The Assassin's Comeuppance #13 (Patreon)

The ministry atrium was alive with a smattering of feet trotting from one end to another, something that was quite a regular occurrence during daytime. Various groups of people were either gathered in random places or were walking around, busily going on with their day. The floo and the apparition points were full with various people arriving in droves, often dodging the incoming ones before quickly scampering away.

Off to the side by the wall on the way to the elevators, a pair of wizards was gathered, talking in hushed tones. However, even if one happened to pass nearby, one would be unable to hear a thing.

“That was Potter, wasn’t it?”

“Sure was. Wonder what got him in such a hurry.”

Draco clicked his tongue in annoyance.

“Even looking at his face makes me retch. That smug look, I just can’t wait to wipe it off,” Draco cast a side-eyed look at the crowd gathered near the middle and frowned.

“Don’t worry, Draco. The plan is in motion. You know how efficient my mother is. No one’s been able to escape her clutches till date. Potter certainly won’t.”

“He managed to survive the dark lord,” Draco muttered, his face set into the familiar scowl that became visible whenever Potter was discussed.

Blaise flinched slightly at the reminder.

“That’s because he had help from so many people. Here he will be alone. Be patient, Draco. Let my mother have some of her fun and we can put this chapter behind us.”

Draco grimaced slightly.

“About that,” Draco began with a slightly put-out look on his face, “doesn’t it feel weird, you know, thinking about your mother and Potter like that?”

Blaise’s mood soured slightly.

“I’d be lying if I told you I was entirely comfortable with that. But I know my mother’s proclivities, Draco. She’s been like this since forever, and over time I’ve come to terms with it. Who she fucks is her business. All I care about is Potter’s death. Nothing more.”

Blaise knew that Draco had had slight inclinations toward his mother for a long time now, and try as he might, he couldn’t fault the young Malfoy for having such thoughts. Hell, he had admitted to himself long ago that he wouldn’t have minded having a taste if she wasn’t his mother. Even if the Wizarding world was pretty lax when it came to incest, this was something that crossed the limit.

“The day can’t come soon enough. Looking at this filth every day is becoming tiresome,” Draco muttered, giving a disgusted glance at the crowd of the new mudblood interns that were supposed to begin their internship at the DMLE in a few hours. Blaise followed his gaze and smirked.

“Patience, Draco. The plan is progressing smoothly.”

“Where has your mother been lately anyway? I haven’t seen her around for a while now.”

“At her job, Draco. She told me she had some preparations to do. Something to do with a wardrobe change, don’t know what it means. You know how it is with women from families such as ours, discarding clothing on a whim and buying new ones. I’m sure it’s something related to her new assignment though. Have to properly enthrall the boy wonder, after all,” he finished with a chuckle.

Draco didn’t reply, instead choosing to glare at the gathered crowd of those worthless mudbloods in silence.

XXX

His mind was in turmoil, his feelings all over the place as Harry gazed at the bound form of Elena in the center of the altar. The seven-pointed star painted on the darkened floor was glowing an eerie crimson, oddly similar to a heptagram of blood.

The seven spooks, Luna included, took their place at each point of the star. All of them had donned specialized robes, entirely covered in runic markings. Harry was not qualified enough in the subject to know any details but they certainly looked complicated to him. He noted that Elena had been clothed in the same attire and wondered when they had gotten her changed. It must have been when Luna had taken that trip down into his trunk while he and Hammer were talking as the other unspeakables prepared the ritual.

“Now Mr. Potter, take your place right beside the subject in the middle. But before that, please put any magical artifacts you have on your person away and wear these robes.”

Harry placed any magical items he had in the tray outside the platform and took the robes from the unspeakable with a nod of thanks. A privacy screen rose promptly, and Harry muttered a silent thanks and started to take his clothes off.

“Alright then, I’m ready,” he said as he walked out from behind the screen, which instantly vanished as if it were never there.

“So it would seem,” Hammer remarked as he looked over at him from his spot. Harry frowned.

