creature had been firmly entwined in Harry’s mental defences it had been impossible to get rid of it, but now he had this chance, this one chance and he was willing to stake the Bracer on it.

“Oh really?” Now Voldemort looked intrigued, “You’d be willing to stake your Bracer on a game you can’t win?”

“Oh I’ll win.” Powel retorted, “And when I do, you’re done.” Powel drew his thumb across his throat.

Voldemort looked even more amused than he had previously at that little statement. “I can’t die. I’m not truly alive.”

Powel just smirked at him, “Is that a refusal?”

“Of course not.” Voldemort snorted, ill amused that Powel considered him cowardly enough to run away when such a powerful artefact was on the line, “But once this is all over, all you’re going to be able to do, Bracer spirit, is watch from your imprisonment in the Bracer as I break your little host apart piece by piece.”