“What do you mean?”

Hammer sighed and looked over at Luna.

“Tell him.”

Harry looked on, confused. One minute ago they were preparing to undergo this ritual, and now, there was something else? What was going on?

“Luna, what is it?”

“Every ritual demands a sacrifice, Harry. You know that.”

Harry nodded.

“This will hold true for this ritual as well. But because how high the stakes are, I’m afraid it might take from you something which you might not be prepared to give,”

Harry felt a chill course through him at those words.

“You’ve no idea what it might take then?”

“There is no conclusive evidence to ascertain that, Mr. Potter,” Hammer began and Harry looked at him with a frown.

“This ritual has been developed directly from whatever works of Maul we could find. This has never been attempted. The only thing we are sure of is that the ritual will be successful, of that you can rest assured. But the price? We have no idea.”

“You might be having some idea though! You developed the entire bloody ritual!”

“I’m sorry Mr. Potter. There is nothing we can give you more than we have already.” Hammer’s voice didn’t waver in the slightest.

“I’m going to ask you for the final time, Mr. Potter. Are you ready to go through this ritual without knowing what possible consequences this might have?”

A million thoughts coursed through his mind at that point. The dominant side of his personality urged him to go through with it, trying to make him believe that it was for a good cause. It would help him save Elena, free her and destroy whatever was possessing her. However, a small part of his brain was arguing fiercely against it, cursing it for even suggesting he sacrifice for someone else.

Hadn’t he suffered enough? Hadn’t he lost enough? Was it all there was to his life? Endless loss and sacrifice? Didn’t he deserve to live a happy and fulfilling life?

But would he be able to? Would he be able to live in peace knowing he condemned someone special to him to a fate worse than death? A fate of endless torment? Only because he feared the unknown? What kind of person would that make him?

A realist. A normal person. A person like everyone else. No one jumped into situations without knowing what the dangers were. No one sacrificed for someone else. That was the cold hard truth of life, wasn’t it? No one would jump in front of a killing curse for someone else.

But he wasn’t just a normal person, was he? His entire life, he had tried to make it better for others. And in the midst of it all, he had found happiness too, hadn’t he? Sure, he had lost a lot of things, but he had also found a lot of things he would never give up.

Harry looked down when he felt someone take his hand and give it a supporting squeeze. Looking upward, his eyes took in Luna’s understanding gaze, seemingly reassuring him to not overthink.

“Don’t overthink this, Harry. Deep down you know what you want to do. Listen to that voice. It has never led you astray, has it?”

She smiled that serene smile of hers and Harry’s eyes widened slightly. He knew what he wanted to do. With a look of fierce resolve on his face, he turned toward Hammer and gave a resolute nod.

Hammer shook his head with a smile on his face.

‘You continue to surprise me, Harry Potter,”

XXX

“Alright then,” Hammer began, as Harry walked into the center of the seven-pointed star and laid down next to Elena. With a flick of Luna’s wand, he felt his arms and legs get bound by several cuffs protruding from the dark floor.

“Even if this has never been done before, you can rest assured that this won’t be physically taxing, Mr. Potter. On a mental and spiritual level though, I firmly believe you will be tested.”

Harry gave a nod of understanding.

“Remember, Mr. Potter, we can only get you in. How you free her and how you get out is something you have to work out. We have no clue what you might face in there either.”

Luna looked on with an uncharacteristically serious look on her face and Harry was sure she was worried. He glanced at her out of the corner of his eyes and winked at her. She shook her head with a small smile before flashing two thumbs up at him. Harry grinned.

“Are you ready, Mr. Potter?”

Harry took a deep breath and steeled himself.

“Bring it on, Hammer,”

The unspeakable chuckled.

“Alright then. Pick up that ritual knife and make a deep cut on your left and her right palms. Once you’re done, throw the knife outside the runic circle and grab her palm in yours. Make sure not a drop of blood makes contact with the floor before your bloodied palms are in contact.”

“Got it,” Harry muttered and made a precise cut across his palm before lifting Elena’s palm and repeating the process. Blood gushed out of the cuts in an instant and Harry had to properly balance their palms to ensure not even a drop fell on the floor. Making sure both their palms were facing upward, he wiped the bloodied knife on his palm and threw it outside away where it clattered against the hard floor.

Quickly, he held their bloody palms together and saw a faint glow emanating before ebbing away.

“That was the sign on the ritual activating, Mr. Potter,” Hammer remarked before he gestured to the other unspeakables who all took various items out of their robes and threw those in front of them.

“You’ll start to feel lightheaded in a few moments. Don’t try to fight it, Mr. Potter. Once you’re unconscious, time will stop outside. Then you’re on your own. Once the ritual ends, whether you succeed or fail, time will resume. So, see you in a second, Mr. Potter. I hope you succeed.”

Harry barely paid any mind to what Hammer was saying, as he got a sudden headache. Hammer’s voice seemed to be fading with every moment that passed until he passed out and all external voices ceased.

“Well, looks like he’s going under it. Let’s hope he -”

Hammer’s voice cut off as time stopped.

XXX

The first thing Harry saw when he opened his eyes was a vast landscape of bluish sand stretching far and wide into the horizon. Nothing was on display apart from a small shack in the distance.

“Well, might as well check it out,” he muttered to himself as he started walking toward the shack. The entire scene was eerie, and his voice echoed around in the vast expanse of nothingness, only an endless desert in sight.

As he walked toward the shack, his mind started to wander around. He had no idea what to expect, not even where he could find Elena. However, he was prepared to do whatever he could to rescue her.

His feelings for the woman were intense, and of that, he had no doubt. He might not love her yet, but he could honestly see himself being with her. As he pondered upon his feelings, he reminisced all those moments he had spent with her. What had started as an attempted one-night stand had morphed into something entirely different; both special and sinister.

He shook his head and looked around, trying to make out anything apart from that shack in the distance, but for the life of him, he simply couldn’t see anything.

“What even is this place? Looks like something out of some fantasy world,” he muttered, no sound apart from his voice and his soft footsteps in the sand being audible.

“Man this is even creepier than those dreams I used to have in 4th year, at least there were people back then. It feels like I’m on some planet, all alone with nothing apart from this freaking sand as far as I can see,” He clicked his tongue in annoyance and kicked some sand away, frowning when the sand floated back to where it initially had been, looking as if it had never been kicked.

“Curious. The sand floated back to where it was. This places preserves its original state then, huh?”

Nothing of note happened afterward and Harry continued to walk toward the shack. Once he was close enough, he was able to have a good look at it, and what he saw made him flinch back in shock.

The shack was made of bones, with dark red painted on it. It looked as if the bones were painted in blood and the shack had been erected.

“That’s one creepy looking shack. Even the Gaunts had a better one,” he muttered as he looked at the door handle.

“I hope nothing happens when I touch it, not that I have any other choice,”

Harry made to grab the handle to push the door open before he stopped.

“Huh, why not,” he muttered and delivered a solid kick. The door flew off its hinges and he was able to see what lay inside.

“A trapdoor? How cliché!” He remarked as he walked inside and looked around. There was nothing visible in the darkness, and he quickly cast a wandless Lumos. Nothing. The walls were the same – made of bones and painted a deep crimson. There was no smell though, something which made him frown a bit.

However, he shrugged and hooked his leg to the knob. With a grunt, he jerked back and pulled the trapdoor open.

“This is giving me first year vibes. Too bad Ron and Hermione are not here. Would’ve been better,” he said, looking down into the darkness.

However, they were not here, and he had someone to save. He couldn’t dally around. Whatever he was supposed to do, he was sure it began here. There wasn’t anything around anyway, so it made sense. He just hoped he was doing the right thing here, and it wouldn’t come back to bite him in the ass.

With a look of firm resolve on his face, he jumped down into the dark abyss below.

XXX

To be continued...